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Bert T. Kobayashi, Jr. is a Senior
Partner of the law firm and one of its founding partners. Mr. Kobayashi is
intimately involved with the governmental, political and business fabric of the
State of Hawaii and is there by in touch with the vibrant business pulse of the
State of Hawaii. These extensive and comprehensive contacts enable Mr.
Kobayashi to effectively advise his clients in their business activities in the
State of Hawaii.
Mr. Kobayashi's practice concentrates
in the areas of commercial and construction litigation, consultation in
development and construction, commercial and construction document drafting and
consultation, administrative law, governmental procurement and contracts,
antitrust and public utilities
representation.
Business
Activities:
Mr. Kobayashi is a respected member of
the business community.
He has been a director of First
Hawaiian Bank since 1975 to the current date and currently sits on the
executive committee of the board; He also sits as a director of the P. N. P.
Paribas U.S. Bank holding company that owns the First Hawaiian Bank, BancWest
Corporation and has been on the BancWest Board since 1991 and currently sits on
its audit committee. Mr. Kobayashi has sat since 2004 on the Hawaii Holdings,
Inc. (Hawaiian Air Lines) Board of directors and currently chairs its
Governance and Nominations Committee, and sits on the Audit and Compensation
Committees. He has in the past sat on
board of directors for the following publicly listed corporations: Western Air
Lines from 1975 until its sale to Delta Air Lines in 1989 and on the board of
Schuler Homes, Inc. from about 1992 until it merged with Western Pacific in
2001, Schuler Homes then merged into D.H. Horton, Inc. resulting in one of the
largest homebuilders in the United States. He has in the past also served as a
Director of Hawaiian Insurance and Guaranty, a Hawaii casualty insurance
company, from 1975 through 1982, Director of Inter-Continental Medical Services
from 1986 until its sale in 1996, Advisory Board of GTE Hawaiian Telephone
Company from 1997 until its merger with Verizon in 2001.
Community
Activities
He has been active with community and
charitable boards and activities. He sat on the board of directors for Waialae
Country Club in Honolulu for three terms and was its president in 1997 and has
served on several of its committees. He is currently a Director and Vice
President of Friends of Hawaii Charities, the host entity for the PGA event,
the Sony Open in Hawaii, Director and executive committee of Ahahui Koa
Anuenue, the University of Hawaii's Athletic Foundation; past director of the
Hawaii Public Schools Foundation, past member of the Board of Visitors for
Lewis and Clark's Northwestern Law School in Portland, Oregon, member of the
Executive Committee of the Japan-Hawaii Economic Council, which was founded in
1971 and concluded in 2001, served on several search committees for the
University of Hawaii Athletic Department including the search committee for the
basketball coach in 2009 and football coach in 2012. He has coached in the community leagues and
at Punahou School as head coach of its JV Football team.
Professional Law Activities
Licensed to practie in the State
Courts of Hawaii and the Federal Courts. Member of the Hawaii Bar Association
and Member of the American Bar Association and the Hawaii Bar Association,
Member of the State of Hawaii's Judicial Selection Commission from 1985 through
1991. He was its chairperson from 1987 through 1989. Member of the American
Trial Lawyers Association and the American Board of Trial Advocates, and a
Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Member of the American Board
of Trial Advocates. Past Member of the American Law Institute. Past member of
the National Board of the American Judicature Society. Member of the American
Arbitration Association. He has served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration
Association in construction and commercial arbitrations.
Honors
Mr. Kobayashi has been listed since
1993 in Best Lawyers in America under the categories of Commercial Litigation
and Insurance Defense and later in the additional fields of Antitrust and
Construction Law. He has also been listed each year in the Honolulu Magazine's
issues featuring the Best Lawyers in the State of Hawaii in Commercial Law and
Litigation and Insurance and subsequently, Antitrust and Construction law from
the inception of these ratings recognizing outstanding lawyers in the state. He
has been recognized by Corporate Counsel’s publication in 2011 as among the Top
Lawyers, and by Hawaii Super Lawyers in 2011; he holds a Band 1 ranking from
Chambers and Partners under the category: General Commercial Hawaii.
In 1987, he received the Alumni's
Distinguished Service Award from the University of California's Hastings
College of the Law. In 2003 he was awarded the Honorary Alumnus Award by Lewis and
Clark's Northwestern School of Law and in 2005 was awarded the University of
Hawaii's Charles Ushijima Award for Distinguished Service.
Lectures
Mr. Kobayashi has taught classes in
civil procedure for the Hawaii Bar Review Course, and Wills and Estates for the
Honolulu Police Department Recruit School. For the College of Continuing
Education at the University of Hawaii, he has taught both as a regular
instructor in business law and as a guest instructor in construction law,
engineer's and architect's liability. He has also lectured for Professional
Education Systems, Inc. in the area of construction law for attorneys,
contractors and design professionals in Hawaii. He has taught in the area of
procurement law, RFPs and construction contracts for the Corporation Counsel's
annual conference.
Educational
Background:
Mr. Kobayashi was born in Honolulu,
Hawaii and graduated from Roosevelt High School. Mr. Kobayashi attended the
University of Hawaii and graduated from Gettysburg College in 1962, with a Bachelor
of Arts degree in Political Science with minors in psychology and mathematics.
Mr. Kobayashi received his Juris Doctor degree in 1965, from the University of
California, Hastings College of the Law.
Military
Service
Mr. Kobayashi
was commissioned in 1962 as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Military
Intelligence Branch. He entered active duty in 1965 as a First Lieutenant and
was trained at the Combat Infantry Platoon Leaders School at Fort Benning,
Georgia (IOBC 21) and the Counter Intelligence School at Fort Holabird,
Maryland. Mr. Kobayashi served in Vietnam with the 519th MI Battalion HHQ Co.
from June 1966 to June 1967. He was the head of the PsyopslInfra-structure
Section of the R&A Branch of MACV in Saigon and head of the strategic interrogation
team for Operation Hastings in Quin Yon. He was awarded the Bronze Star for
meritorious service in Vietnam. He received his honorable discharge with the
rank of Captain in 1967.
Family
Married
Harriet S. Ishimine, four children and nine grandchildren.
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