Member Profiles

Main Partner. Attorney, International Law jurist, Master degree in Law (University of Kiev), Diploma in Taxation (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), as well as specialization in International Taxation (Universidad Austral - Argentina), with more than twenty years’ experience in tax consulting, tax planning and teaching. He is a member of the Tax Affairs Committee of the Lima Chamber of Commerce (CCL), and is a member of the pool of experts from the Tax Planet (www.taxplanet.com) worldwide organization of accounting and legal specialists, who specialize primarily in domestic and international taxation. Dr. Bravo Sheen has worked as Tax Advisor for Corporación Gloria, as Tax & Legal Manager for Deloitte, as Head of the Legal & Tax Division at the firm Estudio Caballero Bustamante (Thomson Reuters), and as Tax Manager of the Legal & Tax Division at the firm LGS Consultores S.A. Among the academic activities Dr. Bravo Sheen has carried out, are the following: Lecturer in taxation matters on the Business Administration Master’s course, the Law Master’s course and the International Financial Reporting Standards (NIIF) and Taxation Diploma courses at Universidad de Piura, on the Taxation Diploma courses at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, at Universidad de Lima, and at Universidad ESAN.

Mr. Agcaoili was designated as Managing Partner in April 2001, and continues to exercise general supervision over all areas of corporate practice and dispute resolution. He also exercises administrative control over paralegal and support staff, as well as the management of the Firm’s finances. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from De La Salle University and graduated with honors in 1981.  Mr. Agcaoili obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law in 1987 and passed the Bar Examination taken during the same year. He joined the Firm as Associate Attorney in 1988 and has since had an extensive practice in Aviation and Aircraft Finance, Banking, Corporate and Commercial Law and litigation, arbitration and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Energy, Family Law, as well as Labor and Criminal litigation. Concurrent with his active law practice, Mr. Agcaoili worked as Chief of Staff at the Philippine Senate from the years 1992 to 1998, during which time he was involved in legislative research, policy formulation and various proceedings of the Senate Committees on Health, Banking, Ways and Means, Games and Amusement, and Foreign Relations. Mr. Agcaoili joined the Philippine Bar Association in 1992 and has served as a Director/Trustee, and officer in various capacities since 2008. He was elected President of the Philippine Bar Association for 2018-2019. He is also a Director and Treasurer of the La Salle Greenhills Alumni Lawyers’ Association, and served as a Director of the Merville Park Homeowners’ Association from the years 2008-2012. Mr. Agcaoili is also a Charter Member and the current Secretary of the Rotary Club of Makati Premier District Inc.  Practice Areas: Aircraft Finance and Leasing; Aviation; Banking and Finance; Corporate and other Commercial laws; Criminal Law and Civil Litigation; Dispute Resolution; Energy, Family Law; Labor.

Mr. Marcelo previously served as the country's Solicitor General [February 2001 - October 2002] and Ombudsman [October 2002 - November 2005]. Despite keeping a low profile while still in private practice, he was already acknowledged in legal circles as one of the country’s top litigators. He caught public attention during the impeachment proceedings against then President Joseph Estrada when he was chosen to handle the presentation of the prosecution’s star witness. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the country’s leading newspapers, observed: “His impeccable courtroom manners, boyish smile and quick, appropriate answers to the questions of the chief justice, senator-judges and defense panel won the hearts of the viewers of the impeachment trial. Simeon Marcelo, one of the private prosecutors in the impeachment trial, handled the direct examination of star witness Governor Luis ‘Chavit’ Singson, and became, in the process, one of the leading lights in this historical trial. x x x During the entire proceeding, Marcelo, though low-key and unassuming, stood out. In fact, he was brilliant. Cool and unflappable, he was so prepared, nothing could have surprised or unnerved him. x x x” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 February 2001, at page B13) In February 2001, Mr. Marcelo accepted an appointment as Solicitor General. As head of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), an office separate and independent from the Department of Justice, he gave exceptional focus on the much neglected ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcoses and their cronies. His efforts led to the successful recovery of ill-gotten wealth amounting to billions of pesos. Having won all of OSG’s major cases during his tenure, he is considered as one of the most successful Solicitors General in our history. These accomplishments led to his subsequent appointment as Ombudsman. Apart from being the youngest ever to be appointed to the position, Mr. Marcelo’s work in the fight against graft and corruption earned local and international recognition. Faced with severe lack of resources, he led a serious and effective crusade against corruption, earning praises from foreign and local media, including the Philippines’ normally critical newspapers. The Washington Post stated that Mr. Marcelo “restored credibility to that organization.” Mr. Marcelo also led the legal panel that successfully prosecuted and secured the conviction of former President Joseph Estrada for plunder. A well respected journalist, Juan Mercado, described him as follows: “Exasperated by political infighting, George Washington wrote: ‘Few have the virtue to withstand the highest bidder.’ Simeon Marcelo had what it took. International and local observers agree on that. Street yokels, like us, got a first close look at this 1979 topnotcher during the Estrada impeachment trial. People liked what they saw then: a talented comer without guile. In Adlai Stevenson’s words, he could ‘lead a cavalry charge without feeling funny astride a horse.’” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 20 October 2005, at page A12) Mr. Marcelo served as the Executive Secretary of the Asian Development Bank Administrative Tribunal from 2007 to 2010. He was also a Professor of Evidence and Trustee of Arellano University Law School from 2006 to 2008. On 19 September 2008, Atty. Marcelo was appointed as one of the four members of the World Bank’s new Independent Advisory Board (IAB), which provides advice on good governance and effective anti-corruption measures to the Bank’s President, Audit Committee and Department of Integrity. In 2009, the Asia Foundation engaged his services as an International Anti-Corruption Consultant to assist in the good governance and anti-corruption projects of the Mongolian Government. A recipient of the Crispin Llamado Scholarship Award, Mr. Marcelo graduated among the top ten of his class from the University of the Philippines College of law and placed 5th in the 1979 Bar Examinations. He is a member of the Pi Gamma Mu International Social Science Honor Society and the Order of the Purple Feather Honor Society. He previously served as the Chairperson of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ National Committee on Legal Aid and head of its Task Force on Child Abuse, as well as the Executive Editor of its Law Journal. He also served from 2009 to 2010 as the President of the Philippine Bar Association, the country’s oldest and largest voluntary organization of lawyers. In January 2008, he returned to private practice and was engaged by the largest local power utility to defend against a hostile take-over attempt by the government pension fund backed by one of the biggest companies in the country. Marcelo’s legal team successfully defended against the take-over attempt by winning crucial victories at the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. [GSIS vs. Court of Appeals, et al., 585 SCRA 680 (2009)] In 2009, the same Marcelo was again tapped by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) to prosecute the owner and officers of the Legacy group in the biggest bank fraud case in the country’s history. In 2013, Marcelo led his team of tax litigation experts in representing one of the country’s leading companies in the Court of Tax Appeals relating to a P7-billion tax collection suit, perhaps one of the country’s biggest tax case in recent years.

Jerry S. Coloma III has been recognized by international publications as a leading practitioner in corporate and commercial law in the Philippines. He advises prominent domestic and foreign companies on a broad range of commercial activities, such as mergers and acquisitions, public-private partnerships, joint ventures, corporate reorganizations, corporate set-up, transaction structuring, contract negotiations, financing arrangements and securities transactions. He has advised a wide range of public and private companies across several industries, including utilities, water, construction, real estate, banking, engineering, healthcare, financing, education, fintech, media, and online retail. Mr. Coloma has helped clients close several groundbreaking deals, among which are the acquisition of utilities, banks, real estate companies, technology companies, and mining firms. His recent transactions include: (1) advising a publicly-listed utility and its operating subsidiaries on numerous joint venture projects with government-owned and controlled corporations (aggregate project cost in excess of Php5 Billion), (2) guiding a publicly-listed construction company in its real estate development transaction in a premiere development touted as the next investment hub (project cost of almost Php6 Billion), (3) helping a pioneer Philippine fintech startup in its obtention of Php1.5 Billion in additional investments, (4) advice on the acquisition by the education arm of a prominent Philippine conglomerate of a controlling-stake in a premiere university, (5) guiding a Philippine conglomerate in its Php2 Billion equity acquisition in a global online fashion retailer, and (6) advising a multinational electric company on Philippine Competition Law and other regulatory issues relating to its multibillion-peso acquisition of a domestic electronics company. Currently, Mr. Coloma is performing legal work for a public-private partnership with a project cost exceeding Php20 Billion involving various government agencies for the development of infrastructure projects in an up-and-coming region in the Philippines. He authored the Philippine entries to Merger Control 2018 (Law and Enforcement) in Getting the Deal Through and Philippines: Mergers & Acquisitions (3rd Edition) for The In-House Lawyer.

Mr. Corporal has extensive experience representing clients in the litigation and arbitration of disputes involving public utilities (power and water), telecommunications, mass media and technology, toll roads, investments, commercial contracts, banking, securities and antitrust issues. Mr. Corporal’s experience includes litigation or arbitration before and/or against regulatory agencies in the mentioned sectors, such as the National Telecommunications Commission, Toll Regulatory Board, National Water Resources Board, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System – Regulatory Office, Philippine Competition Commission and Energy Regulatory Commission. Mr. Corporal has also represented and assisted clients in arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce, Singapore International Arbitration Commission, Philippine Dispute Resolution Center and in Ad Hoc arbitrations. Mr. Corporal also represents clients in construction disputes before the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission, and works closely with clients (whether owner or contractor) involved in construction activities by assisting in pre-dispute negotiations that aid the clients by avoiding full-blown construction disputes. Mr. Corporal was recognized among the “Next Generation Partners,” or younger partners who “take on leadership roles in multiple legal matters,” and was recommended for the practice area of Dispute Resolution by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific for 2021. Mr. Corporal was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1998 and is a member of the Makati City Chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.