Karen obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. She was admitted to the Philippine bar in 2001. She has extensive experience in corporate commercial and tax law, having worked as an associate at top law firm Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose, and as a tax lawyer at Sycip Gorres Velayo & Co. (Ernst & Young in Manila), the largest professional services firm in the country.

Karen’s experience in tax law is wide-ranging, from tax planning and advisory to tax controversy and advocacy. Her competence in this sphere is strengthened by international experience in the tax and legal departments of Big 4 accounting firms abroad. She was a senior tax manager at Deloitte Kazakhstan, providing investment counseling, corporate tax advice and international structuring assistance to domestic and multinational clients in various industries, particularly in the energy and resources space. She was also a tax executive at Ernst & Young Cambodia advising mostly inbound investors in a wide range of industries in respect of their corporate and transaction tax concerns, including mergers and acquisitions and cross-border structuring.

Karen is also adept at data privacy issues. She has advised on, and assisted clients with, data privacy compliance including data protection officer and data processing system registrations; establishing privacy management programs; drafting privacy policies, procedures and notices; drafting and updating vendor and data transfer agreements; and establishing and implementing breach management procedures. Karen has the Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) credential, as certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).

In respect of corporate and commercial matters, she has handled corporate registrations, mergers and acquisitions and corporate reorganizations for domestic and multinational clients. She has assisted clients in drafting, reviewing and negotiating various contracts and agreements and in the performance of due diligence reviews prior to acquisitions.