Derrick Kahala Watson
| Derrick Watson | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii | |
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Assumed office April 23, 2013 |
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| Appointed by | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | David Alan Ezra |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Derrick Kahala Watson 1966 (age 50–51) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Education |
Harvard College A.B. Harvard Law School J.D. |
Derrick Kahala Watson (born 1966) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
A native of Hawaii, he graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School before entering private practice in San Francisco. He served as a federal prosecutor for some years in California and then Hawaii, rising to become chief of the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii. Appointed to the federal bench in 2012 and 2013 by President Barack Obama, he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in 2013. Watson is the fourth Native Hawaiian federal judge in U.S. history, and the only one currently serving.
Derrick Kahala Watson was born in 1966, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Honolulu police officer and a worker at a local bank. He graduated from the Kamehameha Schools in 1984 and received his Artium Baccalaureus cum laude from Harvard College in 1988. Watson was the first in his family to graduate college. Watson received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1991, and was admitted to practice law in California the same year.Barack Obama and Neil M. Gorsuch were members of his graduating class.
He began his career as an associate at the law firm of Landels, Ripley & Diamond in San Francisco, California, where he worked from 1991 to 1995. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California from 1995 to 2000, serving as Deputy Chief of the Civil Division from 1999 to 2000. In 2000, Watson returned to private practice, joining the law firm of Farella Braun + Martel LLP, where he worked on product liability, toxic tort, and environmental cost recovery litigation. Watson became a partner at the firm in 2003. While in private practice, Watson conducted substantial pro bono work on behalf of the San Francisco Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, he also did pro bono work involving human trafficking and wage and hour claims. Watson served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Hawaii from 2007 to 2013 and served as Chief of the Civil Division from 2009 to 2013. From 1998 to 2006, Watson served in the United States Army Reserve in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, with the rank of captain. He was honorably discharged.
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