Bryan A SAN JUAN

Introduction

A seasoned and highly-ranked commercial lawyer, a distinguished law dean and professor, Bryan A San Juan is in the Philippines’ Top 100 Lawyers for three consecutive years now (2023 to the present). He is a Legal 500 Recommended Lawyer (2024 and 2025) and also recognised by the IFLR1000 2024/2025. A distinguished Oxford alumnus, he made history in 2024 as the British Council’s first National Winner for Science and Sustainability in the Philippines.

San Juan holds law degrees from the University of Oxford (2019) and the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law (2010), and has ESG credentials from Cambridge University (2024). He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from UP College of Law, graduating valedictorian and cum laude, and winning the Gonzalo Gonzalez Award for Most Outstanding Legal Service. He finished his Magister Juris (with honours) at Oxford, where he trained under the Oxford Centre for Competition Law and Policy and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

In antitrust and competition law, San Juan is a leading counsel. He has obtained clearance for M&As with a combined transaction value of PHP430 billion (USD7.5 million). He has also argued before the Supreme Court and the Energy Regulatory Commission on antitrust issues, including challenging the constitutionality of a franchise that assured structural dominance to the grantee, defending the validity of take-or-pay clauses in power supply agreements (PSAs), and the centrality of the stranded contract cost recovery mechanism as a requisite to any proposed competition in the distribution utilities sector. He has also served as an expert for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank.

In energy, San Juan is a top-tier counsel. Project Leyte, where he was counsel to the Shell-NAC JV, was awarded M&A Deal of the Year. He is counsel to one of the world’s largest solar companies and renewable energy companies in project development. In power litigation, he led the firm in landmark cases before the SC, the ERC, and arbitral tribunals on complex issues on PSAs and financing agreements, market abuses under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, anti-competitive behavior and abuse of dominance, Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity applications, and compliance with customer service performance standards. San Juan is the founding dean of Liceo de Masbate School of Law. He is a professor at UP College of Law and ASCOT College of Law, where he teaches civil and commercial law.