Professional Background

Mr. Canlas’ practice focuses on Telecommunications and Information and Communications Technology Law. He is currently a member of the firm’s Data Privacy Practice Group and is part of a team that successfully defended an online lending corporation against a temporary ban on processing of personal data, which would have effectively halted the operations of said corporation. Mr. Canlas is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/E).

Mr. Canlas is also a Partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department and his areas of practice include tax and customs litigation, appellate practice, trial advocacy, and corporate and banking litigation.

Mr. Canlas obtained his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of the Philippines in 2009. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the same university, graduating cum laude in 2005. He authored the thesis entitled “Project MODEX and the Modernization of Philippine Elections”, which was awarded as the Best Political Science Thesis of his batch. Mr. Canlas was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2010.

Mr. Canlas holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Economic and Business Law and EU-Graduate Diploma from Kyushu University in Japan as a Monbukagakusho Scholar (Young Leaders’ Program). He has held internships in several international law firms in Japan, as well as in the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). He has likewise been a speaker in several conferences such as the Conference on Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Algorithms held in Japan in 2019.

Mr. Canlas is a senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Law.

Recent Publications

• Solving a Copyright Quandary: Proposing a Framework for Assigning Copyright to Creative Works Made by AI (published at the Ateneo Law Journal).