Joan de Venecia majored in Legal Administration at the Ateneo de Manila University, graduating with honors in 2001. She then went on to study law at the University of the Philippines School of Law. She also graduated as the valedictorian of her class with a cum laude distinction. During his time at UP, he conducted legal research entitled “The Silent Witness Against Torture: Arguing for Recorded Interrogations.”
An award-winning debater and adjudicator, she participated in numerous tournaments in the Philippines and in other parts of the world, defeating champion debaters from far and wide. She won the Best Speaker Award at the 2004 Asia Cup International Law Moot Court Competition in Japan and was a finalist for Best Speaker at the Jean-Pictet IHL/Red Cross Competition held in France in 2005. During the 2005 Philippine Bar Exams, he ranked first among 1,526 examinees who passed the stringent tests.
Joan de Venecia is currently pursuing her Master of Laws at New York University School of Law with a concentration in International Legal Studies. She is a full tuition scholarship holder from NYU under the Hugo Grotius Scholarship and is also a Senator J. William Fulbright Scholar. She is a graduate editor of the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics.
*Career
After graduating from law school, Joan de Venecia joined SyCip, Salazar, Hernandez and Gatmaitan, said to be the largest law firm in the Philippines. In addition to practicing law, Joan de Venecia also taught Public International Law at the Lyceum of the University of the Philippines School of Law in Makati City. She was also a regular teacher of opponents, giving classes on Procedural Law and Taxation. Joan of Venice is currently a member of the Asian Society of International Law. According to various interviews, he hopes to join a non-governmental agency in the future to further the cause of the poor and oppressed. She is well known to her colleagues as someone who hated those who looked down on the underprivileged.
*Personal
Joan de Venecia is the niece of Pangasinan Congressman José de Venecia, Jr. Her father, Tony, now deceased, was de Venecia’s older brother and a retired lawyer and judge in the city of Dagupan. Although he comes from a political family (his half-brother, Alex, is a councilor in Dagupan), he has not yet expressed a desire to join politics. His lying about simpler pleasures like interesting conversations, reading and watching movies interests him.
He has also been known to express opinions that are at odds with his family. For example, in 2006, he did not share his uncle’s support for President Gloria Arroyo’s Proclamation 1017, better known as the 2006 State of Emergency in the Philippines. At that time, Representative José de Venecia remained a staunch ally of the administration. According to Joan, it was a mistake to declare a state of emergency after an alleged coup attempt at Camp Aguinaldo. The legal community questioned the constitutionality of said proclamation and it was one of the most controversial actions of the country’s president.
