Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz: Philippines

Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW) is a cohesive multi-disciplinary team of legal professionals who possess in-depth knowledge of specialized fields of law backed by extensive experience. Its clientele includes hundreds of local and multinational companies. It has branches in Cebu City and Davao City, the two most important cities in the Philippines outside of Metro Manila, to better cater to the needs of its clients.

Today, the Firm has over 120 lawyers and is one of the two largest law firms in the Philippines. Equally as important, the Firm's lawyers have vast cross-border experience in complicated international transactions and are able to quickly service and communicate with international clients in real time. Being the member firm in the Philippines of Terralex, it has an extensive network of correspondent firms positioned in the primary business centers of the world. ACCRALAW's pre-eminent presence in the Philippines, coupled with its international experience and network, makes it truly distinct.

For administrative purposes, the firm is organized into seven departments:

• Corporate and Special Projects: Services include due diligence, joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, reorganizations and restructurings, loan syndications, incentives registration, securities transactions, the establishment of business organizations in the Philippines, proxy contests and intracorporate disputes. The firm also renders legal services to general retainer clients required in the ordinary course of business such as consultation and advice, preparation of ordinary contracts and legal documents, rendering opinions and notary services as well as ancillary corporate secretarial services. Among the special projects the firm has been involved in are:

1. in power related projects, representation of foreign investors in bidding for private or government owned power plant assets which are being sold or privatized;
2. in infrastructure and project finance, the final capitalization and project financing of the South Luzon Expressway extension;
3. in business process outsourcing, assistance to foreign clients which establish BPO centers in the Philippines, including Dell Corporation, Nucomm International, Sitel Corporation, Infonxx, and others;
4. in mining, assistance to foreign and local clients who want to engage in mining operations either through joint ventures for mineral exploration, royalty agreements, operating agreements or financial and technical assistance agreements;
5. in banking, assistance to sellers or buyers of non-performing assets of banks under the SPV Act, in more than 40 transactions for more than 20 clients, loan syndications, and bank regulatory compliance;
6. in securities and capital markets, acting as counsel for underwriters or issuers in initial public offerings, issuance of convertible preferred shares as tier-one capital of banks, assistance to the Market Integrity Board of the Philippine Stock Exchange, and membership in the Philippine Senate committees drafting the proposed laws on collective investment schemes and REITS;
7. in real estate, acting as counsel in the redevelopment of commercial centers, joint development agreements for high rise condominium projects and establishment of condominium corporations;
8. in insolvency and restructuring, assistance to foreign and local creditors in the rehabilitation proceedings for major Philippine corporations.

• Employment: Services cover all matters involving labor/management relations, such as negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, administrative investigation of cases involving employees, dismissal and suspension of employees, money claims and damages arising from employer-employee relations.
• Immigration: Representation before government agencies involved in defining the terms and conditions of an alien’s authorized stay in the Philippines, as well as representation before the courts in connection with petitions for the acquisition of Philippine citizenship.
• Intellectual Property: Representation of clients in all aspects of intellectual property protection issues on services involving trademarks, patents, and copyrights (including registration and post-registration of intellectual property rights and prosecuting or defending any litigation matter involving intellectual property); assistance in the preparation of documentation and the recordation of assignments, licensing agreements, franchise agreements, technology transfer agreements involving intellectual properties, and related agreements such as distributorship agreements and confidentiality agreements. The firm has expanded its practice to include information technology and entertainment law.
• Litigation: Representation before regular courts of law, administrative agencies, quasi-judicial tribunals and arbitral bodies, both international and local covering all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration, including intracorporate disputes, rehabilitation and insolvency proceedings; actions to enforce obligations under international transactions; maritime and admiralty; insurance; violation of banking laws; public utilities; actions for foreclosure of mortgages and other disputes involving real estate conveyances, mortgages and leases; and criminal actions.
• Tax: Services encompass the entire field of national and local taxation, customs and anti-dumping laws, employee benefits, estate planning and international taxation.