Paolo Miguel Consignado has over eight (8) years of experience in litigation and dispute resolution. He is a member of the Firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department, and its Labor and Employment Practice Group. His areas of practice include litigation (civil, criminal, and administrative), employment disputes, international and domestic arbitration, estate proceedings, intra-corporate disputes, and intellectual property enforcement and litigation.

Aside from dispute resolution, Paolo provides advice to local and foreign investors on Philippine labor laws and assists them in their day-to-day employment-related issues and concerns. He also handles employment issues in corporate restructuring, including mergers and acquisitions.

For several years, Paolo also acted as the Deputy General Counsel in one of the largest real estate companies in the Philippines. As an in-house counsel, Paolo led the in-house legal team to winning and/or securing the dismissal or favorable resolution of at least thirty-eight (38) judicial and quasi-judicial actions involving the said company, its affiliates, and subsidiaries, on top of dozens of administrative employee disciplinary proceedings.

In one fiscal year alone, the in-house litigation team saved the company from financial exposure of approximately PhP 36,000,000.00. He also supervised the in-house legal team in advising the company of legal risks in its PhP 50-billion joint venture with a publicly-listed local conglomerate, and with a foreign real estate entity that is publicly-listed in several stock exchanges in Japan. Paolo also represented the company in dealing with various government agencies, such as the local government units of Pasay City and Sta. Rosa, Laguna; the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority; and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.

In his years of practice, Paolo has been involved in several high-profile matters, such as the following:

• Paolo was part of the team that successfully prayed for the dismissal, by way of a demurrer to evidence, of a domestic criminal action for money laundering against the highest officers of a domestic bank in relation to the world’s largest cyber-heist. He also assisted in the cross-border international discovery of evidence and coordination of legal theory and defenses in the suits filed against the same client/s in multiple jurisdictions. In a related issue, he was also part of the team that sued the central bank of another sovereign State through a domestic civil action in the Philippines. Significantly, Paolo personally and successfully argued for the validity of the service of summons despite claims of immunity of the said foreign central bank from suit in the Philippines.

• He was part of the team that successfully prayed for the dismissal of a civil action filed by the largest Filipino fast-food chain against its logistics partner and resisted the attempt to refer the matter to arbitration. The dispute involved at least PhP 500,000,000.00.

• He participated in the most prominent agrarian reform case in the country, involving a hacienda in the province of Tarlac, during the execution proceedings of a landmark Supreme Court decision. He also defended a prominent agribusiness based in Davao City in a complaint filed by around 300 workers, and handled its agrarian reform-related issues.

• He successfully defended several bank directors from allegations of unsound banking practices under the Charter of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation; and successfully prayed for the dismissal of a criminal complaint for medical malpractice against several resident doctors and surgeons of a prominent medical center based in Makati City.

• He also assisted in the maintenance of the trademark portfolio of several corporations, including the largest domestic universal bank in the Philippines and a globally renowned South Korean consumer electronics corporation. He was also part of the team that successfully resisted the trademark opposition case filed by a prominent local apparel brand against a foreign Korean cosmetics brand on the ground of dissimilarity of goods. He also prosecuted the trademark infringers, unfair competitors, violators of special laws on behalf of the largest domestic oil refining and marketing corporation.

Paolo contributes to various legal journals and publications. He contributed to the Philippine Chapters on Employment & Labour Law in the Legal 500 Comparative Guide in 2020, and on Copyright Law and Practice in the Chambers Global Practice Guide: Copyright in 2019. He also co-authored Advancing the Lore: A Proposed Legal Framework for Filipino Traditional Knowledge Protection and Commercialization, which was published in the Ateneo Law Journal, Volume 60, No. 4 (2016).

Paolo earned his Bachelor of Arts (2012) and Juris Doctor (2016, Second Honors) from the Ateneo de Manila University. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2017.