The Philippines lost two giants of its legal industry on July 25: former judge and minister Ricardo Puno, Sr. and Andres G. Gatmaitan, senior counsel at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan.

Puno, Sr. founded Puno & Puno Law Offices with his son Ricardo V. Puno, Jr. After graduating from Manuel L. Quezon University, he was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1949. He first served as a judge of the Court of First Instance in 1965, before becoming a judge of the Court of Appeals in 1973. Puno, Sr. was the country’s minister for justice from 1979 until his retirement in 1984.

Gatmaitan graduated cum laude at the University of the Philippines, and received his LLM and LLD degrees from Yale Law School. After working with Wall Street law firms such as Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts and Cahill Gordon Reindel & Ohl, he returned to the Philippines in 1965 to join SyCip.

To contact the editorial team, please email ALBEditor@thomsonreuters.com.