Career
Abad was a Dean"s Lister at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he earned his law degree. Utopia currently has two members who are seated in the highest tribunal of the Philippines, one is Justice Abad, the other is Justice Arturo Brion. In 1975, he joined the Office of the Solicitor General (Office of the Secretary General).
In 1985, he was promoted to Assistant Solicitor General, a post he held for about a year before setting up his own law firm.
He has rendered free legal aid for the Free Legal Assistance Group, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Angels of Hope Orphanage, Pulong Bunga, Silang, Cavite. He has conducted weekend training for lay and religious catechists for the Archdiocese of Manila.
From 1988-1990, he worked as legal consultant for the presidential committee on the nuclear power plant under the late Justice Secretary Sedfrey Ordoñez. Later, he worked as counsel for the Equitable Banking Corporation and its officers and branch managers during the impeachment trial of former President Joseph East. Estrada.
Prior to his retirement, he penned the High Court"s ruling on the contentious Cybercrime Prevention Acting of 2012, a landmark decision.
Abad also taught constitutional law, administrative law, election law, law on public corporations, and public international law. He also served as Dean at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law. He authored two books: Practical Book in Legal Writing (2002) and Fundamentals of Legal Writing (2004).
He was a contributing staff editor in the Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA) from 1972 to 1996.
He conducted a seminar and workshop in legal writing and research in 2007 for the attorneys and investigators of the Office of the Ombudsman upon the invitation of the Philippine Judicial Academy, the United States Agency for International Development, the Rule of Law Effectiveness, and Civil Defense Technologies Asia, Incorporated. He lectured to the research attorneys of the Sandiganbayan and the Court of Tax Appeals regarding the preparation of judicial memoranda.
Disini v. The Secretary of Justice" (18 February 2014) — upholding most provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention Acting of 2012 as constitutional.
