JUSTICE LANEE CUI DAVID is in the rare position of being a member of two professions. At the age of twenty, she became a Certified Public Accountant, and at twenty-seven, she became a member of the Philippine Bar. Her career in both worlds is truly a journey of personal fulfillment and professional evolution.
In 1988, Justice David graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce, Major in Accounting, Magna Cum Laude, from Arellano University (AU). She immediately took the May 1988 CPA Licensure Examination and passed with a rating of 86.57%. While awaiting the result of the CPA Examinations, she taught various accounting subjects at her alma mater, and at the same time, enrolled at the University of the East (UE) College of Law.
A year later, inspired by a professor’s stories about San Beda College of Law, she transferred to the Benedictine-run institution and bid farewell to UE. She also left teaching at AU to join Joaquin Cunanan and Co. (JCC) – PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC), where she first served as a Junior Auditor and later as a Tax Associate. In 1990, she returned to teaching at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), College of Business Administration. While teaching and studying law, she still managed to practice her accounting profession, eventually becoming the Comptroller of Solar Resources, Inc. (Solar), an affiliate of Solar Films and Solar Entertainment Corporation.
In 1994, to complete her law program, she cross-enrolled and passed a four-unit subject at the University of Manila. That same year, she took the Bar Examinations and passed with a rating of 80.25%.
In 1995, Solar promoted her to Vice President for Legal and Finance and allowed her to engage in the practice of law, thereby enabling her to help manage the David Cui-David Buenaventura and Ang (DCBA) Law Offices. As a private practitioner, she was often called upon to handle and litigate controversial and high-profile criminal cases prosecuted at the Sandiganbayan.
Public service beckoned in August 2016, when she left Solar after serving it for twenty-six years, and the DCBA Law Offices after managing it for sixteen years, to take up her post as Deputy Commissioner of the BIR. As the Head of the Information Systems Group, she had the unique opportunity to merge the worlds of accounting, tax law, and information technology.
Serving at the BIR afforded Justice David the chance to participate in various Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programs; and to join local and international conferences, seminars, and workshops on IT, either as a resource person or as a participant.
In June 2018, she passed the grueling Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) examinations. Conferred by the US-based Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), the CISA designation is the global standard of achievement for those who audit, control, monitor and assess an organization’s IT and business systems. In November, she took the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) examinations and earned the third-highest score for her batch of examinees. Also awarded by the ISACA, the CISM designation is the internationally recognized qualification standard of information security, information systems audit, and IT governance professionals. In March 2019, she went to Harvard University to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Program on Digital Transformation in Government.
As the Bureau’s ICT Head, Justice David introduced numerous digital reforms and innovations in the revenue service. At the helm of the BIR’s Digital Transformation (DX) Program, she steered various activities intended to bring the entire tax administration system onward into the cyber-universe, ultimately transforming it into a more taxpayer-focused and data-centric organization.
In November 2021, Justice David was appointed to the Court of Tax Appeals. Service in the Judiciary has its share of challenges, but she knows that this new stage in her life will bring fresh opportunities for personal growth and professional development. She takes particular pride in successfully completing the First Pre-Judicature Program for the Appellate Courts conducted by the Philippine Judicial Academy, Supreme Court via Distance Learning on October 4 to 29, 2021 (with a rating of 100% in the Post Lecture Quiz in Taxation Law, 98% in the Written Evaluative Examination in Taxation Law, and 88.80% final grade), which she considers as a truly significant step in her new journey as a member of the Judiciary.
Justice David married Atty. Stephen L. David, her classmate in San Beda College of Law, in 1991. They are the proud and loving parents to their five (5) children, who Justice David refers to as “the greatest treasures of our lives”: Vincent Paul (a lawyer), Christine Bernette (a CPA), John Vianni, Catherine Anne, and Stephanee Jane.