Kathleen N. A.Watanabe was sworn in as a Fifth Circuit judge on August 17, 2005, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Clifford Nakea. Judge Watanabe previously served as the director of the State Department of Human Resources Development, supervising deputy attorney general for the Employment Law Division and the Regulatory Division of the Department of Attorney General, County Attorney and Deputy County Attorney for the County of Kaua`i, and a hearings officer for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. She was a per diem judge of the Fifth Circuit, from 1995-1998 while a solo practioner in general practice.

Judge Watanabe graduated from the University of Hawai`i William S. Richardson School of Law and earned her Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology and Psychology, with honors, from the University of Puget Sound in Washington.