Overview
Andre, also known as Raj, specializes in international law and infrastructure law, particularly public-private partnerships (PPPs). He is experienced in private law practice, government service, and international cases and transactions.
At present, he is an assistant professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, an international law professor at the Philippine Judicial Academy, the director of the ASEAN Law Institute, and the chair of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines international law committee. He acts as legal adviser for infrastructure projects of the Asian Development Bank, Philippine government agencies, and private entities.
Before joining LGTON LAW, Raj was a litigation lawyer at Carpio Villaraza & Cruz, and practiced corporate law as a senior associate at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan.
He was appointed by the Philippine President as undersecretary heading the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines, and previously, as assistant secretary at the Office of the Presidential Legal Counsel in Malacañang. He was selected by the Department of Finance and the US Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation to be the general counsel and chief integrity officer of a Philippine government entity implementing a Php20-billion foreign-funded infrastructure and development program. He served as court attorney in the Supreme Court and as legal adviser in the Philippine Senate.
He worked in Washington, D.C., as a senior World Bank lawyer handling debarment cases involving infrastructure and development projects. He also worked in Geneva as assistant to the Philippine ambassador to the World Trade Organization. He served as counsel for the Republic of the Philippines in its WTO dispute with US and EU involving Philippine excise taxes.
He earned his bachelor’s degrees in education and law from the University of the Philippines; and his master’s degree in international law, with merit, from University College London, University of London, where he was a Chevening scholar of the British Government. He also attended the Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands, and the Institute of International Public Law in Greece. He was captain of the Philippine national team in the Jessup international law moot court competition held in Washington, D.C., and placed fifth in the Philippine bar examinations with a grade of 90.70.