Ariss N. Santos

Profile

Before joining the firm in June, 2010, Ariss has had extensive legal training in and work experience with the Government.  He was Court Attorney (law clerk) at the Court of Appeals (CA) [2003-2006], Legal Adviser to the Secretary of Labor and Employment (2006-2008) and Senior Court Attorney at the Supreme Court (SC) [2008-2010]. As law clerk both in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, he did extensive research on various fields of law and made the initial drafts of ponencias / decisions and opinions (concurring and dissenting opinions), most of which are now memorialized in Philippine case law and jurisprudence. During his stint at the DOLE, he was one of the chief advisors of the Secretary on employment law and drafted decisions on bargaining deadlocks and labor disputes over which the Secretary assumed jurisdiction on account of a strike.  He was a member of the Editorial and Revision Team of the 2006 Handbook on Workers’ Statutory Monetary Benefits and the Panel of Experts that reviewed/revised the draft of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9841 or the Right to Self Organization Law.  He was also the focal person on complaints filed against the Philippine Government with the Committee on Freedom of Association and the Committee on Application of Standards and Recommendations of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

He is presently part of the firm’s labor / litigation and intellectual property department.  He handles labor disputes, both collective and individual, represents management in certification elections, collective bargaining negotiations and deadlocks, voluntary labor arbitration and illegal dismissal cases before labor regulators and/or quasi-judicial labor agencies.  He advises companies on industrial relations and personnel matters, assists in the formulation of company policies and rules, administrative disciplinary cases, redundancy and retrenchment programs, outsourcing and/or job contracting.  He also handles land cases, criminal cases, tax refund cases, collection cases and claims for damages; and has drafted pleadings and appeared before the Office of the Prosecutors, other government regulatory agencies and the courts.  As member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Department, he handles contentious cases on trademark and patent registration and related proceedings.

He is an appellate practice specialist and had drafted various petitions filed with the higher courts.  Some of his carefully-crafted petitions, which prayed or applied for the issuance of injunctive relief/s, have merited favorable action from the CA and the SC.

Ariss holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree, Major in Political Science, from the University of Santo Tomas and earned his Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Perpetual Help of Rizal, College of Law.  Once upon a time, he was an elected public official – the Sangguniang Kabataan Chair (youth leader) of Barangay Sucat, MuntinlupaCity. He spends his free time reading non-fiction books and biographies and/or running and joining fun (short distance) runs.

He was promoted to Senior Associate in July 2012 and admitted to the partnership on 1 January 2014.

Practice Areas

Education