MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 20, 2014 – President Benigno Aquino has appointed Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
The 64-year old Jardeleza replaced Associate Justice Roberto Abad who retired in May.
“President Aquino has appointed Solicitor General Francis H. Jardeleza as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The appointment was transmitted to the Supreme Court,” a government spokesman Herminio Coloma, Jr., said.
He said Jardeleza bested four other nominees for the post – Court of Appeals Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas and Jose Reyes Jr.; Commission on Audit Chair Grace Tan, and Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Reynaldo Daway.
Jardeleza had served as the Aquino administration’s Solicitor General since February 2012, following his stint as Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon from July 2011 to February 2012.
He graduated salutatorian/cum laude from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1974, then he placed third in the bar exams the same year. In 1977, he obtained his Masters of Law from the Harvard Law School.
Jardeleza has practiced law for more than three decades. He joined Angara Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz (ACCRALAW) in 1975. He made partner in 1981 and became the Chairman of the ACCRALAW Litigation Department. After earning his master’s degree, he trained in securities, litigation, and public offerings as a foreign associate in the New York law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell.
He left ACCRALAW in 1987 and founded Jardeleza Sobreviñas Diaz Hayudini and Bodegon, where he started practicing labor law. In 1990, he established the Jardeleza Law Offices as a solo practice. He joined Roco Buñag Kapunan Migallos and Jardeleza in 1992 as partner, and headed the litigation and labor law practice groups. His varied exposure has enabled him to gain a wide experience in litigation, appearing before the regional trial courts and administrative agencies. Furthermore, he has also employed his litigation skills for pro bono work.
In 1996, he became Senior Vice President and General Counsel of San Miguel Corporation, a position he held up to June 2010, when he opted for early retirement. As General Counsel, he broadened his practice, this time specializing in mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, securities, intellectual property, and corporate governance.
He is a professorial lecturer in Constitutional Law at the U.P. College of Law, where he has lectured since 1993. His other fields of interest in the academe are Civil Procedure and Administrative Law. He has also been a lecturer at the U.P. Law Center in Commercial Law, and in various Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) forums on governance. He is presently writing a treatise on “The Constitution and the Laws on Libel” as part of the U.P. Law Centennial Textbook Project.
He is a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Philippine Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. In 1997, he was also admitted to the New York State Bar and the US Eastern and Southern Districts of New York. He is active in alumni activities, both at the U.P. College of Law and at the University of the Philippines – Visayas.
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindanaoexaminer
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MindanaoExamine
20