HISTORY: The firm's beginnings are traced to PILLSBURY & SUTRO which was founded in 1901 by Oscar Sutro of San Francisco, U.S.A. Oscar Sutro was joined by his elder brother Alfred Sutro and E.J. Pillsbury, both partners of the San Francisco firm of PILLSBURY, MADISON & SUTRO. Because of a previous requirement that the name of a partner who ceases to be with a firm should be dropped from the firm name, its firm name has undergone many changes. ROSS, SELPH & CARRASCOSO and BITO, LOZADA, ORTEGA & CASTILLO were the firm names for many years. All partners were Americans until 1936 when the first Filipino partner (Antonio T. Carrascoso, Jr.) was admitted.
ORGANIZATION: The firm's partners are supported by associates and assistants, technical consultants and administrative and secretarial staff. Each case or assignment is handled by a team supervised by a partner. If required by the nature, magnitude and complexity of the work, more than one partner or team may be involved. Every client has access to a partner for advice on urgent matters.
PRACTICE: The firm has a diversified general law practice and corresponds with leading law firms in major cities of the world. It handles all aspects of corporate, commercial and international business transactions, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, technology transfers, civil and criminal litigation, admiralty, labor management relations and taxation.
CLIENT BASE: The firm's clientele includes companies engaged in manufacturing, trading, distribution and marketing, offshore services, construction, shipping, aviation, insurance, banking, financing, mass media, advertising, real estate development, and charities. Many of its clients are major firms in the United States, Europe and Asia and their subsidiaries in the Philippines, such as E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., Kraft Foods Inc., 3M Company, IBM, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Amkor/Anam, Nippon Cargo Airlines, Reuters, Samsung Electronic-Mechanics Co. Ltd. of Korea, Philippine Daily Inquirer and Today and European and Scandinavian protection and indemnity (P & I) associations of ship owners. It also acts as legal adviser to the British and Swedish Embassies in the Philippines.
MEMBERSHIPS: The firm is a member of the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce, and International Trademark Association (INTA) in New York, International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, Inc. in San Francisco, Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriete Industriele (AIPPI) in Brussels, Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines (IPAP), Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA), LES International, American Bar Association in Chicago, American Chamber of Commerce, European Chamber of Commerce, Maritime Law Association of the Philippines, Aviation Lawyers Association of the Philippines and Immigration Lawyers Association of the Philippines.
PAST MEMBERS OF THE FIRM: James R. Ross (1910-1946); Ewald E. Selphi (1923-1966); James Madison Ross (1927-1968); Antonio T. Carrascoso (1918-1965); Jesus B. Bito (1955-1991); Mariano M. Lozada (1951-1991); Tomas O. Del Castillo, Jr. (1966-2006).
SIGNIFICANT DISTINCTIONS: Diosdado Macapagal, President of the Philippines (1961-1965), Ricardo Paras, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1951-1961), and Amelito Mutuc, Ambassador to the United States (1962-1964) worked in the firm. The firm is the Reviser of the Philippine Republic Law Digest of the directory.
