Member Profile

Rogelio Nicandro (Senior Partner), is a member of the Executive Board and the head of the Intellectual Property group. His practice focuses on intellectual property, litigation, and arbitration. Roger started practicing law immediately after the bar when he was invited by his professor, William R. Veto, a commercial law authority and senior counsel of Tañada Carreon Tañada, to be his legal assistant. He handled civil and commercial litigation at the trial and appellate level. He also handled insurance and intellectual property, variegated contracts, and prepared opinions for his banking clientele. Roger joined the firm in 1969. In his early years, his practice was concentrated on litigation, civil and commercial, with some criminal cases. He was also into contracts, banking, corporations, intellectual property, and condominiums. He is a pioneer in condominium law practice, having been counsel for the earliest condominium projects in the Philippines. Roger has acted as panel chairman and arbitrator in significant cases and has been elected since 1996 as trustee of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, the country’s foremost arbitration center. In 1999, he became the head of the intellectual property department of the firm. He regularly attends international IP congresses where he often contributes country reports and position papers. He is currently Vice-President of the Intellectual Property Lawyers’ Association of the Philippines and is past president of the Licensing Executives Society International, Philippine Group. From 1987 to 2011, Roger was a legal consultant of the Asian Development Bank. He also taught Election Law in Ateneo Law School for eight years. He was lead counsel of the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), particularly, for its successful accreditation as the citizen’s arm for the snap presidential elections of 1986 before the Marcos-controlled Commission on Elections. He likewise handled human rights cases and became Counsel General of the Brotherhood of Nationalistic, Involved and Free Attorneys to Combat Injustice and Oppression (BONIFACIO), a human rights lawyers’ group. He is past president of the Legal Management Association of the Philippines. Roger received his A.B. Philosophy degree from San Beda College and is a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila School of Law.

Our mission is to pursue at all times the path of excellence, to develop our capabilities to the fullest, and to extend ourselves to the limit. Our vision is to faithfully adhere to the principles of dedicated service in the finest traditions and highest ideals of a learned and noble profession. From a modest commercial law practice in downtown Manila at the turn of the 20th century, today we are one of the largest and most highly regarded law firms in the Philippines with a full offering of legal services, including advice and representation in banking and finance, capital market and securities, energy and infrastructure, immigration, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation and arbitration, real estate and natural resources, taxation, and technology, media, and telecommunications. We are composed of more than 90 lawyers – all of whom speak English fluently and a good number of whom have received training and graduate degrees from universities abroad. Our lawyers are also active officers and members of business and civic associations in the Philippines and around the world. We are the sole Philippine member of Lex Mundi, a global network of about 160 independent law firms, with a combined total of more than 21,000 lawyers in all commercially significant jurisdictions throughout the world. We are also the TRACE partner firm in the Philippines and join other TRACE firms around the world in providing practical and cost-effective anti-bribery compliance to global businesses.