Three senior partners and a partner from Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako (SRMO), one of the Philippines’ oldest law firms, have co-founded Khan Mercado Pe?a & Se?a (KMAPS Law).
The founding partners are Rommel Mercado, Rafael Khan and Carla Santamaria-Se?a, who worked as senior partners at SRMO, and Cheryl Ann Pe?a, a former partner at the same firm.
“In the next two years, we expect to expand our firm to 15 lawyers, including the four founding partners, with a focus on [several] practice areas,” Mercado told Asia Business Law Journal.
When asked about the main reasons for leaving SRMO, he said: “The decision to leave was not an easy one to make, but we felt that it was time for us to take greater ownership and control of our practice … a sense that it was time to branch out on our own and set up our own shop with our names on the door.
“We wanted to see how else we could re-invent the wheel, instead of instinctively doing things the way they have always been done.”
Mercado highlighted the power of complementarity as a key differentiator for his new law firm’s services. “For MNCs and large corporates, outsourcing to a single team handling dispute resolution, corporate and employment is a large part of external requirements, so the fact that we can offer specialist perspectives and a relatively high level of engagement in these practice areas is hopefully a feature that prospective clients can appreciate, and a differentiator from traditional firms which may take a generalist approach,” he said.
In addition to taxation law, KMAPS Law will focus on practice areas including corporate and commercial law, M&A, employment and human capital, labour relations, dispute resolution, IP, e-commerce, data privacy, technology, media and telecommunications and legal management services.
Mercado said the firm also intended to hire lawyers at the associate and senior associate levels to build growth, while not having immediate plans to hire partners from other law firms.
Mercado has more than 27 years of experience, with expertise in corporate and commercial law, handling transactions across industries such as energy, online commerce and aerospace.
Khan worked at SRMO for more than 28 years, specialising in employment law and labour relations, and has represented some of the largest employers in the Philippines.
Santamaria-Se?a has nearly three decades of experience in civil, criminal and IP law. She has represented clients in high-stakes arbitration before various industry bodies and is also experienced in environmental law. Before co-founding KMAPS Law, she served as the deputy head of litigation and head of the IP department at SRMO.
Pe?a has more than 20 years of experience, specialising in labour and employment law, and litigation. She worked with clients in labour arbitration proceedings and managing legal issues for multinational corporations.
