The 12 Days of Christmas (Judicial Edition) 

Whether you've been naughty or nice, here are a few gifts to celebrate Christmas.

This holiday season, I wanted to put a festive twist on judicial reform by imagining 12 gifts we could give to improve the judiciary and our legal system. 

To make it more engaging, I reached out to some of Hawaii’s sharpest legal minds to hear their thoughts and wishes. Their responses, as always, were insightful, practical—and sometimes straight rebellious.  

When I asked Megan Kau for her gift, she didn’t hesitate to respond with:

She’s absolutely right. Tackling judicial reform is a monumental task, but every journey starts with small, meaningful steps. 

Interestingly, I still have friends asking whether Megan will run for City Prosecutor again. Her contribution to the state, simply by sharing her principled vision for criminal justice, has been invaluable. 

When I asked Myles Breiner the same question in person, his response was simple and festive:

Me: “Hey Myles, I’m doing a 12 Days of Christmas newsletter with gifts for the judiciary to benefit us all. Any thoughts on a gift you would give the system?”

Myles: “Happy Hanukkah.” 😉 

I was quickly reminded of his faith and, caught off guard, laughed along with him. In hindsight, if I’d been quicker on the draw, I might have quipped back: “Don’t y’all have a gift for every day over some period too? Whatever that is, gimme a quote Myles!”

It was a lighthearted moment that added a little humor to my day at court while prepping this newsletter. 

Rick Sing offered a straightforward and practical idea:

Free and reliable Wi-Fi would revolutionize the courthouse experience for everyone. It’s a simple, cost-effective solution that could address a surprisingly common issue. 

There’s a segment of bail clients who, for various reasons, struggle to keep their cell phone service consistently in service. However, most of that cohort connect to free Wi-Fi around town for texting and VoIP calls.

For defendants and families in this situation, having courthouse Wi-Fi would ensure they can still communicate with their attorney, bail agent, or family members while dealing with court matters. This small improvement could make a huge difference, particularly for those who lack stable communication options.

I might just contact Starlink and ask for a quote to provide the courthouse area Wi-Fi myself, and make people login to “A-1 Bail Bonds FREE Wi-Fi 808-664-5010.”  Gorilla marketing buleh!  

Jason Say’s Shoutout:

Jason Say added some humor to the mix with his reply:

While I won’t argue with that sentiment, the real gift I’d love is a five-star review like Jason’s response—Come on readers, if you’ve enjoyed the A-1 Bail Bonds newsletter, let the world know and throw us a 5 star reviews.

A DOGE-Inspired Gift: Government Efficiency

For my gift, I propose appointing a dedicated volunteer position—ideally filled by a retired judge—to focus on trimming court inefficiencies and improving outcomes. This position would function similarly to the “DOGE” (Department of Government Efficiency) that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy head at the federal level.

As DOGE has already demonstrated, improving efficiency doesn’t just reduce costs—it also enhances the user experience for the public while creating less work for government employees. Only two points from Elon and Ramaswamy’s department needs to be executed for the judiciary to see significant efficiency gains:

1. Eliminate Unnecessary Rules:
   Review and remove redundant or outdated rules that bog down processes. This reduces enforcement of ineffective policies, frees up staff time, and allows employees to focus on tasks that truly matter, ultimately improving outcomes.

2. Leverage Technology:
   Further adopt existing tools like electronic filing and Zoom hearings. Reserve in-person interactions for only the most critical or complex matters. By reducing the volume of court traffic, cases can move forward more quickly and efficiently.

Its easy for me as a bail agent to point out that I regularly submit paperwork which isn’t required for bail postings.  For example, Admin Order 2.0 was rescinded back in 2010, but guess what? The order is scrutinized by HPD to this day, and if I don’t submit a signed copy of the order with every bail out, my bail bond will be rejected. Below is the 2010 rescinding proof ⬇️:

There are even random requirements, which were never required by the judiciary, that bail agents must provide to HPD upon request, like a DCCA letter of good standing.  

It's particularly troubling that HPD does not publicly disclose their requirements for bail bond submissions, yet they reserve the right to arbitrarily discriminate against bail agents by demanding random paperwork, or going out of their way to NOT provide bail receipts ONLY to bail agents. 

Yes, you heard that right—HPD refuses to provide bail receipts to bail agents. Instead, agents must request them from the court during normal business hours and bring them to HPD per every bail out. While cash bail payers get receipts directly from HPD without issue, bail agents are inexplicably excluded in a rather mean spirited and pointless way.

Pretty obvious how just reducing the amount of requirements, or perhaps not just making them up on the fly, can totally make less review work for government agencies and speed up releases right? Not rocket science here. 

Shoutout to Scott Collins: A Proven Example of Efficiency

As a practical illustration of efficiency, I’d like to highlight Scott Collins and a highly effective method that was widely used under Administrative Judge Derrick H.M. Chan tenure. 

Back then, felony cases—which often drag on for a year or longer—regularly were resolved quicker. It’s unfortunate that we’ve grown accustomed to prolonged pretrial case resolution times when we already know a faster, proven alternative exists.

Scott Collins was famous for his “plead-out strategy” where he would ask for a 3-4 week continuance at arraignment to allow time for negotiating a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office. 

Instead of following today’s lengthy process—where cases are assigned to a jury trial judge, adding an automatic two months of waiting for a calendar opening—Collins could return to court with his client and resolve the case directly with the administrative judge. This approach often wrapped up cases in just a month or so, cutting down resolution times by over 80%.

Reinstating this method could dramatically reduce the burden on jury trial judges by removing unnecessary cases from their dockets.

Attorneys, having received their retainers, could also expedite favorable outcomes for their clients and move on to helping the next, growing their practices more efficiently. 

Additionally, the prison population would see a significant reduction in pretrial detention times, improving the experience for defendants and their families while lowering the cost of housing detainees. 

Hot Take: Efficiency is deflationary and benefits everyone. By cutting a handful of outdated rules and increasing the use of Zoom hearings, we could dramatically shorten case lengths and reduce jail populations. 

Bail agents like me could handle smaller deals if we didn’t have to guess what paperwork is required or how long it will take. 

Attorneys could lower fees if plea deals were resolved at arraignment instead of dragging on for a year. Jail overcrowding would drop significantly by resolving cases faster—tools like Zoom and electronic filings worked during the pandemic; it’s time to double down!

A Final Note

This holiday gift list is more than just fun; it’s a call to action. Whether it’s courthouse Wi-Fi or a dedicated efficiency czar, these ideas can make real change.

What’s your wish for the judiciary? Reply to this email or give me a call—I’d love to include your perspective in my next newsletter.

Happy Holidays,
Nick
A-1 Bail Bonds, Honolulu

P.S. Jason’s glowing review got me thinking—if you’ve had a positive experience with A-1, I’d love a five-star review. It’s the best gift you could give this season!