Being her toddler’s sole caretaker and unemployed homemaker did not deter Jane from pursuing her plan to become a lawyer in the U.S. She enrolled on a scholarship grant in the University of Dayton’s LL.M. in American and Transnational Law (Online) Program. She graduated with flying colors, and her university featured her as one of the spokespersons, see video below.

In 2017, Jane immigrated to the U.S. on a Fiancee visa to get married and start a family with her husband. As an immigrant, Jane personally experienced the challenges of being in an interracial marriage. She started from zero, career-wise, and has adjusted to the many cultural differences. With limited resources, her family could not afford an immigration lawyer, so she had to prepare and submit her immigration petitions and applications. The confusing USCIS immigration forms and the voluminous supporting documents were daunting. Through diligent research and patient study, Jane learned much about USCIS immigration forms and processes, especially for family-based petitions and applications. She wondered if a lawyer like her found it challenging to prepare immigration documents and how much harder it must be for those without legal background and English proficiency. Stepparent adoption and child custody are also legal matters that interracial families may have to deal with. With Jane’s decades of legal experience and exposure to multinational clients, Jane believes she would be in an excellent position to help other interracial families in the same predicament as hers.

Jane worked as a Senior Associate and Case Manager in a family law firm with satellite offices all over Thailand. Jane’s legal team handled cases involving parents in an interracial marriage who were fighting over the custody of their children, family members who claimed properties of the alien decedents in Thailand, and divorces wherein both married couples were citizens of different countries. She saw the real struggles of migration and the impact of immigration laws on every individual’s personal and family rights. Jane’s experiences as an international lawyer cultivated her desire to learn more, equip herself with legal licenses, and expand her network to represent and bring together families from different countries.

In 2014, Jane passed the Bar Exam for Foreign Legal Consultants in Indonesia and worked in an international law firm in Jakarta. She represented clients from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Europe, and Singapore. Jane also won an arbitration case for an oil company before an international arbitration tribunal in Singapore.

When Jane resigned from her position in the Philippine judiciary, she thought that her career in law had ended. After almost a decade of private practice in her early 30s, Jane was one of the youngest trial judges appointed to this coveted position. However, her uncompromising dedication and well-meaning decisions as a judge did not sit well with illegal operators and put her life in danger. She heeded her mother’s plea, who said that her judgeship was not everything and that she could serve others in different ways as long as she was alive. Little did Jane know that God had a bigger plan for her: realizing her dream to be an international lawyer.

In her private life and practice of law, Jane endeavors to glorify God, a motto imbided in her character by her alma mater, San Beda College of Law, a premier law school in the Philippines.