She roars in the litigation arena, taking on battles no ordinary lawyer would dare handle.
In the Philippines, where political trials carry the weight of national reckoning, Vice President Sara Duterte has entrusted her impeachment defense to Atty. Sheila Sison — a criminal litigation specialist known for taking cases others refuse and turning them around. Sison leads a team of sixteen lawyers from Fortun Narvasa & Salazar, a firm that named her Lawyer of the Year five consecutive times for her aggressive, high-stakes courtroom work. Her appointment is itself a statement: this defense will not yield quietly, but will contest every angle of a proceeding that may define what accountability looks like in Philippine democracy.
- Vice President Sara Duterte faces an impeachment trial that has fractured the political establishment and drawn international scrutiny, making the choice of lead counsel a decision with consequences far beyond the courtroom.
- Atty. Sheila Sison arrives with a reputation built on cases most lawyers walk away from — her firm describes her as someone who 'roars in the litigation arena' and reshapes narratives that seem already lost.
- A team of sixteen lawyers signals not a holding action but a full-scale legal campaign, structured for a prolonged and complex proceeding with cross-examinations, evidence challenges, and sustained counter-narratives.
- Sison must now manage that large team under extraordinary public pressure, maintaining coherence across dozens of hours of argument before senators who are themselves weighing profound political calculations.
- For millions of Filipinos watching, the trial is less about legal procedure than about what accountability can mean — and Sison's track record of winning unwinnable cases is precisely why she was chosen to answer that question.
Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment defense is led by Atty. Sheila Sison, a criminal litigation specialist and partner at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar, who heads a sixteen-lawyer team in what may become one of the Philippines' most consequential political trials. Sison is known for accepting high-stakes cases that most attorneys decline — work that demands both technical mastery and the willingness to endure intense public scrutiny.
Her background spans communication arts at the University of the Philippines Los Baños before she pursued law at San Sebastian College of Law–Recoletos as a full academic scholar, passing the Bar in 2014. Her career has unfolded across the most volatile decade in recent Philippine politics. From 2015 to 2019, her firm named her Lawyer of the Year five consecutive times, a recognition grounded in consistent performance across criminal and civil litigation, family law, appellate work, labor disputes, and corporate matters.
Her appointment signals an aggressive defense posture. Sison's reputation rests on her ability to shift courtroom momentum — to find the defensible angle in a position that appears untenable and to reconstruct a trial's narrative across days of testimony. These are skills forged in actual courtrooms, and they are precisely what a prolonged impeachment proceeding demands.
The weeks ahead will test not only her litigation abilities but her capacity to lead a large team under sustained pressure, persuading senators who are themselves navigating complex political calculations. Millions of Filipinos will be watching — not merely for legal outcomes, but for what the trial reveals about accountability in their political system. Sison enters that arena with a record of winning cases others thought lost, which is exactly why she was chosen.
Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment defense rests in the hands of Atty. Sheila Sison, a criminal litigation specialist who leads a team of sixteen lawyers navigating what may become one of the Philippines' most consequential political trials. Sison, a partner at the law firm Fortun Narvasa & Salazar, brings a reputation for taking cases that most attorneys would decline—the kind of high-stakes courtroom work that requires both technical mastery and the willingness to absorb public scrutiny.
Sison's path to this moment began at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, where she studied communication arts with a focus on writing before pivoting to law. She earned her law degree from San Sebastian College of Law–Recoletos as a full academic scholar of the Recoletos Order, finishing her studies in 2014 when she was admitted to the Bar. The timing placed her at the beginning of a legal career that would span the most volatile decade in recent Philippine politics.
Her firm describes her in language that borders on mythic: a lawyer who "roars in the litigation arena," capable of turning seemingly lost cases around through sheer skill and preparation. That reputation has concrete backing. From 2015 through 2019, Fortun Narvasa & Salazar named Sison its Lawyer of the Year five times running—a recognition that speaks to consistent excellence across a demanding caseload. Her practice spans criminal and civil litigation, family law, appellate work, labor disputes, mining law, and corporate matters. The breadth suggests someone comfortable moving between different legal domains, adapting strategy to the specific terrain of each case.
What makes Sison's appointment to lead Duterte's defense particularly significant is what it signals about the Vice President's strategy. This is not a defensive crouch. Sison's reputation is built on aggressive advocacy, on cases that demand not just technical competence but the kind of courtroom presence that can shift momentum. Her firm notes that clients trust her precisely because of her ability to reshape the narrative of a trial—to take a position that looks untenable and find the angle that makes it defensible.
The impeachment trial itself remains fluid. Duterte faces charges that have fractured the political establishment and drawn international attention. The composition of her legal team—sixteen lawyers, with Sison at the helm—suggests preparation for a prolonged, complex proceeding. Criminal litigation specialists like Sison understand how to cross-examine witnesses, how to identify weaknesses in evidence, how to construct a coherent counter-narrative across multiple days of testimony. These are skills honed in courtrooms, not learned from textbooks.
What unfolds in the coming weeks will test not just Sison's technical abilities but her capacity to manage a large team under intense pressure, to maintain consistency across dozens of hours of argument, and to persuade senators who are themselves navigating profound political calculations. The trial will be watched not only by legal professionals but by millions of Filipinos trying to understand what accountability means in their own political system. Sison enters that arena with a track record of winning cases others thought unwinnable—which is precisely why she was chosen.
Citas Notables
Her ability to turn tables around earns her trusting clients.— Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter who leads the defense team? Isn't the outcome mostly political anyway?
The outcome is political, yes, but the trial itself is still a legal proceeding. A skilled defense lawyer can shape what evidence gets heard, how witnesses are questioned, what narrative the senators are forced to engage with. Sison's reputation is for doing exactly that—making weak positions defensible through rigorous courtroom work.
What does "fierce litigator" actually mean in practice?
It means she doesn't back down from aggressive cross-examination. It means she finds the contradictions in the prosecution's case and exploits them. It means she's willing to take positions that look unpopular if she thinks they're legally sound. Her five consecutive Lawyer of the Year awards suggest she does this consistently, not just in one or two high-profile cases.
She specializes in criminal law, but this is a political trial. Are those skills transferable?
Absolutely. Criminal litigation teaches you how to defend someone when the stakes are highest and the public is watching. You learn how to handle hostile witnesses, how to construct reasonable doubt, how to keep a jury—or in this case, senators—focused on the actual evidence rather than emotion. Those skills translate directly.
What does her background tell us about how she approaches cases?
She came through as a scholar, which suggests discipline and intellectual rigor. She studied writing before law, which might mean she understands narrative—how to tell a coherent story across a trial. And she's spent a decade building a reputation in a competitive market, which means she's learned how to win cases that matter.
Is there any chance this defense fails?
Of course. But Sison wasn't chosen because the outcome was predetermined. She was chosen because she's the kind of lawyer who can make the prosecution work for every single vote, who can create reasonable doubt where it might not otherwise exist, who can turn a trial into something more than just a political execution.