ANDREW M. KENNEDY

In January 2018, Mr. Kennedy joined the law firm of Schlueter & Kwiat to expand the firm to Schlueter, Kwiat and Kennedy LLLP. 

Mr. Kennedy has been practicing law for over twenty years. He has experience in civil and criminal litigation. Mr. Kennedy has an active trial practice where he has tried cases ranging from simple assaults to murder and white collar matters such as public corruption.   Mr. Kennedy has tried cases in state and federal courts in various jurisdictions.

In 2024, Mr. Kennedy achieved a rare not guilty verdict for his client in USA v. Kaneshiro, et al.  This federal bribery case alleged that a group of corporate executives and their attorney bribed the elected Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu to bring criminal charges against a former employee of their company.  After months of trial it took a federal jury less than two days to return not guilty verdicts for all six defendants.

Mr. Kennedy is currently a lawyer delegate to Hawai'i's annual United States District Court Judicial Conference, an invitation which was extended pursuant to vote from the judges of the U.S. District Court in 2022.  Mr. Kennedy is the current president of the West Hawai'i Bar Association, serving his second term in this position (2015, 2024).  Mr. Kennedy has served as a Circuit Court criminal law representative to the State bench bar conference since 2015.  Mr. Kennedy also serves as a criminal defense representative to the Hawai'i Standing Committee on Pattern Criminal Jury Instructions, a 15 member committee comprised of Hawai'i state court judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys tasked with reviewing and revising the state's pattern criminal jury instructions.  

Mr. Kennedy's notable appellate cases include overturning a life sentence for attempted murder in State v. Lauvao, et. al., 151 Hawai'i 430 (2022).  He successfully raised appellate issues at the trial level in State v. Thompson, 150 Hawai'i  262 (2021), a case challenging the procedure by which prosecutors initiate criminal complaints in Hawai'i.  The Hawai'i Supreme Court's decision in State v. Thompson led to the dismissal of over one thousand criminal cases statewide and necessitated the legislature to enact statutory changes to address the issues raised by Mr. Kennedy.

Having sat for the bar exam in four states, Mr. Kennedy is licensed to practice law in Hawai'i, New York, Massachusetts (inactive), New Hampshire, the United States Supreme Court, and United States District Courts, Districts of Hawai'i, New Hampshire, Eastern District of New York, Southern District of New York, and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Kennedy graduated from Villanova University, Villanova, PA (Bachelor of Arts - 1999), Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA (Juris Doctorate - 2002), and received a certificate of completion in the subjects of Comparative Criminal Procedure and Comparative Property Law from Magdalen College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom (2001).