Bios of Senior Judges and Staff
Supreme Court Chief Justice
Daniel N. Cadra has served as chief justice of the Supreme Court since September 2003.
Justice Daniel N. Cadra received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Juris Doctor degree from Tulane University, School of Law, graduating cum laude.
Justice Cadra began his legal career as an associate with a large Los Angeles law firm until he moved to Alaska in 1985. He engaged in the private practice of law in Anchorage, Alaska, until 1989 when he accepted a position as an attorney with Alaska Legal Services Corporation in Barrow, Alaska. His practice with ALSA focused primarily on issues affecting Native Americans.
In January 1991, Justice Cadra was appointed Magistrate for the Second Judicial District of the State of Alaska covering the predominantly Inupiaq Eskimo communities of Barrow, Nuiqsut, Kaktovuk, Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Point Lay, Wainwright and the North Slope industrial complex of Kuparuk/ Prudhoe Bay. He served as Magistrate with the Alaska Court System for approximately five years.
Justice Cadra seized the opportunity to come to the Marshall Islands as an Associate Justice on the High Court in October 1995. He was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court in April 1996 and served as Chief Justice until June 1999. He then accepted a position on Palau’s Land Court as Senior Judge and also served as a pro tem Justice on the appellate division of Palau’s Supreme Court until May 2003 where he returned to his home in Houston, Alaska. In September 2003, Chief Justice Cadra accepted his first 10-year appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In January 2013, the Cabinet re-appointed Daniel N. Cadra to serve a second 10-year term as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, commencing September 2013.
Justice Cadra has attended several professional courses at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada (NJC), and the NJC has awarded him Certificates in Judicial Development in both General and Special Court Jurisdiction Trial Skills.
Justice Cadra also is in private practice in Alaska with a focus on civil litigation.
Chief Justice Carl Ingram has served as a justice of the High Court since March 2003 and as chief justice of the High Court since October 2003. He first arrived in the Marshall Islands in 1979 as a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Before coming to the Marshall Islands in 1979, Justice Ingram earned a B. A. in Political Science at Stanford University and a J. D. at the Stanford School of Law. After law school, he worked for a corporate law firm in Denver.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, Justice Ingram worked as a staff attorney in the Attorney-General’s Office. From 1981 through 1988, he served as Deputy Attorney-General, Attorney-General, and Legal Counsel to the President and Cabinet, playing an important role in negotiating and obtaining congressional approval of the Compact of Free Association with the United States.
As a private attorney from 1988 through 2002, Justice Ingram represented many government agencies and private companies. His work included negotiating and drafting agreements for several major infrastructure projects and the successful defense of Philip Morris in the national government’s $20.0 billion healthcare cost lawsuit.
In March 2003, within a year of the tobacco case’s conclusion, the Cabinet appointed Justice Ingram to be an associate justice of the High court. In October 2003, the Cabinet appointed Justice Ingram to be the chief justice for a 10-year term. In January 2013, the Cabinet re-appointed Carl B. Ingram to serve a second 10-year term as Chief Justice of the High Court, commending October 2013.
Since his initial appointment, Justice Ingram has attended at least one professional development course or conference each year and has received a Certificate in Judicial Development in General Court Jurisdiction Trial Skills and a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the National Judicial College.
Justice Witten T. Philippo is a citizen of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. He started working for the Government in 1978, working with the Public Defender’s Office as a research assistant. In 1979, he was appointed as a prosecutor with the Marshall Islands District Attorney’s Office, which later became the Republic of the Marshal Islands Office of the Attorney General.
In 1984, earned his L.L.B. in Law, from the University of Papua New Guinea School of Law. Justice Philippo began his legal career as an Assistant Attorney-General from 1984 to 1988.
In 1988 through 1989, Justice Philippo served as the Secretary of Internal and Outer Island Affairs. During his tenure as Secretary of Internal and Outer Islands Affairs, he was appointed by the Nitijela as a member of the 1st Constitution Review Committee and served as its Vice-President.
In 1989 through 1996, Justice Philippo served as an Associate Justice of the High Court. Upon leaving the bench in 1996-2000, Justice Philippo worked with the Micronesian Legal Services Corporation.
In 1997-2007, Justice Philippo, was elected as one of 5 members of the Majuro Delegation to the Marshall Islands Nitijela. During this period, he was appointed to the Cabinet the Minister of Justice and later the Minister in Assistant to the President. As Minister of Justice, Justice Philippo was appointed by the Nitijela to chair a special committee to report to the Nitijela on the advisability of amending the Constitution. As Minister in Assistance to the President, he represented the RMI Government as UN conferences relating to climate change, the environment and related areas. He also has appeared before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for the RMI Government on matters relating to the US nuclear testing program in the Marshall Islands.
In 2007, Justice Philippo entered the private practice of law where he represented various government agencies, private companies, and various individuals in a variety of legal issues. During this period, Justice Philippo was again appointed by the Nitijela to serve as a member of the 3rd Constitutional Review Committee. He was legal advisor to the 2017-2018 4th Constitutional Convention.
Justice Philippo is a founding member of the Marshall Islands Law Society (MILS), a non-profit voluntary organization comprising members from the legal community and served as its President since its inception in 2008 till 2018.
Justice Philippo has attended workshops on negotiations, legal writing as well as mediation.
In 2018, Justice Philippo returned to the bench as an associate justice of the High Court. As a Marshallese citizen, Justice Philippo was appointed to serve until age 72, January 31, 2030.
Justice Murnane earned a B.A. in Political Science from the Christopher Newport College of the College of William and Mary and a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Cincinnati, Ohio. She was admitted as an attorney before the Ohio Supreme Court in May 1981.
Justice Murnane served as a judge advocate with the United States Air Force between May 1981 until her appointment as a military judge in 1994. Her law practice in the Air Force included time served as a prosecutor, defense counsel, claims officer, contracts officer and legal assistance officer. She served three years at Yokota Air Base, Japan as the Chief, Military Justice, Chief, Operational and International Law and Chief Civil Law for Fifth Air Force, U.S. Forces Japan. She was the deputy staff judge advocate at Ramstein Air Base, Germany and staff judge advocate at Bitburg Air Base, Germany.
Justice Murnane spent ten years as a trial judge and chief circuit military judge for the Air Force, trying cases around the globe involving U.S. airmen.
Following her military service, Justice Murnane served as a felony prosecutor in Brown County, Ohio, and as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, until she was selected by the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the role of Senior Legal Officer for Trial Chamber III . She served with the United Nations in various roles with both the ICTY and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Hague, Netherlands for eight years. She also served as the Senior International Attorney for the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies. She is a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division and a member of the National Association of Women Judges and the International Association of Women Judges.
In November 2022, Justice Murnane was appointed an associate justice of the High Court for a term of two years, renewable for a second two years.
On December 30, 2021, the Cabinet appointed Judge Grace L. Leban to serve a a ten-year term as chief judge of the Traditional Rights Court, and the judge representing Dri-Jerbal interests. Prior to her appointment as chief judge, Judge Leban served over 10 years as an associate judge of the Traditional Rights Court.
Chief Judge Grace Leban was born and raised on Majuro Atoll and has land right on Ebon, Ailinglaplap, Jobat, Wotje, Arno, and Likiep Atolls.
Judge Leban spent most of her schooling on Majuro Atoll, having attended the Assumption School during her elementary years and Marshall Islands High School for her first two years of secondary school. During her junior year in high school, she attended the D. P. Todd Secondary School in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. After spending a year in Canada, Judge Leban returned south to Hawaii where she graduated from Mid-Pacific Institute on Oahu, Hawaii in 1985.
Right after high school, Judge Leban began her working career as an Administrative Assistant at the Majuro Co-Op School from 1985 to 1987. In early 1987, she moved to the High Court and worked as a Court Reporter/Clerk until 1992. During early 1992, she transferred to what was then the Ministry of Social Services to carry on the post of a Director for the Youth Services Bureau (YSB). During the government Reduction In Force Program in 1997, the Ministry of Social Services was eliminated, and YSB was merged with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOIA). While with the MOIA, she was promoted twice, first to become the Chief of the Community Development Division in 2003, and later to become an Assistant Secretary in 2009. Also, while working for MOIA, Judge Leban return to school. She graduated from the College of the Marshall Islands in 2004 with an A.A. in Liberal Arts and a Certificate in Counseling. In 2008, she graduated from the Brigham Young University-Hawaii, a B.S. in Education.
In April 2021, the Cabinet appointed Judge Nixon David to serve a third four-year term as an associate judge of the Traditional Rights Court and the judge representing the Iroij interests. The Cabinet first appointed Judge Nixon to the Traditional Rights Court bench in April 2013 and reappointed him in 2017.
Judge Nixon was born and raised on Arno Atoll and has land rights on Arno, Likiep, Mili, and Ebon Atolls. Judge David is a recognized expert in the customs and traditions of the Marshall Islands, having served as a presenter on the Customary Law and Language Commission’s radio program.
On February 4, 2021, the Cabinet, upon the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission, appointed Claire Therese Loeak to serve as an associate judge of the Traditional Rights Court and as a judge representing Alap interests from the date of her appointment for a term of 10 years. Nitijela approved the appointment on April 26, 2021 and the 10-year term commenced, May 17, 2021.
Prior to her appointment, Judge Loeak served the Republic well for over 5 years as an Assistant Attorney-General and before that, as an assistant clerk of the Cabinet.
Judge Loeak was born and raised on Majuro Atoll. She grew up observing and participating in Marshallese customary and traditional practices and is well informed on the customary law and traditional practices of the Marshall Islands.
Judge Loeak graduated from the Marshall Islands Mission Academy (SDA High School) in 1993 and earned her LLB Degree (Bachelor of Laws) from the University of the South Pacific in June of 2015.
On December 26, 2018, the Judicial Service Commission appointed Judge Paul to be the presiding judge of the District Court for a ten-year term. Prior to the 2018 appointment, Judge Paul served as an associate judge of the District Court since July 5, 2007.
Judge Ablos T. Paul was born on Majuro Atoll and raised on Ailinglaplap Atoll. He graduated from Jaluit High School in 1989 and from the College of the Marshall Islands in 1996 earning an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts. Judge Paul went on to Hawaii Pacific University and graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences in Criminal Justice/Administration. Returning home in 2002, Judge Paul joined the National Police Force and attained the rank of Captain for the Training Division. In 2007, Judge Paul left the National Police Force to accept an appointment Chief of Immigration.
In April 2016, the Judicial Service Commission appointed Judge Davidson T. Jajo to be an associate judge of the District Court in Ebeye for a ten-year term.
Associate Judge Jajo was born and raised on Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. He graduated of the Seventh-Day Adventist School System on Ebeye, Kwajalein, in 1995. After graduation, he joined the National Police Force on Ebeye in 1999 and attained the rank of Lead Investigator for the Criminal Investigation Division. From 2006 through 2016, he served as a trial assistant prosecutor for the Kwajalein Atoll Local Government, and from 2012 through 2016 also served as a prosecutor of the Office of the Attorney-General.
In January 2019, the Judicial Service Commission appointed Caios Lucky to be an associate judge of the District Court in Majuro for a ten-year term, but not to exceed age 72 (08/28/27).
Associate Judge Caios Lucky was born and raised on Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. He graduated of the Marshall Islands High School on Majuro in 1978, and he earned an Associate of Arts degree in criminal justice from Lassen Community College in 1981.
Upon his return to the Marshall Island in 1981, he jointed National Police Force on Ebeye as a criminal justice investigator and attained the rank of criminal investigation division captain. From 2000 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2011, he served as a trial assistant in the Office of the Public Defender in Majuro. From 2004 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2015 he served as a member of the Nitijela for Ujae Atoll, serving as the vice-speaker from 2014 to 2015. In 2016 and 2017, he served as an acting judge for the Traditional Rights Court.
Ingrid “Kakku” Kabua has served as the Chief Clerk of the Courts since June 2010.
She was born on Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands. She spent her early childhood years in Kwajalein Atoll, where she first started school. She then later moved back with her family to Majuro and attended the Majuro Cooperative School until her graduation in 1995. Ingrid went on to attend the Marshall Islands High School and graduated in May of 1999. After high school, she then furthered her education at the Republic of the Marshall Islands-University of the South Pacific Joint Education Project/Program, a two-year program. At RMI-USP, she successfully completed both the Preliminary and Foundation Science courses. Ingrid has also received a Diploma of Justice from the University of South Pacific.
In November of 2004, Ingrid joined the Judiciary as an Assistant Clerk of the Courts. Since then, she has attended several training, workshops, and conferences the Pacific Judicial Council’s Court Administrator Conferences and the Pacific Judicial Development Program’s National Coordinator’s Workshop and the Educator’s Workshop Ingrid was later promoted to the position of Deputy Chief Clerk of Courts and then to the position of Chief Clerk of the Courts.