Our Vision
Excellence and Passion in the Practice of Law and Service to our Clients with Integrity and Social Responsibility
Who we are and what we are about
We are six (6) friends who share the same values of a PRINCIPLED, ETHICAL, COURAGEOUS, PROGRESSIVE AND CREATIVE LEGAL PRACTICE AND ADVOCACY and have come together to practice our chosen profession with the HIGHEST DEGREE OF COMMITMENT, EXCELLENCE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
While we are a relatively young firm, having been formed only in 1997, we believe that, individually and collectively, we are experienced beyond our years as a partnership.
Three of our partners have been professors in the University of the Philipines College of Law and San Sebastian School of Law; one of our partners currently is a tenured faculty member at the University of the Philippines and the Director of its Legal Aid Clinic.
Our two senior partners have over two (2) decades of experience in litigation, business and human rights lawyering; our junior partners have also, in over a decade, gained a reputation for excellence, integrity, professionalism and commitment.
While we are a law firm engaged in the general practice of law and thus similar to most, we are also different from most law firms.
Recognizing that the practice of law is our "bread and butter", we are a full service law firm with practice encompassing corporate law, property acquisitions, taxation, intellectual property, labor law, family law, estate planning, appellate practice and civil and criminal litigation.
Acknowledging also, however, that the practice of law has both heart and soul, different from most law firms, we do pro bono work for indigent litigants as well as victims of human rights violations as an integral part of our practice. No difference exists in the commitment of the firm between a paying client and a pro bono client in terms of the quality of legal services offered and rendered.
In our labor relations practice, we are different from most law firms because we represent employers as well as employees and employee unions. Our services in this area encompass consultations and advise on routine legal matters to collective bargaining negotiations and administration of collective bargaining agreements to special projects involving strategies in promoting labor-management cooperation. Our experience, as management and as union lawyers, has given us unique insights and perspectives in addressing, in a more wholistic and integrated manner, labor problems and disputes which has served our clients in good stead in ensuring industrial harmony.
Finally, different from most law firms, an essential component of our advocacy is education in the law. We believe that the legal maxim "ignorance of the law excuses no one" becomes meaningful only if the people affected by the law are given the opportunity to know what the law is and to understand it properly. Three (3) of the partners have taught law; all of the partners are experienced trainors, having given countless hours teaching the law and training non-lawyers to use the law for their benefit.
Our education and training programs are geared towards providing, in some small measure, this opportunity. In the labor relations field, for example, we offer education and training programs especially designed to meet the needs of a particular establishment or labor union; extensive use is made of primers and training programs and experienced trainors in the industrial relations field. In other fields of practice, our clients are given specific insights into their particular legal problems by actively involving them in the decision-making process as well as strategic planning of their cases; in so doing, they are armed with the means to understand the law and to use it to their advantage without undue dependence4 on lawyers.
Because of these differences, our practice has been called "radical"; more charitably, it has been called "non-traditional."
These are descriptions we take pride in because they tell us that we are making an impact and a difference in the legal profession: that the "principled, ethical, courageous, progressive and creative legal practice and advocacy" and our vision of EXCELLENCE AND PASSION IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW AND SERVICE TO OUR CLIENTS WITH INTEGRITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY" is slowly becoming a reality.
While we are a relatively young firm, having been formed only in 1997, we believe that, individually and collectively, we are experienced beyond our years as a partnership.
Three of our partners have been professors in the University of the Philipines College of Law and San Sebastian School of Law; one of our partners currently is a tenured faculty member at the University of the Philippines and the Director of its Legal Aid Clinic.
Our two senior partners have over two (2) decades of experience in litigation, business and human rights lawyering; our junior partners have also, in over a decade, gained a reputation for excellence, integrity, professionalism and commitment.
While we are a law firm engaged in the general practice of law and thus similar to most, we are also different from most law firms.
Recognizing that the practice of law is our "bread and butter", we are a full service law firm with practice encompassing corporate law, property acquisitions, taxation, intellectual property, labor law, family law, estate planning, appellate practice and civil and criminal litigation.
Acknowledging also, however, that the practice of law has both heart and soul, different from most law firms, we do pro bono work for indigent litigants as well as victims of human rights violations as an integral part of our practice. No difference exists in the commitment of the firm between a paying client and a pro bono client in terms of the quality of legal services offered and rendered.
In our labor relations practice, we are different from most law firms because we represent employers as well as employees and employee unions. Our services in this area encompass consultations and advise on routine legal matters to collective bargaining negotiations and administration of collective bargaining agreements to special projects involving strategies in promoting labor-management cooperation. Our experience, as management and as union lawyers, has given us unique insights and perspectives in addressing, in a more wholistic and integrated manner, labor problems and disputes which has served our clients in good stead in ensuring industrial harmony.
Finally, different from most law firms, an essential component of our advocacy is education in the law. We believe that the legal maxim "ignorance of the law excuses no one" becomes meaningful only if the people affected by the law are given the opportunity to know what the law is and to understand it properly. Three (3) of the partners have taught law; all of the partners are experienced trainors, having given countless hours teaching the law and training non-lawyers to use the law for their benefit.
Our education and training programs are geared towards providing, in some small measure, this opportunity. In the labor relations field, for example, we offer education and training programs especially designed to meet the needs of a particular establishment or labor union; extensive use is made of primers and training programs and experienced trainors in the industrial relations field. In other fields of practice, our clients are given specific insights into their particular legal problems by actively involving them in the decision-making process as well as strategic planning of their cases; in so doing, they are armed with the means to understand the law and to use it to their advantage without undue dependence4 on lawyers.
Because of these differences, our practice has been called "radical"; more charitably, it has been called "non-traditional."
These are descriptions we take pride in because they tell us that we are making an impact and a difference in the legal profession: that the "principled, ethical, courageous, progressive and creative legal practice and advocacy" and our vision of EXCELLENCE AND PASSION IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW AND SERVICE TO OUR CLIENTS WITH INTEGRITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY" is slowly becoming a reality.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
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