David Day is one of the Asia Pacific Region’s leading international legal practitioners, with special emphasis on Asia and based in Hawaii.

 

As a U.S. business lawyer, Mr. Day has been on the ground extensively throughout Asia in deal-structuring and negotiations and is currently involved in a variety of commercial projects in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, China and Japan.

In addition to cross-border work representing nationals and firms from these countries along with American firms operating in each other’s markets, Mr. Day continues to handle various commercial, corporate, international business and complex litigation matters in Hawaii, on the U.S. Mainland, throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands Regions (a more specific delineation of legal expertise can be found here.). His extensive experience includes wide variety of fields, including high technology, software and telecommunications. Mr. Day’s clients have included Fortune 500 firms, Asian foreign governments, as well as, technology, securities, industrial/manufacturing, construction, airline, resort, tourism, software, real estate development, mining, entertainment, and education firms. He has represented the interests of the Japanese government in Washington. The client mix has ranged from individual entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 companies.

 

Mr. Day is also a frequent speaker on legal, international business, foreign policy and geopolitical topics at conferences and symposiums throughout the Asia-Pacific Region including the U.S. Mainland, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands. He is also a frequent speaker and faculty leader on international business and legal topics at executive and MBA-level courses and symposiums throughout the Asia/Pacific Region.

 

International Trade and Export Development

 

Following his nearly decade-long work with the export and business development work of the Hawaii Pacific Export Council, Mr. Day, in 2017, was elected to represent the Pacific South Region of the United States (Guam, Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, Southern California, Nevada and Arizona) on the Steering Committee of the National District Export Council, working closely with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

 

In 1997, as a private citizen, Mr. Day brokered the very first public discussions on the subject of a possible Bilateral Trade Agreement between Ministers of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and senior officials of the U.S. State and Commerce Departments (within 3 months of these first discussions which David initiated, the United States produced the very first rough draft of a trade agreement and transmitted it to Hanoi—it was ultimately put into effect some 3 years later).

 

Widely recognized in the field both domestically here in the U.S. and internationally, David Day has trained professional international arbitrators and conflict resolution experts (lawyers, solicitors, business executives and subject matter experts) all over the Asia Region. He also pioneered the development of mediation and conciliation in both Singapore and Malaysia, training their very first panels of mediators.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London), Mr. Day has served as the Chairman or Sole Arbitrator in many U.S. domestic and international arbitrations administered by the American Arbitration Association and the International Court of Arbitration (ICC) in Paris. For example, the Singapore International Arbitration Center selected Mr. Day as the international arbitral Chairman in a large dispute between companies located in the U.S., India and Mauritius.

 

David Day was one of the very first 7 Americans recognized and empaneled as an international arbitrator in the People’s Republic of China in the early 1990’s and is one of only 45 Americans named as global arbitrators in the International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitrators published by Law Business Research.

 

In the Fall of 2010, David Day was selected to serve on the Panel of international arbitrators of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration which handles commercial project disputes from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and certain African countries.

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Philippines: The Peoples Power Revolution on EDSA during the Corazon Aquino era

 

Mr. Day worked with the Aquino forces during the People’s Power Revolution in the Philippines during the mid-1980’s and was the legal counsel for several Ministers in the new government after the departure of Ferdinand Marcos. He is the only American to receive a commendation from the Filipino NGO, NAMFREL, for his contribution to the development of democracy and freedom in the Philippines.

 

This engagement with the Philippines continued throughout most of his career and, beginning in the early 2000s, David worked on Abu Sayaaf-blocking, counter-terrorism/humanitarian projects in Jolo, Sulu, and on Mindanao. That engagement continues even in current projects which are both humanitarian and counter-terrorism in nature.

 

Vietnam: Anti-corruption & Business Integrity

 

In 2006, Mr. Day was asked by the both U.S. State Department and the U.S Embassy in Hanoi to serve as a principal spokesperson with the Vietnamese for programs and discussions on ways to cut back corruption.

 

Anti-corruption training for Vietnamese govt officials and SOE executives. Hanoi, Vietnam

Following this initial foray in Vietnam on this highly sensitive topic, in the Fall of 2008, David then proceeded to conduct the pioneer training of Vietnamese executives in anti-corruption, business ethics and good-governance in Ho Chi Minh City as a part of Hawaii’s Shidler College of Business Vietnam ExecMBA program. He has continued these much-needed and highly-effective anti-corruption and business integrity trainings in Vietnam with the latest renditions in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the Fall of 2012.

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Indonesia: Trade & Business Development

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Mr. Day has been one of Hawaii’s key leaders from the private sector in the negotiation and development of the State of Hawaii’s Sister-State relationship with the island and province of Bali, Indonesia.

 

Mr. Day is also a Founding Director and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Indonesia Chamber of Commerce (HICHAM) which focuses on the development of trade between Indonesian firms and the Hawaii business community.

 

Media Host and International Affairs Commentator

 

David Day has also been a frequent television media talk show host on topics relating to international business, foreign policy, national security and geopolitics. A partial archive of television programs hosted by Mr. Day can be found under “Our Media” above on this website. Mr. Day’s media guests have ranged from senior U.S. officials at the Deputy Secretary level, well-known Hawaii and Asian business executives, executive educators, think tank experts, top U.S. military officials (both active duty and retired), as well as senior Asian political leaders.

 

Faculty & Executive Educator

 

David Day is also been a business school professor and has taught at the Undergraduate, MBA and Executive MBA levels in the U.S. and in Asia (the University of Hawii’s Shidler College of Business and Hawaii Pacific University’s College of Business, the Hanoi School of Business, the Asia Pacific Center for Securities Studies in Waikiki, and at the Yonsei University and SungKyunKwan Schools of Business in Seoul, Korea).

As a business school professor, Mr. Day is well-known for his intense courses and programs in Cross-cultural, International Negotiations and his trainings for Asian executives on How to Negotiate and Work with Americans. He has trained numerous groups of Japanese executives, Chinese diplomats, South Korean executives and MBA candidates, as well as Vietnamese government and private sector executives on this topic of engagement with Americans and American business.

 

Prof. Day has been a frequent presenter at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Waikiki before senior military officers and diplomats from around the Asia Region on issues that impact the business interests of the private sector and the linkage of those business issues with security.