Practice areas

Corporate law; project finance; joint ventures; M&A; international business law; banking; commercial arbitration; energy; mining law; environmental law; labour law; real estate law; land registration; privatisation; family law; public interest law; international human rights and humanitarian law; social licensing

Introduction

The co-managing partner of Sarmiento Loriega Law Office, Julito “Sarge” R. Sarmiento, graduated with a Bachelor of Laws, Second Honours (ranked top 5% in his graduating class) from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. He obtained his Master of Laws (LLM) and Doctor of Science of Jurisprudence (JSD) (candidate with thesis pending) from Yale Law School in 1993 as a Myres S McDougal Fellow and World Bank Scholar. Sarmiento also has a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA), and was a gold medallist with the highest perfect grade of 4.0 in all subjects in a joint programme of the Ateneo de Manila Graduate School of Business and the Colorado-based Regis University.

Sarmiento has focused his legal practice on corporate work and special projects, particularly on energy, infrastructure, mining, environment, foreign investment, privatisation, family law, crisis management and social licence. Given the challenges of bridging the trust divide between investors in resource dependent industries and their affected local stakeholders, he established the pioneering social licensing practice. In the past several years, it has successfully enabled investors to prevent deep-seated conflicts, avoid expensive litigation and resolve crisis situations with affected stakeholders.

As the head of the firm’s mining and natural resource practice, Sarmiento has a formidable presence in the mining industry not only due to his legal expertise, but also his management skills. In 2022, he became the first Filipino executive chairman of an ASX-listed and London Stock Exchange-listed global mining company with a portfolio of world-class copper-gold assets. He is also concurrently the president of Philippine mining companies.

In his capacity as the head of the environment and climate change practice, he played an instrumental role in helping the firm’s clients obtain appropriate relief from the government caused by irresponsible reclamation and mining activities in Palawan.

Sarmiento has been awarded various recognitions as a Leading Lawyer in Natural Resources Practice by international bodies such as Chambers Asia, Corporate International, and Finance Asia, to name a few. He is admitted to the New York State Bar and is a member of the New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association and the Yale Club.

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