Abad Alcantara And Associates
COMPETITION
INNOVATION
INTEGRATION
INCLUSION
About Us
Abad Alcantara and Associates is a Philippine based legal trade firm committed to promoting and enforcing competition, encouraging integration and inclusion, and catalysing innovation. Led by founding partners Anthony Amunategui Abad and Kristine C. Francisco - Alcantara, the Firm is one of the country’s leading practitioners at the intersection of law and information and communications technology, with a strong focus on startups and startup law, and digital rights and privacy.
Key Affiliations
- Integrated Bar of the Philippines and World Jurist Association
- Harvard University and Ateneo de Manila Alumni Association
- Philippine Chamber of Commerce
- British Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines
- European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines
- Philippine Economic Society
- Management Association of the Philippines
- Philippine Exporters Confederation
- Philippine Chamber of Industrial Estates and Economic Zones
Publications
- Doing Business in the Philippines Under the Philippine Competition Act
- Compendium on the Philippine Competition Law & Policy
Expertise
COMPETITION
A well-oiled economy and a distributionally fair society need not be mutually exclusive. High economic efficiency can inclusively increase the total economic welfare of society through various forms of gains. In its practice, Trade Lawyers maneuveres a sophisticated interfacing of both, espousing the necessary skill in complexity to support firms reach their highest competitive potentials.
INNOVATION
With the ongoing process of capital accumulation comes new unarticulated problems in society --- and as a result, unarticulated demands for products and services that break through old models. Answering these demands is innovation through technology, social media, intellectual property rights, and even new business models. Trade Lawyers not only provides the legal backbone that enables this model-breaking, but also interfaces its services with existent policy and institutions, creating cumulative added value.
INTEGRATION
To flourish, state and non-state entities integrate – in micro scales, as in with fellow businesses or facets of the supply chain, or in macro scales, as in an entire regional system, or just the free market economy as a whole. It is this precise state of flourishing that Trade Lawyers enables to materialise with its emphasis on the intersection of law, policy, and institutions in integrating clientele to their economic systems.
INCLUSION
Policy Labs is Trade Lawyers’ non-profit think tank which employs multi-disciplinary approaches and design thinking methodologies to create policies which are sustainable, innovative, and inclusive.
Practice Areas
COMPETITION & ANTITRUST
The Firm is the leading expert in competition corporate audit, analysis, compliance, and strategy with a deep understanding of antitrust laws.
TRADE REMEDIES & COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
Trade Lawyers provides extensive knowledge in anti-dumping, countervailing, safeguards, and product standard disputes. Essential expertise is also available for cross-border and/or complex commercial disputes.
PUBLIC POLICY & DEVELOPMENT
The Firm lends its expertise to create or reform legal frameworks that enable inclusive and sustainable growth and development.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, TECHNOLOGY, & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
A pioneer in technology law in the Philippines, the Firm provides valuable advice to innovative and innovating companies.
STARTUP & INNOVATION INDUSTRY SUPPORT
Startups are businesses in their nascent stages means that they require significant technics-legal aid in surviving in a competitive free market economy. Trade Lawyers enables startups to protect their investments, intellectual property rights, and rights to access the financial and economic markets.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE & INVESTMENT
Trade Lawyers provides deep knowledge of cross-border investments and transactions as well as expertise in dealing with multi-cultural and varied parties, stakeholders, and regulators.
Anthony A. Abad
Senior PartnerAnthony "Tony" Amunátegui Abad is an international trade lawyer and technical advisor on international trade policy and regulation, competition law and policy, and economic integration.
As the Chairman for the Philippines of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) Commission on Competition, Tony continues to be at the forefront of the country’s economic development by advocating and ensuring the practice of competition. He has worked on national and international projects with agencies such as the EU, ASEAN, USAID, ADB, IFC and APEC. He currently sits at the Dispute Settlement Panel of the World Trade Organization. He serves as an independent Policy Adviser to both houses of Congress on Competition Law and Economic Reform. He has been a staunch advocate of competition policy and law and was instrumental in the passage of the Philippine Competition Act.
He has conducted several talks on the topic both in the Philippines and abroad. He is a lecturer on International Trade Law at the Ateneo de Manila University Law School and the director of the Ateneo Center for International Economic Law, and hosts the show “Political Capital.”
He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University Law School and a Masters degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.
Kristine C. Francisco - Alcantara
Managing PartnerAtty. Kristine C. Francisco-Alcantara is a member of the Philippine Bar with expertise in trade and technology law. An experienced lawyer and advocate for innovation policy, she has established herself as a specialist in enterprise, investment, and innovation law after years of offering legal and business solutions to domestic and foreign corporations, and rendering legal support services on investment vehicles, capital structure, tax exposure, trade requirements, and governmental compliance.
She plays a significant role in the Philippine startup ecosystem, advising legislators and startup associations on the startup, crowdfunding bills and other innovative Philippine regulations. She was also a policy consultant and program director of the startup ecosystem development program of the Department of Trade and Industry and was part of the Technical Working Group which assisted in the drafting of the Philippine Competition Act, Philippine Innovation Act, and the Innovative Startup Act and its implementing rules and regulations.
As a trade and development policy specialist, she has worked on national and international projects with agencies such as the EU, ASEAN, USAID, ADB, WHO, Oxfam International, and APEC.
Atty. Alcantara holds a Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law and a Certificate on Design Thinking, Innovation Strategy and Management from the International Academy of Freedom. She currently lectures Startup and Innovation Law at the AIM-Dado Banatao Incubator.