Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald was honored with the Spirit of Justice Award by the Hawaii Justice Foundation (HJF) during its annual meeting on October 29. This marks the second occasion that Chief Justice Recktenwald has received this recognition. The award ceremony took place in the Supreme Court courtroom.
Alongside Chief Justice Recktenwald, Maui Immigration Law, LLC founding attorney Kevin Block and former Dean Aviam Soifer of the University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law were also recipients of the Spirit of Justice Awards.
HJF President William S. Hunt introduced the awardees, stating, “The Spirit of Justice is the Foundation’s most prestigious award. It is given annually to individuals who have shown consistent and meaningful contributions to access to civil justice for Hawaiʻi’s people. Those receiving this award have demonstrated a true commitment to the ideals and implementation of justice.”
Robert J. LeClair, Executive Director of HJF, commented on Chief Justice Recktenwald's contributions: “We selected Chief Justice Recktenwald to receive the Spirit of Justice in 2017 because of his leadership in bringing access to justice to prominence in Hawaiʻi,” he said. “We honored him with the award again this year because he is certainly one of our country’s leaders in access to justice. Chief Justice Recktenwald is by far the most committed chief justice with whom HJF has had the privilege to work on various access-to-justice projects.”
The Hawaii Justice Foundation is an independent grantmaking organization established in 1969 aimed at achieving justice for Hawaiʻi's residents through philanthropic law-related initiatives.