Manila-based firm Gorriceta Africa Cauton & Saavedra has partnered with Davao-based firm Nograles Ilagan Cayco Lizada Dabi (NICLD) and Iloilo-based firm Florete Law to extend its reach across the Philippines.
“We chose to partner with Nograles Ilagan Cayco Lizada & Dabi and Florete Law because of their exceptional legal expertise, regional leadership, and deep commitment to public and private sector development,” Gorriceta’s managing partner Mark Gorriceta told Asia Business Law Journal.
He said that as their client base expanded across the archipelago, especially in emerging economic hubs outside Metro Manila, it became clear that a truly national presence was not just ideal, but essential.
With this alliance, Gorriceta has secured collaborative partners including former Civil Service Commission chair Karlo Nograles, former House deputy majority floor leader Margarita Ignacia “Migs” Nograles-Almario, and international arbitrator and litigation expert Mary Christine Florete, who is also the managing partner of Florete Law.
“We will see the rise of potential smart contract disputes in banking and fintech,” Florete told ABLJ. She said that with this alliance, the firm would increase its ability to attract tech innovators, and traditional businesses jumping into the digital shift.
Through this new partnership, which officially took effect on 21 July, Gorriceta sought to provide support for both national and international clients investing across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, especially in sectors such as infrastructure, digital economy, public-private partnerships, energy, and real estate, said Gorriceta.
He stressed that with on-the-ground teams in Davao and Iloilo, the firm could respond faster and more effectively to legal and regulatory developments in these fast-growing markets.
“This partnership directly addresses the needs we have identified by combining regional depth with national scale,” said Gorriceta.
These needs include advice on regulatory compliance, especially in tech, fintech and data privacy; mergers, acquisitions and investments for both inbound and local; corporate structuring for expansion across regions; labour law and employment matters; and litigation and arbitration, involving commercial, property and contract disputes.
Meanwhile, Florete stressed that the alliance allowed her firm to grow to a wider demographic with the network of Gorriceta. In the same way, Gorriceta will be able to access a wider geodemographic market, said Florete. She added that Florete Law’s unique selling proposition of providing strategic solutions with a global insight together with their innate competitive strengths in cross-border dispute resolution and telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) will drive the ability of their clients to compete in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) market.
Gorriceta also highlighted how NICLD and Florete Law allowed them to provide more nuanced and culturally informed advice. NICLD’s expertise in litigation and public-sector work gave clients access to legal counsel who understood the intricacies of local and regional governance, while Florete Law’s background in arbitration and commercial litigation, strengthened Gorriceta’s capabilities in resolving complex disputes, including cross-border matters, said Gorriceta.
This was a strategic integration, not just a referral arrangement or affiliation, added Gorriceta. He said that while the firm remained open to future growth opportunities, this integration was exclusive within their partners’ respective regions. It also brings more than 60 professionals together under one firm.
