Marie Therese Berbano

Responsible for developing relationships with, and providing leadership direction to key executives in the region to help them champion and drive ethics within their organizations; Provide recommendations and opinions on local laws and industry practices to ensure global policies are aligned with local legal mandates and in tune with the local culture. Country responsibility for ethics training; Participates as key driver in ethics policy and program development.

Oversaw all functions of the Legal Department (The Legal Team is responsible for providing Legal Services to Sykes’ then 7300++ employees, and its respective Departments and Divisions.) Responsible for the management and forecasting of the Department Budget, regulating Department expenditures. Managed the Legal Team comprised of Two (2) Legal Officers [1 in Manila, 1 in Cebu], One (1) Contracts Administrator, One (1) Immigration Officer.

Rendered legal opinions to queries posed by different divisions in relation to labor issues, scope of work rendered to clients, immigration, and various other matters; Drafted and reviewed all legal documents for the company in the Philippines and coordinated with the external counsels of affiliate offices in the region; Recommended appropriate course of action relative to the enforcement of company policies, employee discipline and separation.

Rendered legal opinions to queries posed by the bank'sdifferent branches throughout the Philippines; Rendered advisory opinions and worked in close coordination with the HR Department relative to union matters, redundancy programs, and retrenchment procedures among others; Attended to various bank-related litigation matters and determined the proper course of action in relation thereto. • Reviewed and redrafted contracts for different bank divisions within the Head Office and branches throughout

Executed various legal functions, including drafting of legal pleadings, opinions, and memoranda for litigation and retainer clients.