Mark E. Recktenwald

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title: "Mark E. Recktenwald" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1955-births", "living-people", "20th-century-american-lawyers", "21st-century-american-judges", "21st-century-american-lawyers", "assistant-united-states-attorneys", "chief-justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-hawaii", "deerfield-academy-alumni", "harvard-university-alumni", "lawyers-from-hawaii", "lawyers-from-detroit", "university-of-chicago-law-school-alumni"] description: "American judge (born 1955)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_E._Recktenwald" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American judge (born 1955) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Mark Recktenwald
image	Judge Mark Recktenwald.jpg
office	Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court
appointer	Linda Lingle
term_start	September 14, 2010
term_end	September 30, 2025
predecessor	Ronald Moon
successor	Sabrina McKenna (acting)
office1	Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court
appointer1	Linda Lingle
term_start1	May 5, 2009
term_end1	September 14, 2010
predecessor1	Steven Levinson
successor1	Sabrina McKenna
birth_date
birth_place	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
children	2
education	Harvard University (BA)
University of Chicago (JD)
::

|name = Mark Recktenwald |image = Judge Mark Recktenwald.jpg |office = Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court |appointer = Linda Lingle |term_start = September 14, 2010 |term_end = September 30, 2025 |predecessor = Ronald Moon |successor = Sabrina McKenna (acting) |office1 = Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court |appointer1 = Linda Lingle |term_start1 = May 5, 2009 |term_end1 = September 14, 2010 |predecessor1 = Steven Levinson |successor1 = Sabrina McKenna |birth_date = |birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |spouse = |children = 2 |education = Harvard University (BA) University of Chicago (JD) Mark E. Recktenwald (born October 8, 1955) is an American lawyer who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii from 2010 to 2025.

Background

Recktenwald was born to Bill Recktenwald, a patent attorney, and Connie Recktenwald, a high school English teacher. He grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, and attended public school there until he transferred to Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Deerfield in 1978, he then went to Harvard University, where he graduated with honors. He wrote a thesis for his degree in anthropology titled "State and Economy in Moche III-IV Society". After graduating, he worked on Congressman John Anderson's presidential campaign. Anderson lost to Ronald Reagan in the primary, but then ran as an independent. He came to Hawaii in 1980 to advance a visit for Anderson's running mate, Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey. It was on this visit where he met his wife Gailynn Mahoe Williamson, who was a philosophy professor at Leeward Community College. He returned after the campaign ended for a vacation, but ended up staying and working for Sen. Ann Kobayashi. Recktenwald married Williamson in 1985. They have a son Andrew born c. 1989 and daughter Sarah born c. 1992, who are both lawyers. Recktenwald also has a stepson through his wife. Recktenwald worked as a reporter in the United Press International’s Honolulu Bureau. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1986. He published a paper on employment discrimination cases.

Career

After law school, Recktenwald became a clerk for judge Harold Michael Fong of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii until 1987. He then became an associate with Goodsill Anderson Quinn and Stifel in 1988. In 1991 he became assistant United States attorney, litigating both civil and criminal cases. He served as the health care fraud coordinator and environmental law enforcement coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and was a prosecutor in other types of cases. In 1997 he became partner with the law firm of Marr Hipp Jones and Pepper specializing in employment litigation. In 1999 he returned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He became director of the Hawaii state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) in 2003.

Judicial service

In May 2007 he was appointed chief judge of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals. He participated in more than 250 cases and authored 10 published opinions. In February 2009 (confirmed in May 2009) he replaced retired Associate Justice Steven H. Levinson on the Supreme Court of Hawaii. On August 13, 2010, Recktenwald was nominated for chief justice by Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle. He was retained for a second term as Chief Justice and sworn in by Justice Paula A. Nakayama on September 11, 2020.

Recktenwald retired as Chief Justice on September 30, 2025 due to the Hawaii State Constitution's requirement that justices retire at the age of 70.

References

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References

1. "Mark e. Recktenwald 1956 - Sök på Google".
2. Catherine E. Toth. (May 16, 2005). "Leadership Corner: Mark E. Recktenwald". [[Honolulu Advertiser]].
3. (2 February 2017). "Chief of the Third Branch".
4. "Honor Roll: Class of 1986". University of Chicago Law School.
5. (Winter 1986). "Collateral Attacks on Employment Discrimination Consent Decrees". The University of Chicago Law Review.
6. "Chief Judge Mark E. Recktenwald". Hawaiʻi State Judiciary.
7. "Governor Lingle Nominates Mark Recktenwald as Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Associate Justice". state of Hawaii press release.
8. "Governor Lingle Nominates Mark Recktenwald as Chief Justice". state of Hawaii press release.
9. (September 23, 2020). "Recktenwald retained as Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice".
10. (October 1, 2025). "Chief Justice Recktenwald retires".

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