SYCIP SALAZAR HERNANDEZ & GATMAITAN ROMULO MABANTA BUENAVENTURA SAYOC & DE LOS ANGELES ANGARA ABELLO CONCEPCION REGALA & CRUZ VILLARAZA & CRUZ (also CARPIO VILLARAZA & CRUZ) SIGUION REYNA MONTECILLO ONGSIAKO & CRUZ QUASHA ASPERILLA ANCH ETA PENA & NOLASCO PICASO BUYCO TAN FIDER & SANTOS CASTILLO LAMAN TAN PANTALEON & SAN JOSE QUISUMBING TORRES & ENVANGELISTA PONCE ENRILE REYES & MANALASTAS Explanatory Note: The Top Ten ranking is by no means a list of best law offices, which is a highly subjective standard. Our ranking by size is merely based on the number of lawyers retained by each firm. However, size offers the only reliably measurable and objective standard for gauging a firm’s quality and competence. A firm which has grown in size means that it has aged and, accordingly, grown the wiser and abler for it. It means it has divided itself into departments, each staffed by lawyers who do nothing else but spin the loom of their specialization. It means that it can command high rates and compete for clients by sheer reputation and standing alone, compared to its pedestrian counterparts (often former partners or associates of larger firms and probably equally competent) who are laboring in the backstreets of anonymity. For purposes of judging the individual skills of lawyers, the list is meaningless.