I am Armbien Sabillo (he/him), and I am honored to be considered for the role of Director at-Large for the Filipino Bar Association of Northern California (FBANC). 

Currently, I am patent counsel at Neurocrine Biosciences, where I am the lead attorney for  several research programs investigating treatments for neurological and endocrine-related  disorders. My practice includes intellectual property due diligence, freedom to operate  analysis, and global patent prosecution. 

I earned my J.D. at Berkeley Law, my Ph.D. in Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, and  my B.S. in Physiology at San Francisco State University. I was previously a Patent Analyst at  Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco, a Patent Associate at Cooley LLP in Silicon  Valley, and Patent Counsel at Gilead Sciences.  

As a queer Pilipino immigrant, I am passionate about serving my communities, and have  served on the board of directors of FBANC for four years. For the past four years, I have also  served on the board of Community Resources for Science, a science education non-profit  that provides free science lessons to underserved students in Oakland and the greater Bay  Area. I am determined to diversify the legal profession as an alumnus of both the National  Filipino American Lawyers Association (NFALA) Leadership Academy, and the Leadership  Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Pathfinder Program. 

As Director-at-Large, I plan to leverage my four years of experience as an FBANC board  member to support FBANC’s initiatives, particularly with regards to programming,  mentorship, and career development. 

In 2022, I was Mentorship Director and co-organized the Komunidad Conference, which  allowed me to create programming for law students in the SF Bay Area. This role gave me  special insight into the challenges that law students face, and the issues that they want to  address in the legal profession and in the Fil-Am community. 

In 2023 and 2024, I was Professional Development Director. In this capacity, I co-organized  Night with Fil-Am Judges and transformed this event into a Kamayan Feast. This change  was not only culturally significant, but also created a much more familiar and intimate  setting for attendees and Fil-Am judges to get to know each other and connect. 

As Professional Development Director, I co-founded the Liwanag Conference, which  consists of professional development workshops and MCLE-style seminars geared  towards Fil-Am legal professionals in the early and mid years of their careers. Liwanag is  meaningful because it helps illuminate a key stage of an attorney’s career. New and mid level attorneys are in a transitional period: from law student to practicing attorney, and  from foundational training to focusing their career trajectories to specific directions. With  Liwanag, we saw an opportunity to bridge and further empower the pipeline from law 

student to seasoned practitioner. The theme for this past year’s Liwanag was “A.I., Equity,  and the Law,” and dissected the ways in which AI impacts people and society, and how as  attorneys we can help ensure that the law is applied equitably. 

In 2025, I focused my efforts on FBANC’s Scholarship Program and the Community  Outreach Committee as a Director-at-Large. My goal for FBANC 45 in 2026-2027 is to  continue my work with these committees and help grow our positive impact on the  community. 

With my years of experience serving on the FBANC board, proven record for optimizing  existing programming, and success in establishing new flagship FBANC events, I hope to  support the endeavors of the new FBANC board in whatever way I can. Thank you for your  time and consideration.