In today’s challenging business environment, efficient and expeditious ways to resolve legal disputes are a must. In this regard, GRUBA LAW continues to employ creative and innovative ways to settle controversies without the attendant cost of litigation.
Arbitration, Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Our Firm has established a thriving practice in international commercial arbitration, domestic arbitration, and construction industry arbitration where it has represented both international and local clients in global disputes involving mining, retail, construction, financial/capital markets, intricate commercial transactions, and shareholders’ rights.
We have experience entering our appearance before the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center (HKIAC), the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC), and the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRCI) to represent both domestic and foreign clients on various dispute and arbitration-related issues.
Matters of significance include our engagement by the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) to act as their local counsel in a USD 800 million case filed by a power provider. The case involved a dispute over the rate of return provisions of the agreement. The engagement required us to work with a leading international law firm based in the United Kingdom. As the contract was governed by Philippine law, we advised on different aspects of local law, including civil law and contract law principles.
We were likewise engaged as Philippine counsel of the Metro Manila Sewerage System in an arbitration proceeding with Maynilad Water Services, Inc., one of the concessionaires of the biggest water privatization project in the world. We acted as the local counterpart of a law firm based in the United Kingdom, under the direct supervision of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel.
Commercial, Civil and Criminal Litigation
In the field of litigation, our Firm represents both individuals and private corporates in cases involving civil, criminal, and commercial issues, and provides counsel on litigation and settlement options and strategies. Our extensive litigation practice encompasses a wide range of areas, from securities fraud, banking, environmental law, land use, breach of contract cases, property disputes, intellectual property to products liability, and at all levels in the judicial process: from the Regional Trial Courts, the Court of Appeals, and all the way to the Supreme Court.
In one distinguished case, we appeared before the Supreme Court representing the small players of the downstream oil industry in a case involving the constitutionality of the Oil Deregulation Law.
We also assisted the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission in cases filed against securities brokers. The cases dealt with purported violations of the Securities Regulation Code on insider trading, price manipulation, and non-disclosure of beneficial ownership.
Together with US attorneys, our Firm advised the Province of Marinduque in a suit filed in the courts of Nevada, USA against an international mining company involving the restitution and remediation of the environment arising from a mining disaster that occurred in 1996. The suit is one of the largest environmental mass torts claims in Philippine history.
In collaboration with US lawyers, our Firm represented clients who suffered asbestos-related diseases arising from exposure to asbestos products. The cases involved both filing with asbestos trusts and court litigation.
Administrative Proceedings
In addition to the foregoing, we represent domestic and foreign parties before the administrative, quasi-regulatory, and quasi-judicial tribunals such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Bureau of Immigration and Deportation, Bureau of Food and Drug, Intellectual Property Office, Bureau of Internal Revenue, National Labor Relations Commission, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, among others.
To address the clients’ legal concerns outside of the Philippines, GRUBA LAW entered a strategic alliance with WongPartnership LLP, a top-tier law firm headquartered in Singapore. With this new alliance, we are now officially the Philippine member of the WPG Regional Law Network, the leading provider of legal services comprising prominent law firms from the Middle East, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore.
