Thursday, May 1, 2025
Zoom Webinar
12:00-1:15 PM (HST)
The Hawaiʻi State Judiciary’s Committee on Equality and Access to the Courts (CEAC) and the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center are pleased to present the Equitable and Sustainable Futures Speaker Series. Five public programs are scheduled through May 2025 to build pilina (connection and collaboration) between stakeholders across the justice system. Through engaging public discussions, this series seeks to drive critical change in law, policy, and institutional practices to improve public awareness, safety, and wellbeing. The series is cosponsored by the Hawaiʻi State Bar Association Civic Education Committee.
Program 4 of 5-Part Series
Resources and Operations: Sustainable Solutions for the Future of Hawaiʻi’s Justice System
The Hawaiʻi State Judiciary faces growing challenges to ensure that its court infrastructure, operations, and programs meet the changing needs of its population. This panel will explore how Hawaiʻi’s court systems can be more inclusive, accessible, and responsive to the needs of its diverse communities, through the lens of age, gender, sex, race, ethnicity, disability, and technology. This event will feature insights from legal professionals and advocates committed to fostering a more inclusive judiciary that serves citizens of today.
This programming series is a follow-up to CEAC’s Racial Equity Speaker Series that occurred virtually between January and May 2021 (access recordings here).
Featured Panelists:
Moderator: Jemeih “Miah” Bonilla
Miah Bonilla is a 3L student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. Miah served as a summer law clerk for the Honorable Sabrina S. McKenna, Associate Justice of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. During her 1L summer, Miah worked in the Washington, D.C. office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz as the law school’s 2023 Patsy T. Mink Legislative Fellow. At Richardson, Miah is a Lehua Scholar and serves as staff editor of the Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal and president of the Filipino Law Students Association. She is also an East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellow. Miah received her B.A. and M.A. in Asian International Affairs at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Born in the Philippines, Miah immigrated to Hawai‘i at a young age and has called the islands her home since. Miah is fluent in Ilokano and Tagalog and proficient in Visayan and Mandarin Chinese. After completing her law school education, Miah aspires to become a public defender and to assist the local Filipino community and other underrepresented groups, such as the transgender community.
Judge Rebecca Copeland
The Hon. Rebecca A. Copeland is a judge for the O’ahu First Circuit Family Court of Hawai’i in Honolulu County. She was appointed to the bench by Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald in 2019. Copeland has served as lead judge for the Special Division and presiding judge for the Truancy Court and Early Education Intervention Program. Before her appointment, she sat as a per diem judge since 2016. Copeland received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southwest Texas State University. She then completed a J.D. at St. Mary’s University School of Law in 2002. She was admitted to practice in Hawai’i (2003) and California (2002).
Copeland began her legal career in California before relocating to Hawai’i. Over the course of her career, she served as a deputy solicitor general with the Department of the Attorney General and an associate at Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert in Honolulu. Then, in 2012, Copeland established her own private practice, where she handled appellate litigation matters until her appointment to the bench.
Nikos Leverenz
Nikos Leverenz serves as HHHRC’s Grants & Advancement Manager. He returned to Honolulu after 25 years in California, where he worked in Sacramento as a legislative advocate, senior legislative staffer, and policy consultant, developing proficiency around strategic communications and policies related to harm reduction, public health, civil rights, and the criminal legal system. Advancing direct services, partnerships, and policy changes that improve the health and well-being of persons from under resourced and over criminalized communities continues to animate his work. He is a graduate of Maryknoll High School, Occidental College, and University of the Pacific (McGeorge School of Law) and remains an avid reader and wellness practitioner.
Louis Erteschik
Louis Erteschik grew up in New York City. He attended Northwestern University and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is the Executive Director of the Hawaiʻi Disability Rights Center. He has served in that capacity for ten years. Prior to that he was a Staff Attorney with the Disability Rights Center and also was a staff attorney at the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and a Hearing Officer for the Hawaiʻi Department of Health.
Neribel Chardon
Neribel Chardon is Senior Staff Attorney for The Legal Clinic. She was admitted to the Puerto Rico Bar after graduating Magna Cum Laude from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico Law School. For over 15 years, her practice primarily focused on Labor and Employment Law defense litigation. Neribel also has experience in personal injury and family law with Honolulu law firms. Prior to joining The Legal Clinic, Neribel worked as an immigration attorney, representing clients in Immigration Court and in a wide range of immigration matters. Neribel is a Registered Spanish Interpreter (Hawaii State Judiciary) and Notary Public. Neribel’s calling and passion is serving. She believes all experiences in life prepare us to put us in a position to serve at the correct time and season.
