Mediator, Arbitrator, Facilitator

Judge Riki May Amano (ret.) has been an active participant in conflict resolution for decades. She is a trained mediator. She completed mediation training at the Neighborhood Justice Center (nka Mediation Center of the Pacific) in early 1982. She was a volunteer mediator for the NJC until she returned to Hilo in late 1983. She continued as a volunteer mediator and also served as a trainer with the Ku'ikahi Mediation Services in Hilo, from 1984 until 1991. She chaired the Ku'ikahi Mediation Service's Advisory Committee from 1988-1991.

Judge Amano was an arbitrator at the inception of the Court Annexed Arbitration Program in 1986 and during her tenure as a circuit court judge, she served as the program’s Arbitration Judge from 1994-2003.

She received facilitation training in 1990 and has provided facilitation services for a variety of organizations including numerous community groups and professional associations.

On the bench, Judge Amano served as a judge in the district and circuit courts of the Third Judicial Circuit, Sate of Hawaii from February 1992 until her retirement in April 2003. During her judicial career, Judge Amano presided over personal injury, negligence, medical malpractice, contract, employment, probate, landlord/tenant, small claims, family and criminal non-jury and jury trials. Her docket included pretrial and post-trial motions, settlement conferences, and probate and guardianship cases. She also served on numerous committees such as the Penal Code Project Advisory Committee, the Committee On Equality and Access to the Courts, the Inter-Agency Council on Intermediate Sanctions and the Big Island Task Force on Criminal Justice.

Following her retirement, Judge Amano’s education in conflict resolution was significantly broadened after enrolling as a student at the Pepperdine University School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, to pursue a master’s degree in law in May 2004. Among the courses she completed are: Mediation Seminar, Selected Issues in Dispute Resolution: Mass Torts, Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, Domestic Relations Dispute Resolution, and Current Issues in International Dispute Resolution: Hong Kong/Beijing. She has 240 hours of externship at the Settlement Facility-Dow Corning Trust in Houston, Texas.

She is currently on Pepperdine’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution’s training faculty and a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Judge Amano was born and raised in Hilo. She completed her undergraduate education in 1976 with a BA degree in Political Science and obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii in 1979. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Amano was a deputy attorney general assigned to the department of Land & Natural Resources, Transportation and Labor and Industrial Relations; and in private practice from 1981 until 1991. She is married and has two daughters and four grandchildren.

Scheduling:
Dispute Prevention & Resolution, Inc. manages Judge Amano's scheduling calendar and case billing. She can be reached at DPR at (808) 523-1234 or by email at rma3cc@yahoo.com.