Licelle Cobrador opts for law practice in NYC over raucous Philippine politics
A hundred percent batting average since she opened her law office. The FilAm Photo
By Cristina DC Pastor
In 2009, Licelle Cobrador found herself at a crossroads: Should she return to New York to pursue a legal career or should she stay in the Philippines to become mayor of Dao, Capiz and challenge the entrenched dynasty?
Nine years seemed so far removed, but Licelle likes to look back at a time when her options seemed too stark, too urgent, and too incredibly hilarious not to include in her colorful narrative.
“Judy Roxas wanted me to run,” she shared in an interview with The FilAm at her Long Island City office. “You have to understand, Judy Roxas was a strong power broker.” (Roxas is the mother of 2016 Philippine presidential candidate Mar Roxas, who would lose the election to Rodrigo Duterte. The Roxases are kingpins in the Liberal Party.)
Licelle’s name must have appeared on Roxas’s radar when she took over as chief political affairs officer for her father Cesar Cobrador, who was a partylist congressman for the Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines. The fact that she had “New York experience” – just like Mar Roxas – may have made her a relatable person to Judy Roxas.
“I said no,” she recalled saying. She also told Roxas she came home only because her father had a stroke and she wanted to organize his legislative office. “I didn’t even speak Ilonggo,” she said, not holding back on her guffaws.
At her sister Marie Cristine’s wedding. Licelle at far left, with her parents Cesar and Ma. Luisa and her sister Marie Claudine.
Also, she was beginning to miss New York after barely a month at home.
Licelle chose to return, worked for Bhatta Law & Associates, and after seven years, opened her private practice Cobrador & Associates, PLLC. As an attorney, she handles immigration, business transactions, real estate, litigation, intellectual property and entertainment law. Her immigration cases are mostly employment-based petitions or self-petitions, her client artists, actors, filmmakers, singers, composers, journalists, multimedia creatives, events and public relations specialists, top businessmen, athletes and individuals with “extraordinary ability” in their fields.
“I haven’t had any denials,” she said, touting 100 percent success rate in her current practice. She is vice president and executive director for the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund or FALDEF.
Chatty as a child
She was raised on books and stacks of Encyclopedia Britannica. Her mother, Ma. Luisa, would use the ruse that the TV cabinet was broken and that they could not have television for the night. Licelle’s attention was drawn to reading.
“I became obsessed with books,” she said. “But I was also madaldal.”
With her legal director, Mampi Ghosh, an ‘extraordinary ability’ broadcast journalist from Nepal.
It was her mother who encouraged her – with some amount of nudging– to take up Law.
“She inspired and brainwashed me,” laughed Licelle, the oldest of three siblings, all girls. In school, she was urged to join declamation contests and debates. “She wanted to be a lawyer herself.”
With a degree in Development Studies from U.P. Manila, she took up Law at Ateneo University. After passing the Philippine Bar, she became an associate at Rodrigo, Berenguer & Guno focusing on litigation and corporate law. During weekends, she taught Political Science and Development Studies electives at U.P. Manila. On a Dean’s Merit Scholarship, she finished her master’s degree in Intellectual Property at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law on Fifth Avenue. She is the current co-chair of the Cardozo Law Masters Alumni Committee.
After Cardozo, she returned to Manila because her father suffered a stroke. She took over his legislative affairs, checking on his PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) only to be dismayed with the inner workings of Congress.
It was during this time that she had that interesting encounter with Judy Roxas.
Cobrador name
Her father passed away in 2016, a man she greatly admired and revered. She remembered how he used to tease her not to get married until the Cobrador name is enshrined in the Philippine Roll of Attorneys, a list of all lawyers licensed to practice.
“He wanted to see the name there, and didn’t even want to see any hyphen,” she said, smiling.
Well, if her dad could see her NYC office now.
© The FilAm 2018
Graduating from the Cardozo School of Law, with her beaming family.
