Atty. Rico Paolo R. Quicho earned his Juris Doctor Degree from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in 2003 and was admitted to the Philippine Bar the following year. He obtained his Master of Laws degree at the University of California, Berkeley with a Certificate of Specialization in Law and Technology in 2015 as a Scholar of the Asia Foundation.     

Rico commenced his legal career as a Junior Associate from 2003 to 2007 at the Siguion Reyna Montecillo and Ongsiako Law Offices (SRMO), the oldest law office in the Philippines and a renowned training ground of the country’s top legal luminaries. Rico left SRMO to establish his own firm, Quicho & Angeles Law Offices (Q&A), which specialized in domestic and international civil, criminal, commercial and administrative litigation. Q&A briefly merged with a boutique law firm where Rico was tasked to head its litigation department.  Thereafter, Rico formed the Quicho Law Offices to focus on litigation practice and special projects to cater the evolving needs of its clients.  Rico’s extensive litigation practice includes intra-corporate disputes, commercial litigation, and corporate rehabilitation, data privacy and media.  In 2017, he was nominated as one of the Young Lawyer of the Philippines in the Asian Legal Business.   

Rico is presently the Dean of the Universidad de Manila College of Law (“UDM-COL”), a local university established under the charter of the City of Manila, our nation’s capital. He was also the former Dean of the University of Makati School of Law (“UMAK-SOL”).  Rico played an instrumental role in the establishment of UMAK SOL and its accreditation by the Legal Education Board.  Outside of his administrative role in UDM-COL, he also teaches various law courses, particularly Remedial Law Review, Civil Procedure, Evidence and Trial Technique, Special Proceedings, Constitutional Law 1, and Negotiable Instruments Law at the San Beda Alabang School of Law.  He also taught Property Law at the John Wesley School of Law at Wesleyan University in Cabanatuan City.  He is also a Bar Lecturer for Remedial Law Review and a former lecturer of Trial Technique for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education.  Recently, and in line with Philippine political developments, Rico has been sought after as expert resource person in topics regarding federalism, territorial disputes, role of technology in harnessing the proper delivery of public service by local government units and data privacy.   

In 2012, during the historical impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato C. Corona of the Philippine Supreme Court, Rico represented the Chief Justice as one of his spokespersons. He also appeared before the Philippine Senate as a member of the Chief Justice’s defense team.     

During the 2016 Philippine Presidential elections, Rico took the position of Spokesperson for Political Affairs of the former Philippine Vice President, Honorable Jejomar C. Binay.