Derrick Kahala Watson was quietly sworn in as Hawaii’s newest U.S. district judge last month, and that’s the way he prefers it.

In a break from long-standing tradition, Watson will not have the public ceremony celebrating the start of his lifetime appointment.

"It seems like a big party to me," Watson said. "It’s just not me."

He said the more important reason is that given the tight economic times and federal furloughs, the public ceremony that would be held at the federal courthouse seems "incongruous."

But he said he realizes that the judiciary has some obligation to make itself public.

That’s part of the reason he talked to the Star-Advertiser last week in an interview that covered his passion for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the little-known fact that he was in President Barack Obama’s Harvard Law School class, and his role as a federal judge.

"It might sound corny, (but) I applied because I felt like at this stage of my career, I felt like I could make a difference; that I would be good at the job."

Watson, 46, was nominated by Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate this year to become Hawaii’s 13th U.S. district judge since statehood.

He joins the district court bench that has three other full-time judges.

Watson officially began his $174,000-a-year job when he was sworn in May 6 by Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway during a private session at her chambers.

He will be the first part-Hawaiian federal judge since the death of Senior U.S. District Judge Samuel King in 2010.

His background was noted when Obama announced the nomination of Watson and six other federal judges. The president said his choices show his "commitment to ensure that the judiciary represent the nation it serves."

The National Native American Bar Association applauded Watson’s nomination, pointing out he would be the only part-Hawaiian sitting in the nation’s federal courts.

"It’s part of who I am," said Watson, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools who spent most of his adulthood in California before returning to Hawaii five years ago to work at the U.S. attorney’s office here. "You can’t pull it out of you in who you are."

He said he’s always been interested in Native Hawaiian issues, but said if a Native Hawaiian case came before him, he’ll abide by his commitment to apply the rule of law.

To underscore the point, he said he would act the same even if his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers somehow ended up in his courtroom.

"We have to follow the law," he said. "The system breaks down if we don’t."

Watson, a Dodger fan since childhood, has in his chambers an impressive array of Dodger memorabilia.

It includes part of his collection of about 50 to 60 bats used by Dodger players, Dodger helmets and models of the gloves of Dodger stars Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella.

In one corner, he has two adjoining stadium seats from Dodger Stadium and the Dodgers’ former home at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

He remained loyal even during the years he practiced law in San Francisco, home of the rival Giants.

"Once you build an allegiance, you don’t change your allegiance on where you are geographically," he explained.

Watson graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991, the same class as the future president.

He said some have speculated that his nomination was somehow linked to being Obama’s classmate, but Watson said he knew of Obama only as head of the school’s law review. He has never met him.

Watson pointed out that Harvard is one of the biggest law schools and their class had about 540 students.

Larry Okinaga, chairman of the commission that screened applicants for the judgeship, said he didn’t know the two were in the same law school class. He said it was never brought up before the commission.

The commission sent the names of Watson and two others to Hawaii’s U.S. senators, Daniel Akaka and the late Daniel Inouye, who relayed the names to the White House.

Watson said he never aligned himself with either the Republicans or Demo­crats and described himself as an independent.

Because of his years in the mainland and his low-key style, Watson is not widely known here.

Although he was licensed to practice law in California and the federal courts, it wasn’t until last year that he took and passed the Hawaii bar examination.

He brings to the bench his experience as a civil trial lawyer mostly in federal courts in California and, in recent years, Hawaii.

In private practice in San Francisco, he worked mostly in environmental litigation involving the obligations of companies to clean up contaminated industrial and agricultural sites.

He returned to Hawaii in 2007 to work as an assistant U.S. attorney. In 2009, he was promoted to head of the office’s civil division.

His Hawaii cases include successfully defending the Coast Guard’s 2007 creation of a security zone in Kauai’s Nawiliwili Harbor to protect the Superferry.

He also prevailed in defending federal agencies in the 2011 Waikele fireworks blast that killed five men and the federal government in the 2008 death of a 2-week-old infant from American Samoa at Honolulu Airport while the child’s mother was going through U.S. Customs screening.

Honolulu attorney Richard Fried, who represented the infant’s family, recalled that Watson has a "very pleasant demeanor" and wasn’t difficult like some other civil defense lawyers, requiring him to go through unnecessary steps in preparing for the case.

"He was smart, he was prepared, both of which are critically important for a good judge," Fried said. "I think regardless of his own personal thinking on the matter he will apply the law as he believes it should be applied."

Okinaga said Watson has the right judicial temperament of listening and refraining from snap judgments.

"I think he will do a good job," Okinaga said. "I was very confident of his abilities and potential."

Watson said he shies away from labels such as judicial "activist" or "conservative."

He noted that trial judges like himself might be considered more conservative because they are bound to apply the law and cannot ignore precedent, but appellate judges have more leeway in issuing "activist" decisions.

He said he admires the way some of the "old guard" federal judges in San Francisco ran their courts and insisted that those in courtrooms abide by the rules.

"They had a presence about them," he said. "You knew not to mess with them."

If he has a credo, Watson said, it would be:

"The rules are there for a reason; it’s not to flout."

Because he worked in the U.S. attorney’s office, Watson will not handle any pending criminal or civil cases involving the office, but he will hear cases involving the office that were filed since his swearing-in.

His first hearing will be in a civil case in about two weeks.

Watson will also be moving in July from his temporary chambers to the fourth-floor chambers of the late Samuel King.

"I thought it was apropos for us to take Judge King’s chambers and hopefully in some very small way try to fill his shoes," he said.