Commercial contracts lawyer with 14+ years of experience, including as National Legal Officer at IOM (UN Migration). I draft and negotiate cross border agreements, provide outsourced DPO and data protection support, legal compliance and advise on AI governance. Based in Dubai and Manila, working remotely.
WHAT I DO. Commercial and institutional contracts: NDAs, MSAs, SaaS and technology agreements, vendor and procurement contracts, donor and funding agreements, project implementation, construction, logistics, leasing and partnership agreements, with attention to risk allocation, liability, termination, governing law and dispute resolution.
Data protection and DPO services: outsourced DPO functions under the Philippine Data Privacy Act of 2012, data inventories, records of processing, privacy notices, privacy impact assessments, data sharing agreements, vendor review, international transfers and breach response. I have also provided GDPR compliance support to clients under confidentiality.
AI governance: advice on AI compliance and AI use policies, drafting contracts relating to AI, and training in the EU AI Act. I use AI tools for research, drafting and document review, with human verification of all output.
BACKGROUND. At IOM I supported a global contract portfolio across conflict, post conflict and stable jurisdictions, mainly the Middle East. Contract values ranged from a few thousand to hundreds of millions of USD, especially funding and construction agreements. I built templates, contributed to contract automation and trained lawyers across several regions. Earlier, I practiced litigation, labor relations and corporate law at Philippine law firms.
WHO I WORK WITH. International organizations, NGOs, multinational companies, startups, creators and brands, and private clients.
I am a Philippine licensed lawyer (admitted March 2012).
Open to remote and project based engagements.
Contact: melki@melkilegal.com | www.melkilegal.com | WhatsApp +63 917 520 1163
