Judge Michael A. Town retired from the bench in 2010 after 30+ years of service as a trial judge-14 years as a Family Court Judge and 16 years as a Circuit Court Judge, including 3 years as Senior Judge of the Family Court. He presided over countless contested divorce and family cases involving complex issues of property division and custody. He also served as settlement judge for the divorce calendar as Lead Judge of the Domestic Division. As settlement judge he mediated and facilitated voluntary settlements for complex divorce cases. He has both been trainer and trainee in divorce mediation workshops over the years.

Judge Town served as an adjunct law professor at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law for 11 years teaching family law, juvenile law, environmental law and legal methods. He has published several articles in national judicial magazines and journals on “The Unified Family Court”, “Judge as Coach” and “Resilience and Compassion Fatigue in Judges”. He has presented workshops and seminars on these topics to judges nationally and internationally. This includes the federal judges of Aotearoa/New Zealand, United States Bankruptcy judges through the Federal Judicial Center, and state court judiciaries in a variety of states. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University, Juris Doctor from Hastings College of the Law and Masters in Law from the Yale School of Law.

Judge Town served the Hawai`i Judiciary on the Restorative Justice Committee and the Committee on Jury Innovations among others. He is active in his community serving on the board of directors for the Boys and Girls Club of Hawai`i, Positive Coaching Alliance/Hawaii and Hawai`i Childrens’ Trust Fund. He served on several national boards including the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. He was named a 2008 Sports Ethics Fellow of the Institute for International Sport and was given the 2010 Honolulu Forever Young award for community service. He served in the United States Peace Corps in Colombia, South America from 1962-64 as an athletic director and coach and is fluent in Spanish.

Judge Town is active in mediation, arbitration, public speaking on social justice issues to the bench and bar and general community.