Practice areas

Corporate; criminal and civil litigation; banking and finance

Introduction

Nilo Divina is a seasoned corporate and banking lawyer with more than 30 years of experience. He established DivinaLaw in 2006 and has led the firm’s aggressive growth in a short time, making it one of the biggest law firms in the Philippines today. Before entering private law practice, Divina was the former executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of one of the former leading banks in the Philippines. He also served as general manager, executive adviser to the Board and Corporate Secretary of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Divina is the personal lawyer of some of the country’s prominent personalities in finance and business. He is likewise distinguished in the Philippines as one of the top commercial law experts and a sought-after bar reviewer and legal consultant. He is equally active in his roles in academia, serving as the Dean of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Civil Law since 2009, and teaching at the University of the Philippines College of Law.

Divina has authored six books in Commercial Law that are considered primary resource material for law students and lawyers alike. In May 2023, he launched the Divina Bar Review Series, a set of books he co-authored with more than 50 of DivinaLaw’s lawyers.

Since 2018, the Asia Business Law Journal (ABLJ) has consistently named Divina among the Top 100 Lawyers in the Philippines. In 2021, he was awarded Managing Partner of the Year in the Asian Legal Business (ALB) Philippine Law Awards. Also, in 2021 and 2022, ALB recognised him as one of the Philippines Client Choice Lawyers and Asia’s Super 50 Disputes Lawyers (2022). He also recently received the Gold Award – Executive of the Year (Legal) in the International Business Awards.

Divina holds a postgraduate diploma in International Tax Law from the Robert Kennedy College in Switzerland. In addition, he obtained his Juris Doctor from the UST Faculty of Civil Law, where he graduated magna cum laude and class valedictorian. He also received his Bachelor of Arts in Behavioural Science from UST, where he graduated cum laude.

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