Helen Gillmor
U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii
Helen Gillmor was appointed as a United States District Judge for the District of Hawaii on October 11, 1994 by President William Clinton and was Chief Judge from December 2005 to June 2009.
Judge Gillmor attended Queen’s College of the City University of New York where she received a B.A. in Political Science in 1965. She graduated from the Boston University School of Law, magna cum laude, in 1968. She served as Case Comment Editor of the law review.
She was a law clerk to Chief Justice William S. Richardson of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. In addition to private practice prior to her appointment to the federal bench, she served as a Deputy Public Defender, and as a per diem state court judge in the Family and District Courts.
She is past vice-president, treasurer and director of the Hawaii State Bar Association, past chairperson and vice-chair of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, served on the Board of Bar Examiners and as a director of the Friends of the Judiciary History Center and is currently a director of the Hawaii Women’s Legal Foundation, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
As a federal judge she served as a member of the National Judicial Committee on Financial Disclosure, as a member of the Ninth Circuit Committee on Space and Security, and is currently a member of the Ninth Circuit Wellness Committee.
Her international educational experience includes one year as a lecturer in law to Korean judges and prosecutors for the Agency for International Development at the International Legal Center in Seoul, Korea. She has been the guest of the People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, and Republic of China (Taiwan) for educational presentations. She has presented video presentations for the United States Department of State for Thailand and Taiwan.
- Judge
- U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii
- - Current
- Served as chief judge, 2005-2009. Assumed senior status on June 30, 2009.
- Private practice
- -
- Honolulu, Hawaii, 1971-1972, 1974-1977
- District court judge
- -
- District Court of Hawaii, First Circuit
- District court judge
- -
- Hawaii State Family Court, First Circuit
- Lecturer
- University of Hawaii
- Deputy public defender
- -
- Office of the Public Defender, Honolulu
- Law clerk
- Hon. William Richardson, Chief Justice, Hawaii State Supreme Court
- Private practice
- Camden, Maine
- Lecturer
- -
- International Legal Center, U.S. Agency for International Development, Seoul, South Korea
- Private practice
- El Paso, Texas
- Private practice
- -
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Boston University School of Law
- LL.B.
- Queens College City University of New York
- B.A.