Strategic alliance
I’ve encountered one of its founders on at least three occasions.
Prominent tax lawyer Lily Gruba was the tax law examiner when I took the 2007 bar examinations which was chaired by former Supreme Court associate justice Adolf Azcuna and said to be one of the most difficult exams in the history of the bar exams such that only five percent of the examinees initially passed.
The SC later adjusted the passing rate from 75 percent to 70 percent, so that from five percent, the number of examinees who passed increased to 22.9 percent. Of the eight bar subjects, I got the highest grade in tax by the way. How I did, I still do not know until now because the tax questions were very tricky.
Then I met Ms. Gruba at the Ateneo Law School where she was assistant dean then and was one of my professors at the graduate school. She was very nice and accommodating.
The third time, I met her on the golf course. She plays nine holes almost every day before she reports for work. I doubt if she remembers me from my Ateneo days, but she still smiles at me everytime I see her. I don’t think she knows that I’m a writer.
And then I learned that Zambrano Gruba Caganda & Advincula Law Office (ZGLaw), a Manila-based law firm where Gruba is the managing partner and which she cofounded in 1993 with the late lawyer Daisy Zambrano, has entered into a strategic alliance with a top-tier law firm based in Singapore. That’s something to be proud of.
In today’s fast-growing world of regional economic integration, the legal profession should be among the first to adopt to the changing landscape and meet the challenges of a projected higher demand for cross-border services in the practice of law.
WongPartnership has long foreseen this scenario, thus expanding its presence across key cities of Asia as early as 10 years ago.
After establishing offices and networks in Beijing and Shanghai in China, Yangon in Myanmar, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Jakarta in Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, WongPartnership announced last July 7 its strategic alliance with ZGLaw in Manila.
They disclosed that the combined resources of ZGLaw and WongPartnership signals the emergence of a new legal powerhouse in the Philippines. In turn, ZGLaw’s addition to WongPartnership’s current network of over 300 lawyers will further strengthen the latter’s presence in Asia, they added.
Observers note that with the Duterte administration rebalancing the country’s foreign policy by leaning more toward its Asian neighbors, further liberalizing the capital markets, and embarking on a massive infrastructure buildup, the WongPartnership-ZGLaw alliance could not have come at a more opportune time, given that their combined expertise in the fields of banking and finance, international arbitration and dispute resolution, taxation, and mergers and acquisitions would be in high demand in the Philippines and the rest of Asia, considered as the world’s fastest-growing economic region.
WongPartnership, established in 1992, focuses on advisory and transactional work in the areas of finance, and the corporate and capital markets. Consistently ranked at the highest levels by international legal commentators and publications, it is also acknowledged as an expert in complex and high-profile litigation and arbitration issues. Chambers Global, Chambers Asia-Pacific, The Legal 500: Asia Pacific and IFLR1000 are among the publications and lawyers’ guides that have cited WongPartnership as among the best in Asia.
The firm has offices in Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Yangon, and seconded to its associate firms Foong & Partners in Kuala Lumpur, Makes & Partners in Jakarta, Al Aidarous International Legal Practice in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and now ZGLaw in Manila.
Meanwhile, ZGLaw represents and advises blue-chip and foreign clients in the Philippines. Aside from its expertise in tax matters, the firm also holds a sterling reputation in handling cases involving banking and finance, mergers and acquisitions, and dispute resolution.
Prior to announcing their alliance, both firms have worked together on high-profile cases such as the recent Singapore International Arbitration Centre arbitration involving a dispute with claims of over $600 million.
Gruba said it is very heartening that their interactions across countries have brought them to another law firm and other lawyers who share them own ideas of personalized service and excellence in a global setting, who are very professional and with whom they are comfortable to work with.
She stressed that WongPartnership espouses and shares the values which ZGLaw believes in.
For his part, Alvin Yeo, senior counsel, chairman and senior partner of WongPartnership noted that working together, they have discovered a shared ethos between their firms of providing exceptional legal service and putting clients’ interests first.
He said that their alliance with ZGLaw is mutually beneficial and would enable them to leverage their Philippine law capability to better serve theirclients in the ASEAN region, while providing ZGLaw’s clients access to their regional expertise in China, the Middle East and the rest of ASEAN.
Ng Wai King, managing partner of WongPartnership, added that the alliance strengthens their already strong regional offering and firmly positions WongPartnership as a leading law firm for clients wishing to capitalize on the projected growth of the ASEAN economies.