Gatmaytan Yap Patacsil Gutierrez & Protacio (C&G Law)

Managing Partner

Ben Dominic Yap is a founding partner and the Managing Partner of C&G Law. He co-heads the firm’s Disputes Practice Group and its Energy, Construction & Infrastructure Sectors Group.

Ben specialises in litigation and arbitration. He has been consistently regarded as a leading Philippine lawyer in these fields by respected international publications such as Asialaw, Benchmark Litigation, Chambers Asia-Pacific, and The Legal 500. He is also one of only a handful of Philippine lawyers who is part of the list/panel of accredited arbitrators of both the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), which are two of the world’s most preferred arbitral institutions.

Ben also has significant experience in corporate and commercial transaction work involving construction, energy, and infrastructure matters. Chambers Asia-Pacific has regarded him as a leading Philippine lawyer in corporate and commercial matters for several years.

Ben’s expertise in litigation and arbitration as well as corporate and commercial matters has made him a go-to lawyer of the Philippines’ leading conglomerates in the disputes and transactions aspects of their construction, energy, and infrastructure projects.

His expertise in these fields also led Asia Business Law Journal to recognise him as one of the Philippines’ Top 100 Lawyers from 2018 to 2023. More recently, he was one of ten recipients of Asian Legal Business’ Philippines Client Choice Lawyers award for 2022.

Ben’s impressed clients have described him as “very bright”, a “standout”, and as “a talented strategist and tenacious advocate.” Other clients have also described him as “extremely switched on and a very strong technical lawyer”.

Ben has also been praised for “tak[ing] a detailed approach to solving the legal challenges presented” and for being “able to hone into the main issues quickly, read between the lines and come up with clear plans of defence and attack as necessary”.

Prior to founding C&G Law in February 2007, Ben was an associate (from 1998 to 2003) and a senior associate (from 2003 until 2007) at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan.

English, Filipino

Member, Integrated Bar of the Philippines (1998–present) Member, Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (2015–present) Member, Philippine Institute of Arbitrators or PIArb (2017–present) List of Arbitrators, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) (2019–present) List of Arbitrators, Philippine International Center for Conflict Resolution (2019–present) Panel of Arbitrators, Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) (2019–present)

Ateneo de Manila University School of Law, Juris Doctor (Class of 1997, class salutatorian, recipient of Evelio Javier Leadership Award) Ateneo de Manila University, Bachelor of Science in Management, Major in Legal Management (Class of 1993) Admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1998