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Dr. Roman P. Mosqueda holds a
graduate degree in law, Doctor of Science of Law (SJD) in product liability
from the University of Michigan Law School and has published a law book
on the subject in the United States, Philippines and Europe.
He is a
licensed attorney in California, New York, and the Philippines. Due to his
international legal expertise, Attorney Mosqueda handles many
international business cases which require knowledge in both American and
Philippine Law.
Dr. Mosqueda is a Filipino attorney who
has currently been practicing law in Southern California for over 25
years. His Los Angeles based Law Firm handles cases in the areas of:
Immigration, Family Law, Criminal Law, Bankruptcy, Car Accidents, Civil
Litigation and more.
Dr.
Mosqueda, a valedictorian from grade school, graduated Magna Cum Laude in
B.S. Economics the Ateneo
de Manila University, and Cum Laude from the University of the Philippines
Law. He was elected President of Student Council of Ateneo
de Manila University, University Councilor of the University of the
Philippines Student Council, President of the Institute of Student
Affairs Leadership Training Conference, and President of National Student
League, an association of student leaders all over the
Philippines.
Dr. Mosqueda, aside from his published
500-page doctoral dissertation on products liability from the University
of Michigan, is the author of a 700-page book entitled “Marriage
and its Dissolution,” and of the Primer of Marriage, published
by the Philippine Sunday Express. For over a year, he wrote legal stories
in the Philippine Women’s Journal. As a student, he was a contributing
editor of the Philippine Law Register. Dr.
Mosqueda was a partner of the Quisumbing, Caparas, Ilagan, Alcantara and Mosqueda Law Firm, when he took a leave
of absence for Master of Laws and Doctor of Science of Law Studies at the
University of Michigan on full scholarship and research grant from the
University. He finished his masters and doctorate degree in one year and
a half, a record time in the
University
of Michigan Law School.
After his law graduate studies at the
University of Michigan Law School, Dr. Mosqueda was taken as an associate
attorney of the Wall Street-area law firm of Florrie
L. Wertheimer, where he distinguished himself as a trial lawyer, doing
jury trial, in admiralty law, in the Southern District of New York, U.S. District
Court, in Manhattan, the only Filipino Attorney having done that. In fact
he was praised by U.S. District Court Judge Knapp as, “Making one
of the most brilliant pieces of making something out of nothing that I
have ever heard in my life,” referring to Dr. Mosqueda’s
summation in the jury trial of Adams v. Farrell Lines, wherein he
represented an injured seaman.
Due to outstanding achievement in the practice of law, Dr.
Mosqueda was admitted to practice law in New York without again taking the
examination there. Dr. Mosqueda had, however, to take the California
general bar examination in 1984, and passed on his first take, the first
Filipino-educated lawyer to do so.
He is presently practicing law in Southern
California, and he has made presentations in seminars,
conferences and meetings of Filipinos and Americans on varied topics of
the law and other matters. He is in immigration, admiralty, product
liability, family law, corporate and vehicular accidents practice, and
other areas of law practice. He represented admiralty law in the
Wilmington Rotary
Club, where he was the President for 1990-1991.
He is married to an internist and dermatologist, and they
have a daughter and a son. He is the only Filipino Attorney who
participated in the Trial Advocacy Programs of the Los Angeles County Bar
Association in 1985, and was a volunteer prosecutor in the Los Angeles
City Attorney’s Office. He is the son of former Vice-Governor of
Iloilo, Dr. Guardalino Mosqueda, and Dra.
Lilia Palanca-Mosqueda of Negros Occidental.
He was formerly director of Fil-Am
Kasama Foundation, chairperson of the Fil-Am Los
Angeles Community Political Action Committee, as
well as director of NAM-SERVE, L.A. Inc. and FASGI, Inc. He was also the
chairperson of the Los Angeles-based Ad-Hoc Committee on Sectoral Representation of overseas Filipinos, and
director of Fil-Am Political Action Council
(FAPAC), and of the Philippine American Bar Association of
Los Angeles. The recepient of the 2005 University of the Philippines Alumni Association in America
Outstanding Professional Award in Law.
Dr. Mosqueda
successfully prosecuted the case of 35 Filipino seamen abandoned on board
the MV NASIPIT BAY, by having the Federal District Court in Los Angeles
award them their back and current pay, as well as repatriation costs to
the Philippines.
He also does pro bono work for disadvantaged Filipinos in
Los Angeles, as
director and legal officer of Fil-Am Kasama Foundation.
Dr. Mosqueda
is the current Chairperson of the Philippine-American Trade and
Investment Council of Southern California and Chairperson of the Board of
Advisers of the Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Center.
He has been the recipient of
numerous awards and commendations, the most recent one being the 1987
award for NAM-SERVE L.A., Inc. for his work as chairperson of the Fil-Am Los Angeles Community Political Action
Committee, the 1988 Pines Universal Award as the Most Outstanding
Overseas Filipino Trial Lawyer for 1988-1989, the 1991 Rotary Club
President of the Year Award for district 5280 and the 1992 Outstanding
Business Person and Community Leader Award of Searchlight Promotions.
Under his leadership as club
president, the Rotary Club of Wilmington,
California received the
highest number of awards (28) among the forty-nine clubs in Rotary
District 5280 for Rotary year 1990-1991. On April 27, 1991, at the
Governor’s Ball of the Rotary District, Mr. Mosqueda was given a
standing ovation as recipient of the No. 1 Rotary Club President of the
Year Award.
In pro bono work, his law firm
represented the Filipino World War II veterans in their federal suit
seeking the unconstitutionality of the “rider” of the 1946
rescission Act, to restore their veteran benefits.
In the January 26, 1988 letter
of Special Assistant to the President of the Philippines, Flerida Ruth P. Romero, now Philippine Supreme Court
Justice, said of Mr. Mosqueda, “Since Speaker Ramon Mitra was so impressed with you, as he told me after
his trip to the United States, he will probably back you up on your
efforts to have a bill providing for sectoral
representative for overseas Filipinos enacted into law.”
In the February 3, 1988 letter of Ambassador Emmanuel Pelaez to Mr. Mosqueda, the Ambassador of the Philippines to the United States
said, “Before anything else, I want to congratulate you for the
brilliant record that you have achieved which makes every Filipino proud
of his country.”
After winning a unanimous
defendant’s verdict on July 1, 1992 in the seven-day jury trial of
Dr. Collantes vs. C.E.T., Tidalgo,
Esguerra & Dr. Valles,
Atty. Mosqueda was complimented by Judge Abby Soven
of Department 55, of the Los Angeles Superior Court Central District, as
having performed “extremely well,” and by opposing counsel,
Mike Marko, as “knowing what he was doing.”
He was the recipient of the Community
Service Award of the Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (FASGI) in
1995. He served as President-elect of the Philippine American Bar
Association of Los Angeles in 1994-1995,
and became its President in 1995, but had to resign due to commitments in
the Philippines.
Dr. Mosqueda has obtained high awards
for injured seamen, dog bite victims, worker’s compensation
claimants and other injured victims. He has testified as an expert
witness on Philippine and American Laws.
On behalf of the Philippine court
appointed administrator, he successfully opposed the opening of Marcos
estate proceedings in Los
Angeles. In December 1997, the
California
Supreme Court finally ended all Marcos probate proceedings in
California,
initiated in 1995.
He was featured in the February 21, 2003 Los
Angeles Times article on “Convicted Cambodians Fear
Deportation”, as the immigration attorney of Chanphirun
Meanowuth Min, the nephew of Lon Nol, who was in removal proceedings in the Los
Angeles Immigration Court, and for whom he successfully obtained final
withholding of removal.
He received the “2003
Businessman of the Year” award by The National Republican
Committee’s Business Advisory Council, the “2004 Outstanding
Professional Award in Law” of the University of the Philippines
Alumni Association of Greater Los Angeles, the Pamana
Award USA 2004
“Outstanding Businessman of the Year” and
“Outstanding Attorney of the Year,” and the “2004
Ronald Reagan Republican Gold Medal Award.”
He was
featured on December 27, 2004 by the Los Angeles ABC Channel 7 local news
at 5:00 p.m. and by the CNN afternoon news, as
the attorney of Filipino seamen, intending to sue the U.S. Government and
the shipping owner/operator of M/V Katerina.
He
was notified on 2/15/05 of his membership in the Million Dollar Advocates
Forum because of a final judgment of $1.160 million entered on 02/02/04,
which he obtained in an immigration- real-estate investment case in the
Orange County
Superior Court in Santa Ana,
California.
Today, Attorney Mosqueda volunteers as at a local church legal program
to assist the needy with legal help. He also is part of the Loyola Law
School program Law Program. His office is located at 3460 Wilshire Blvd,
Suite 407 which is located on Wilshire and Normandy.
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