The state Senate voted unanimously yesterday to confirm Craig Nakamura as chief judge on the state Intermediate Court of Appeals.

Nakamura, who has serv-ed as an associate judge on the appeals court since 2004, replaces Mark Recktenwald, who moved up to the state Supreme Court.

"I think he has experience. He wants to keep that whole 'ohana and family culture that the ICA has, and that way be more productive," said state Sen. Brian Tani-guchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Government Operations Committee.

State Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kahala, Hawai'i Kai), said all of the public testimony on Nakamura before the committee was supportive.

"He has the integrity, the background and the administrative ability — because of his experience — to be a good judge," Slom said.

The six-judge appeals court, which hears cases in panels of three, now functions as the primary appeals court in the state.

Nakamura is a former assistant U.S. attorney and a lawyer in private practice who has taught appellate advocacy at the University of Hawai'i William S. Richardson School of Law. He graduated from UH and Harvard Law School.