About

David Day is one of the Asia Pacific Region’s leading international legal practitioners, with special emphasis on Asia. 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 Vietnam, China and Japan. He is also a frequent speaker on international business and legal topics at symposiums throughout the Region.


  • 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.

  • 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).

  • 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. In the Fall of 2008, David conducted 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 is also a business school professor that has taught at the 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).

  • Prof. Day is well-known for his intense 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 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.

  • 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 first panels of mediators.

  • Earlier in 2009, 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 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.

  • David Day has represented the interests of the Japanese government in Washington.

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

  • Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and HICHAM Chairman David Day exchange views (2011)

    [/Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and HICHAM Chairman David Day exchange views (2011)]

  • In addition, Mr. Day serves on the Boards of Directors of Asia America Initiative (a Washington, D.C. NGO focused on disaster management and peace-keeping in the Muslim southern islands of the Philippines and humanitarian causes in North Korea), ThinkTech Hawaii, the Hawaii Pacific Export Council, and the Hawaii Ballet Theater.

  • Mr. Day is also an active member of Pacific Forum CSIS and assists that U.S. foreign policy think tank by hosting and moderating its Radio and Television broadcasts in their “Issues & Insights” series on foreign policy and geopolitical developments in the Asia-Pacific Region.

  • David Day also frequently appears as the television talk-show host on the “Asia-In-Review” program broadcast throughout the Hawaiian Islands on topics relating to international business and geopolitics. He also hosts the weekly “Asia in Review” radio show on the same topics.