Ralph Karlo B. Barcelona
Senior Associate
Mr. Barcelona is a Senior Associate and is part of the Firm's Litigation, Arbitration, and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice. He has extensive legal experience in civil, criminal, labor, and administrative litigation.
Mr. Barcelona placed seventh in the 2012 Philippine Bar Examinations, which has a national passing rate of only 17.76%, the second lowest in history. He was the only bar candidate outside Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines to have entered the top ten that year.
He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sto. Tomas-Legazpi City where he graduated Class Valedictorian with cum laude distinction.
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Barcelona was an associate at Puno & Puno Law Offices and later at Esguerra & Blanco Law Offices. He was part of the legal team that represented a former Chief Justice before the Sandiganbayan and Court of Tax Appeals, and the team that successfully exonerated a prominent businessman tagged in a multimillion-dollar bank heist. He also takes pride in having provided quality legal representation to underprivileged litigants as a public defender for almost six years. His diverse trial experience and passion for justice are products of having handled six different courts, including a drugs court and a family court.
Mr. Barcelona is also a professor of law at Philippine Law School, where he teaches Remedial Law Review, and a former law professor at UST-Legazpi. He was also a bar exam coach at the Jurists Bar Review Center.
Outside of the firm, Mr. Barcelona enjoys watching movies and travelling with his lovely wife, Atty. Nica.