Recognizing Outstanding Public Service
Each year, HWLF presents the Rhoda Lewis Award, named after the first female member of the Hawaii Supreme Court, to a woman attorney who has devoted her career to public service. Consistent with the spirit of the award, the recipient should be one who has toiled in the trenches; one of the “unsung heroes”. Recent awardees include:
- 2022: Valerie J. Grab, Executive Director, Children’s Law Project of Hawai’i and Madeline M. Tomasino-Reed, Managing Attorney, Children’s Law Project of Hawai’i
- 2021: Cathy Betts, Director, Hawai’i Department of Human Services
- 2020: Angela J. Lovitt, Deputy Director/AmeriCorps Program Director, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii
- 2019: Loretta A. Sheehan, Attorney, Davis Levin Livingston Attorneys
- 2018: Jill Baldemor, Executive Director of Teach for America (Hawaii)
- 2017: Michelle Acosta, Executive Director, Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii
- 2016: Riki May Amano, Lifetime public and volunteer services
- 2015: Caleen Ching, Managing Director, Hawaii Immigrant Justice Center at Legal Aid Society
- 2014: Ronnie Kawakami, Lifetime public and volunteer services. Associate Dean at the WSRSL
- 2013: Jan M. Tamura, Lifetime volunteer services. Since March 2011, Legal Services Director, Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii
- 2012: Dina Shek, Co-Founder, Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaii
- 2011: M. Nalani Fujimori Kaina, Executive Director, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii
- 2010: Charlene D. Anaya, Director, Kids’ First Divorce and Paternity Education Programs. Founder, the Child and Parents Advocates Section (renamed Child Law Section) of the Hawaii State Bar Association
- 2009: Joanne Lo Grimes, Member, City and County of Honolulu Ethics Board of Appeals; Daughters of Hawai`i; Secretary & Director, Hawaii Justice Foundation; Hawaii Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism; Guam Bar Association; Financial Planning Association; President, Director, Hawaii Women Lawyers; Vice President, Director, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii; Board Member, PBS Hawaii
- 2008: n/a
- 2007: Margaret Kuroda Masunaga, Government attorney since 1992; Deputy Director, County of Hawaii Kona Planning Department; Department of the Attorney General; Office of the Corporation Counsel; chair, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women; Member, Hawaii County Committee on the Status of Women
- 2006: Jennifer Rose, Director, Domestic Violence Action Center in Hawaii; Adjunct Professor, Family Law Clinic, William S. Richardson School of Law
- 2005: Lorenn Walker, Extraordinary volunteer community service
- 2004: Shawna Sodersten, Legislative Advocacy, Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline
- 2003: Tracey Wiltgen, Executive Director, Mediation Center of the Pacific
- 2002: Elizabeth Croom, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii
- 2001: Annabel Murray, Na Keiki Law Center’s first attorney/project coordinator
- 2000: Elizabeth Kent, Director of the Hawaii State Judiciary’s Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution
- 1999: Patricia McManaman, CEO of Na Loio No Kanaka (Immigrant rights and public interest legal center)
- 1998: Laurie Tochiki, Kids First Program
- 1997: Elizabeth Pa Martin, Executive Director of the Native Hawaiian Advisory Council