The Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee on Thursday unanimously approved two nominations by Gov. David Ige to the the state Circuit Court and a third nomination by Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald to the Honolulu District Court.

The judicial nominees — Shirley M. Kawamura, Melvin H. Fujino and James C. McWhinnie — now face a full floor vote by the Senate today, part of a two-day special session.

Kawamura, 43, who was nominated by Ige to Oahu Circuit Court, is a former commercial and insurance defense litigator at Kawashima Lorusso and previously worked as a trial deputy at the Office of the Public Defender. She has served as a district judge on Oahu since 2012.

Fujino, 55, who was nominated by Ige to the Circuit Court on Hawaii island, has served as a judge with the District Family Court on the island since 2008. He previously worked as deputy attorney general and was a team leader responsible for the Statewide Wiretap Review Unit and Asset Forfeiture program.

Fujino was also a deputy prosecuting attorney and supervisor, as well as a community-oriented prosecutor for the West Hawaii branch of the Hawaii County Office of the Prosecutor.

McWhinnie, 62, who was nominated by Recktenwald to Honolulu District Court, has been a director with Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert since 1989, handling primarily commercial, product liability, construction, environmental and personal injury cases. He was previously a partner with Rother, Bybee, Chang and Rulon and has served as an advocate, arbitrator and mediator.

McWhinnie also served as secretary and director of the Hawaii State Bar Association and as co-chairman of its Judicial Administration Committee, and was a co-founder of the Lawyer Kokua Program.

McWhinnie’s term would be for six years, while Kawamura and Fujino have been nominated for 10-year terms.

All three nominees were vetted by the Hawaii State Bar Association, which gave them “qualified” ratings. Public testimony submitted to the Senate was overwhelmingly in favor of the nominees, according to a review of legislative documents.

The Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee met for about five minutes before voting to approve the nominees. The hearing followed a longer committee meeting on Tuesday during which McWhinnie, Fujino and Kawamura were questioned about their credentials.