David M. Hayakawa

David M. Hayakawa is the lead attorney at the Law Office of David Hayakawa in Honolulu, Hawaii. Mr. Hayakawa dedicates his practice to matters of criminal defense and family law restraining order cases. He serves clients throughout the State of Hawaii in all manner of criminal defense cases, including domestic violence, sex assault, felony and misdemeanor cases in both State and Federal Court.  Mr. Hayakawa has served as lead counsel in well over 100 felony jury trials, many of those being sexual assault jury trials.  Mr. Hayakawa's law practice is almost exclusively based on attorney referrals, such that he doesn't have an office website, although he does accept referrals from this Super Lawyers Page.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Hayakawa has received recognition for his accomplishments in the legal profession. He is listed in both the prestigious Honolulu Magazine's “Best Lawyers in Hawaii” and in the national publication “The Best Lawyers in America” for Criminal defense: General Practice and Criminal Defense: White Collar, both publications having named him as "Lawyer of the Year" for Criminal Defense: General Practice in 2021. 

Mr. Hayakawa earned his law degree from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law and has been admitted to practice law in Hawaii since 1987.  Before establishing his own law firm, Mr. Hayakawa worked at the Law Office of Howard K.K. Luke (fellow Super-Lawyer) and as a senior felony trial attorney at the State of Hawaii's Office of the Public Defender. 

In addition to his law practice, Mr. Hayakawa is actively engaged in his legal and professional communities. Since 2014 he has served as the Dean of the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Trial Academy, is the chairperson of the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii’s Rule 1.14 Professionalism Course Committee, a member of the Judiciary's Hawaii Standard Jury Instructions Committee, and the Judiciary's Penal Rules Committee, is the Hawaii Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Representative on the Domestic Violence Stakeholder's Group which is made up of supervising DV judges, prosecutors and public defenders, and is the Executive Producer of the annual Hawaii Bar Association #Rock4Justice Fundraiser that brings together Judges and Lawyers for a Rock and Roll fundraiser for public interest scholarships at the University of Hawaii's Richardson School of Law.  In 2018 he was awarded the prestigious Bar Association Ikena Award for outstanding service towards legal education.  Mr. Hayakawa presently serves on the City and County of Honolulu's Salary Commission and was nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate to serve on the State of Hawaii's Public Defender Council.  He also enjoys giving back to his local community by serving on the non-profit Board of Directors of the Kilohana Pre-School and by having served as chairperson of the non-profit Kilohana Senior Enrichment Center’s Board of Directors.