November 1, 2026 - Melissa Briones, Canadian Filipino Net’s (CFNet) honourary legal counsel, is one of this year’s Most Influential Filipina Women in the World™ (Global FWN100™) by the Foundation for Filipina Women's Network (FWN). Briones is the founder and principal of Northam Law Corporation in Vancouver, specialising in family law, wills and estates.
Since moving to Canada in 2011, Briones has been active in the Canadian Filipino community as a member of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in BC, Rotary Club of Vancouver Mountainview, the CPHR BC and Yukon and the Omni Pacific Advisory Council. She continues to provide free community legal education sessions and mentors young articling students entering the law profession.
Briones won the award under the “Founder & Pioneer: The Groundbreaker" and joins other awardees Luzviminda Miguel, a professor of nursing at the University of Hawaii, and Attorney Migs Nograles Almario, undersecretary for political and strategic concerns at the Office of the Secretary in Malacanang. All three will receive their respective awards at the Filipina Leadership Global Summit on November 15 to 19 to be held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
FWN founder Marily Mondejar describes the Global FWN 100™ as a “working award.” She said, “The influence that stops with the woman who receives it is small compared to the influence that multiplies through everyone she touches.”
For her part, Briones will present her two-year Global Pitch Project to summit participants from over 30 countries worldwide. She said of her role as a lawyer and Canadian Filipino, “Knowing your rights shouldn’t depend on who you know. This honour is a commitment to keep opening those doors for our kababayans here in BC.”
Briones holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the University of the Philippines and a Master of Laws from the University of Washington. She challenged the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s National Committee on Accreditation, writing a total of eight exams and finally receiving formal accreditation in 2017. In 2019, she founded Northam Law Corporation.
About the Author
Rachel Ramos-Reid started writing for magazines and newspapers when she was still a junior at the University of the Philippines’ Communication degree program majoring in Journalism. She continued to write in a public relations/corporate communications capacity in various private and government offices until moving out of the country in 1997 to work as Programme Officer for the arts and culture branch of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO-SPAFA) in Bangkok, Thailand. At the end of her term, Rachel found herself immigrating to Canada in the year 2000 and again searching for new beginnings.
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