David F. Day is a prominent international lawyer based in Honolulu, Hawaii with substantial business and government relations in Southeast Asia and Washington, DC. Mr. Day maintains both a private foundation, the Global Risk Mitigation Foundation, and a separate business law practice.
Mr. Day is the Chairman and a Founding Director of the Global Risk Mitigation Foundation (shortened to, “GRMF”) which focuses on issues that involve national security and economic security. In recent years, the Foundation’s focus has been on capacity-building trainings in the national security sector as well as a number of initiatives in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands involving economic development and manufacturing.
Over the past few years, Mr. Day has conducted a number of programs, speeches and detailed briefings on malign, non-kinetic & economic warfare (including cognitive warfare), China’s Belt & Road Initiative, current U.S. Trade Policy, and countering radical Islam in Southeast Asia. These briefings have been before Asian Cabinet-level Ministers, Senior Foreign Military leaders & officers, think tanks, national defense institutions, diplomatic teams at U.S. and Asian Embassies and Consulates along with private sector business groups and conferences in both the U.S and Asia.
Much of Mr. Day’s international work as a private lawyer and in connection with GRMF has been with Vietnam and in the Philippines, where he maintains long-standing government, military, and private sector relationships and projects. His connections with both countries span multi-decades.
David Day is the former Chairman of the “China Belt & Road Task Force” for the American Bar Association’s International Section and was the architect of the ABA’s 2020-21 7-webinar series on the China’s Belt & Road Initiative.
As a private citizen, David Day is credited with the brokering and creation of the first public discussions on economic normalization in 1997 after the U.S. Embargo on Vietnam was lifted in the mid-1990s. These talks ultimately led to the initial draft of the Bilateral Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam. Approximately a decade later, Mr. Day conducted the pioneering programs on anti-corruption in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in cooperation with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce & Industry (VCCI) and the U.S. State Department. Mr. Day has also conducted various ExecMBA trade and business-related trainings in Vietnam for SOE and private sector executives.
As the former Chairman of the Trade Policy Committee of the National Association of District Export Councils, Mr. Day was engaged for several years in the coordination of global trade issues between the small business private sector and the U.S. Congress along with the U.S. trade-related Federal agencies: US Trade Representative (USTR), the U.S. Commerce Department, U.S. Export Import Bank (EXIM), U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and others.
Mr. Day is also known for his pioneering trainings of initial groups of solicitor-mediators in Singapore and Malaysia in the 1990s as well as training and certification of international arbitrators throughout the Asia-Pacific Region during the same period. Additionally, Mr. Day was the principal drafter of Hawaii’s International Commercial Arbitration law, Chapter 658D.
Media
David Day has frequently been interviewed on television in Hawaii and various other media outlets, including China Unscripted and Voice of America, on topics related to international business, geopolitics, Southeast Asia, and foreign affairs.
Publications
“Assessing China’s Belt & Road Initiative for Canada: Understanding Key PRC Principles and Issues come First”. Canadian International Lawyer · Nov 1, 2022.
“Indonesia’s “John Adams Moment”. Center for International Strategic Studies (CSIS) · Jul 31, 2014.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidfday/
Contact Information
Email: davidday@globalriskmitigation.org
Professional Law Background
Firm: Law Offices of David F. Day (established in Honolulu).
Admissions to Practice:
Hawaii State Bar (1974).
U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii (1974).
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (1977).
California State Bar (1978).
Education:
J.D. (with honors), George Washington University Law School, Washington, D.C. (1974).
A.B. (magna cum laude), Tufts University (1971). Political Science.
Contact Information:
Email: david@davidfday.com.
Location: Honolulu, HI.