Vladimir Devens

Vladimir Paul Devens is an American lawyer from Hawaii who has served as an associate justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court since 2024.

Early life and education
Devens' father was a managing director for Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi and his mother was a piano teacher. He was born in Honolulu, and graduated from Kalani High School in 1980. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984 and a Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1987.

Career
Devens is principal at the Law Offices of Vladimir P. Devens, LLC and had been a partner at Meheula, Devens & Winer, as well as at Meheula & Devens. In 2013, he served on the Governor's Hawaii Impaired Driving Task Force and as chair and vice chair of the State Land Use Commission. Devens served as lead counsel in the Hawaii Supreme Court's landmark child abuse decision in Kahoohanohano v. DHS. He was also a police officer with the Honolulu Police Department for six years.

Hawaii Supreme Court
Devens was one of six candidates submitted by the Hawaii Judicial Selection Commission to the governor. On October 23, 2023, Governor Josh Green announced Devens as a nominee to serve as an associate justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court. On November 1, 2023, the governor sent a letter to the Senate, clarifying that Devens was nominated to the seat vacated by Justice Paula A. Nakayama who retired on April 21, 2023. A hearing on his nomination was held on November 17, 2023. On November 21, 2023, Devens was confirmed in the Hawaii Senate by a unanimous 21–0 vote. He was sworn into office on January 12, 2024.