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BUSINESS ADDRESS
999 Bishop Street
26th Floor
Honolulu, HI 96813

E-MAIL
btk@ksglaw.com

TELEPHONE
808-539-8700

FACSIMILE
808-539-8799

PRACTICE AREAS
Commercial Litigation
Construction Litigation
Development Consultation
Commercial Consultation
Construction Contract Drafting
Public Utilities

EDUCATION
Roosevelt High School

Gettysburg College
Bachelor of Arts

University of California
Hastings College of the Law
Juris Doctor

 
     
     
     
     
     
 

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.

 
     
   
     
  © 2003 Kobayashi Sugita & Goda, Attorneys at Law
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