History

The Philippines at the turn of the 20^th century was a colony of the United States. Manila – already a hub of Southeast Asian trade – had become the main American outpost in Asia.

In 1901, our firm was established as The Philippine Branch of Coudert Brothers, a Wall Street law firm. Two American lawyers, John W. Hausserman – formerly of the U.S. Judge Advocate General’s Office – and Charles Cohn, were the firm’s founding partners. The firm’s cable address was “TREDUOC”, the reverse of COUDERT.

In 1902, Coudert Brothers dissolved its Philippine office. Resident partners Hausserman & Cohn continued the practice, bearing their names.

In 1910, the firm merged with the firm of Ortigas and Fisher and became Hausserman, Ortigas, Cohn & Fisher. Hausserman would later establish Benguet Consolidated and become the leading pioneer in gold production in the country, while Fisher  would become a justice of the Philippine Supreme Court.

In 1923, Hausserman, Ortigas, Cohn & Fisher merged with Kincaid, Perkins & Kincaid, which later became Fisher, Dewitt, Perkins & Brady, after other American partners joined the practice.

In 1936, a pivotal moment occurred when Don Alfonso Ponce Enrile, one of the most noted trial lawyers of his time, became the first Filipino partner, and the firm became known as Dewitt, Perkins and Ponce Enrile. From that time on, the engagement of American lawyers ceased, and the firm evolved to be entirely Filipino. This marked the beginning of the firm’s Filipinization, a strategic and cultural shift that defines us to this day.

In 1948, Leonardo Siguion Reyna and Manuel G. Montecillo joined the firm and became General Partners in 1961. Both Siguion Reyna (“Sig”) and Montecillo (“Monte”) continued practicing until they passed away in 2010 and 2011, respectively. With more than 60 years of active legal practice, Sig and Monte were the longest-serving legal practitioners at the time of their demise. Oscar R. Ongsiako, the third name partner, passed away in 1995.

In 1996, our present Chairman Rolando Mario G. Villonco was elevated to the General Partnership. Cesar P. Manalaysay, Mario V. Andres and Edgardo G. Balois became General Partners in 2011.

Today, images of our name partners line the walls of our offices – a reminder to our incumbents that we have a legacy of service to live up to, that we belong to an institution that has been an integral part of Philippine business for more than a century, and that we have an obligation to ensure that the tradition of excellence, begun and nurtured by our predecessors, will continue.

Since 1901, SRMO has 125 years of uninterrupted legal practice. We have seen the law evolve, and we have evolved with it. As we celebrate this rare milestone in 2026, our promise remains the same: Traditional Values. Modern Thinking. Institutional Continuity. WE ARE SRMO!