Kalikoonalani Fernandes, who served as the state’s lead attorney defending the Department of Health’s emergency order mandating the defueling of the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, has been named the state’s next solicitor general, state attorney general Anne Lopez announced on Friday.

What You Need To Know

  • As solicitor general, Fernandes will lead the Department of the Attorney General’s Appellate Division and has oversight authority over most state and federal appeals handled by the department

  • Fernandes joined the Department in 2017 as a deputy solicitor general in the Appellate Division

  • Fernandes earned her juris doctorate, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center

  • She will take over the post on June 1, succeeding Kimberly Tsumoto Guidry, who was appointed to serve as an associate judge on the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals

 

As solicitor general, Fernandes will lead the Department of the Attorney General’s Appellate Division. She will have oversight authority over most state and federal appeals handled by the department; includes briefs filed on behalf of the State of Hawaii in the United States Supreme Court, federal courts of appeal, the Hawaii Supreme Court, and the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals.

“I am honored to serve as the next solicitor general for the State of Hawaii,” Fernandes said. “I am deeply committed to the department and the State of Hawaii, and look forward to leading our outstanding appellate team.”

Fernandes joined the Department in 2017 as a deputy solicitor general in the Appellate Division. In her time with the department, Fernandes has served as a leading expert in the areas of reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. She is also one of the state’s top litigators defending Hawaii’s gun laws against Second Amendment challenges.  

“Kaliko is a brilliant attorney and has proven herself time and again to be a true public servant,” Lopez said. “Kaliko has devoted her career to the cause of equal justice under the law, and she is universally respected in the department for her wisdom, composure, and ability to inspire the best in everyone around her.”

Fernandes is a graduate of Punahou School. She earned a B.A. in history, summa cum laude, at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa national honors society. Fernandes earned her juris doctorate, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center.

Prior to joining the AG’s office, Fernandes served as a law clerk to Judge Richard Clifton of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Susan Oki Mollway of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.  

Fernandes will be the fifth solicitor general of Hawaii since the position was established in 2007. She will take over the post on June 1, succeeding Kimberly Tsumoto Guidry, who was appointed to serve as an associate judge on the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii.