NOEL B. LAZARO

Mr. Lazaro is a trial and appellate litigator with concentration in commercial, criminal and civil disputes. He handles a broad array of cases that include corporate take-over and control, violations of securities law, medical malpractice, estafa and bouncing checks, aviation and maritime issues, product liability, personal injuries, libel, searches and seizures, property and family relations, business tort or contractual controversies, typically stemming from financing documents, acquisition agreements, shareholder agreements, non-compete clauses, and franchise, dealership or distributorship contracts. He has also significant work in international arbitration. With his partners, Mr. Lazaro successfully assisted Roger Lawrence Strunk, a suspect in the much publicized murder of his actress-wife, Nida Blanca, in the extradition proceedings in Sacramento, California. Mr. Lazaro also represents a prominent Philippine hospital and appeared on its behalf before the Philippine Embassy at Washington, D.C. for the deposition of a medical expert from Johns Hopkins Hospital in a multi-million peso medical malpractice suit. He is defending a foreign partner in a prestigious international law firm and executives of Fraport AG, a forerunner in international airport business, in a seminal suit for Anti-Dummy violation. He is a member of the legal team that acts as co-counsel to claimant in a widely reported international commercial arbitration case in Washington, D.C. against the Republic of the Philippines, and has appeared before the international tribunal in a deposition-taking related to the claim. He advises director/officers of a top-ranked bank in Hong Kong in warding off a criminal suit for violations of securities act and enormous civil claims arising out of cross-border, multi-jurisdictional banking transactions. Mr. Lazaro has extensive and in-depth experience in cutting-edge labor practice. He advised clients on the labor implications of local/international mergers and acquisitions, spin-off projects and outsourcing arrangements; represented employers in collective bargaining agreements and mediation and conciliation conferences; adopted contingency measures in work stoppage like picketing and strike; managed personnel movements and termination issues attendant to reorganization, restructuring and “right-sizing” programs; drafted different employment contracts and sundry other labor contracts; and formulated employees’ benefits, company retirement or redundancy packages, employees’ handbook and code of conduct. He defended local and multinational industries (dealing in telecommunications, electric and energy, banking and finance, cement, manufacturers, plantations, among others) with major successes and huge savings in costs against individual or class suits for reinstatements, backwages and other benefits before labor tribunals and appellate courts. He has delivered lectures to managers and supervisors of several leading companies in the Philippines on social legislations, labor relations law and Anti-Sexual Harassment Act. Mr. Lazaro was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1996, capping the 19th place. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines (UP), College of Law in 1995. As a student, he was Research Associate at the UP Law Center (1992-1995). He also received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Santo Tomas in 1990, where he was student council president. Before joining SRMO, Mr. Lazaro was an Associate for over a year at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan. He was professorial lecturer in Persons and Family Relations at the Lyceum University of the Philippines, College of Law (2003), and in Labor and Social Legislation at the De La Salle University Graduate School of Business and Far Eastern University Institute of Law, Master of Business Administration-Juris Doctor Dual Degree Program (2004). He has attended a number of conferences on various legal topics in the Philippines and abroad. He participated in the Second Annual Leading Arbitrators' Symposium on the Conduct of International Arbitration organized by Juris Conferences, LLC in Vienna, Austria in April 2006. He is a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.