We provide top-ranked legal representation and advocacy in every forum, involving disputes of varying scope and complexity. 

Commercial dispute resolution is a core competency that we nurtured over decades representing some of the biggest corporations in the country. Our litigators come from diverse backgrounds which include accountants, business, economics and finance majors, engineers, and health professionals. This diversity flowing from various disciplines and perspectives allow us to provide comprehensive and tailored solutions through innovative approaches to every dispute.

Since its establishment, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the Central Monetary Authority of the Philippines) and its Monetary Board have remained among our top clients. Our firm handles their most demanding and complicated cases — from its regulatory functions, to its operations as the lender of last resort of all financial institutions in the Philippines.  

With an established reputation as industry leader in banking litigation, we remain the firm of choice to represent most of the country’s leading banks and financial institutions.

With a highly experienced team of lawyers and lawyer-accountants capable of delivering the meticulous preparation needed in complex tax disputes, our firm handles some of the biggest tax cases currently being litigated in the trial courts, the Court of Tax Appeals, and the Supreme Court. 

We represent local conglomerates and multinational corporations, and counsel industry organizations on measures to address changes in revenue regulations and tariff structures that impact their businesses. 

Today, our firm remains top of mind in the choice of representation in tax litigation – be it on matters of local government taxation or disputes involving national taxation. 

Our thorough case preparation and attention to detail have made our appellate practice preeminent in the field. Our lawyers routinely handle some of the most significant and difficult cases before the appellate courts, like the Court of Appeals, the Court of Tax Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, and the Supreme Court. 

Our roster of appellate litigators, led by former Solicitor General and Ombudsman Simeon V. Marcelo (formerly the principal counsel for the Republic of the Philippines), has extensively and successfully argued some of the most complicated and impactful cases before the Supreme Court. These include significant and landmark cases involving,  among others, critical cases relating to pressing social issues, the validity of national laws and industry-wide regulatory issuances, and some of the most crucial disputes in commercial law, intellectual property, power and energy, mining, infrastructure, transport and public utilities, labor and employment, taxation, trade and telecommunications and ICT.

Corporate rehabilitation and insolvency law remains one of the strongest areas of expertise of our litigators. Since the first enactment of the law on corporate rehabilitation in 1981, our founding partner Avelino J. Cruz, Jr. has led our team of litigators in handling some of the largest corporate rehabilitation proceedings in the country and have since established a strong reputation in the field.  

This long-standing tradition of expertise and excellence is continued by the next generation of litigators in our firm. They continue to represent clients in litigation under the more recent Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act (FRIA).  

Our select team of litigators – which include accountants, business, economics, and finance majors, and engineers — allow us to provide comprehensive solutions and innovative approaches to every dispute with the necessary expertise to help clients navigate the intricacies of corporate rehabilitation and insolvency law under the FRIA, whether on the side of creditors or debtors.
Chambers Practice Guide: Insolvency 2020

In an ever-changing globalized landscape, timely and cost-effective legal services are crucial in ensuring that companies benefit from international trade. Our Trade Practice guides various industries and businesses through complex trade regulations and measures as the country stands in the crossroads of the world’s fastest-growing economies. 

Our lawyers have extensive experience in representing both local and foreign clients before the Department of Trade and Industry and the Tariff Commission. We have assisted exporters and importers in assailing or defending against trade measures that limit access to the Philippine market, as well as represent the domestic industry in applications for trade remedies against injurious imports, including provisional measures. 

Our Trade Litigation practice is led by Susan D. Villanueva and Miguel U. Silos, who are recognized pioneers and experts in the field of trade law in the Philippines. They were the first in the country to initiate and prosecute an application for safeguard measures, and have represented the domestic industry before the Supreme Court in the landmark case concerning safeguard measures.  

Our firm has successfully represented Asia’s largest iron, steel and glass industries and the domestic steel industry in trade remedy proceedings. We have also advised the petrochemical industry on ASEAN Free Trade Agreement matters and given pro-active advice to multinational construction firms to prepare against possible trade actions.

Our firm is extensively immersed in labor relations practice which defines the status, rights and duties as well as institutional mechanisms that govern individual and collective interactions between management, employees and the latter’s representatives, such as federations and unions. 

Exerting every effort to understand our clients’ business needs and balancing them with employee’s rights and welfare puts us in a position to help clients establish a workplace environment that promotes fairness, growth, productivity and profitability.  

Our lawyers ably assist clients with statutory and reportorial requirements relating to the legally mandated terms and conditions of employment. Collective bargaining negotiation and the adoption of a pro-active and hands-on approach in helping management understand the legal intricacies and practical considerations of labor and employment relations are among our firm’s core competencies in this field.  

Armed with a clear perspective and extensive experience, our firm is able to provide excellent legal service in drafting and implementing employment contracts and whenever necessary, handling administrative disciplinary proceedings. Well-versed in issues involving labor and employment regulations, our dedicated litigators have successfully represented clients before quasi-judicial agencies and the appellate courts in a wide range of employment disputes.  

Through the years, our firm has established a reputation as one of the go-to labor and employment law firms in the country.