SyCipLaw is pleased to announce the re-appointment of Ms. Carina C. Laforteza as the head of the firm's Tax department, which practice group she has led since 2020. Ms. Laforteza is a certified public accountant with over 30 years of extensive experience in corporate and tax matters, including transaction structuring, finance, and tax litigation and administrative proceedings. She has been consistently ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers Asia Pacific, Chambers Global, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, asialaw Profiles, and Who's Who Legal. She was shortlisted for the Tax Lawyer of the Year award at the asialaw Awards 2023/24, the only practitioner from the Philippines nominated for this regional award.
Ms. Laforteza is a Director and Vice-President for internal affairs of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines and has been a professorial lecturer in taxation at the University of the Philippines College of Law since 2009. She received her Bachelor of Laws (1992, cum laude, class valedictorian) and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accountancy (1986, cum laude) from the University of the Philippines. She placed third in the Philippine Bar Examinations and second in the Certified Public Accountancy Board Examinations. She was an examiner for Tax at the 2020/2021 Bar Examinations. Ms. Laforteza is also a member of the firm's Executive Committee.