ACCRALAW helps global investors navigate intricate legal system

Rife with opportunities, the Philippines presents international investors with myriad possibilities that come with the challenge of navigating the country's intricate legal system - manoeuvrable only with the right partner.

"Investments in tourism, services and business process outsourcing, among other booming sectors, are for the picking," says Emerico De Guzman, managing partner at Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW), the country's premier multidisciplinary law firm. "Because of the English proficiency, skills and readiness that Filipino workers offer, international investors are assured value for money and long-term commitment."

ACCRALAW has been mirroring such value and commitment since 1972, earning the trust of some of the world's biggest industry players. These include Procter & Gamble, Chevron, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline and Citibank, and homegrown leaders such as Manila Electric, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp and San Miguel.

The firm serves the full spectrum of business and industry clientele through its Manila, Cebu and Davao offices, and seven practice departments. Its intellectual property rights protection and management practice, labour and employment practice, litigation and dispute resolution practice, and capital markets development have been consistently recognised globally and locally.

ACCRALAW was awarded by Chambers and Partners as the Philippines Law Firm of the Year in 2014 and 2013, and by The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific as a 2015 Top-tier Firm in the Philippines. The firm takes greater pride, however, in regularly being tapped - along with its partners - by government agencies, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Central Bank of the Philippines, World Bank and Asian Development Bank for its expertise and advice on key legal issues and for crafting significant legislation.

"ACCRALAW has evolved with the country and the world's changing technologies and economic activities - making it strategically positioned to serve clients looking to invest in and around the region," De Guzman says. "We look forward to forming more relationships beyond our shores in the next three to five years, especially amid the Asean integration."