STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3473

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    GOV. MSG. NO. 643

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred Governor's Message No. 643, submitting for study and consideration the nomination of: 

 

Commission to Promote Uniform Legislation

 

G.M. No. 643

ELIZABETH KENT,

for a term to expire 6-30-2018,

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     Your Committee has reviewed the personal history, resume, and statement submitted by the nominee and finds Elizabeth Kent to possess the requisite qualifications to be nominated to serve on the Commission to Promote Uniform Legislation.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of the nomination of Elizabeth Kent from the Department of the Attorney General; Retired Associate Justice James Duffy, Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii; and six individuals.

 

     Ms. Kent obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado.  She subsequently received her Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the William S. Richardson School of Law, where she served as a member of Law Review and the Moot Court Honors Board and received the Am Jur Award for Contracts.  In November 2013, she retired as the Director of the Hawaii Judiciary's Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, which was a position she held since 1996.  Prior to her position as Director, she worked as a Research Analyst with the Center from 1994 to 1996.  Between 2001 and 2002, she took a leave of absence from her work with the Center to serve as the Deputy Director of the Department of Human Services.  She also previously served as an Associate with the law firm of Paul, Johnson, Park & Niles, concentrating her practice in all aspects of commercial litigation.  Ms. Kent previously served as a lecturer at the University of Hawaii, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in business law; as a Staff Attorney with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; and as a Law Clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

 

     Ms. Kent is an active participant in the community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Chapter of the Hawaii Association of Conflict Resolution, Board of Directors of the Policy Consensus Initiative, Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Performance Evaluation, and Board of Directors of the Hawaii Institute for Continuing Legal Education, which she served on as President.  She is the recipient of several awards, including the Mahalo Award, Lawyer as Problemsolver, and Improved Justice Award from the Mediation Center of the Pacific, Reverend King Peacemaker Award from the Church of the Crossroads, and Rhoda Lewis Award from Hawaii Women's Legal Foundation.  Finally, she is the published author of alternative dispute resolution articles in various law reviews, legal publications, and periodicals.

 

     Ms. Kent has served as a Commissioner on the Commission to Promote Uniform Legislation (Commission) since 1988 and has actively attended and participated in the meetings of the Commission and National Uniform Law Commission.  She has served as a member of the National Conference's Standby Committee on a Uniform Collaborative Law Act; Study Committee on Family Law Arbitration; Study Committee on a Model Veterans Court Act; Study Committee on Firearms Information; Joint Study Committee on Harmonization of the Law of Canada, Caribbean Nations, and the United States Concerning Registration of Foreign Judgments; and Drafting Committee on a Home Foreclosure Procedures Act.  She also performed research and drafting on the Home Foreclosure Procedures Act and wrote an article on the activities of the Commission for the Hawaii State Bar Association Journal.

 

     Testimony in support of the nominee indicates that Ms. Kent is a hardworking, conscientious, and dedicated Commissioner and possesses the intellectual acumen and personable demeanor that make her highly effective in accomplishing the goals of the Commission and National Uniform Law Commission.  She brings to the Commission her institutional knowledge and skills that she developed as the Director of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

 

     Accordingly, based on the testimony submitted, your Committee finds that Elizabeth Kent is exceptionally qualified to continue to serve on the Commission to Promote Uniform Legislation.  The nominee's professional experience will serve the Commission and public well.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominee, has found the nominee to be qualified for the position to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nomination.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

 

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair