Sabrina Shizue McKenna grew up in Asia and graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She then received a J.D. degree from the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. She was a civil litigator, corporate counsel, and law professor until her appointment as a Hawaii state court judge in 1993. She presided in District, Circuit, and Family Courts, and also served as Senior Judge of the Family Court of the First Circuit, until her appointment as an Associate Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court in 2011.