Rodrigo Montellano

Practice Areas

Rodrigo Montellano is a Director at PPO and works out of the city of La Paz.

He specialized in labor law and has extensive professional experience including ten years with the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, where he held the positions as Labor Inspector, Labor Law Specialist, Labor Relations Specialist, and on various occasions acted as deputy General Director of Labor, Hygiene and Occupational Safety. During that time, he sat on diverse governmental committees, particularly on regulatory analysis and development, and represented the Ministry to the Andean Community (CAN) and at the meeting of the Andean Committee on Occupational Safety and Health.

In the private sphere he has been an external specialist consultant on labor matters and individual and group conflict resolution to companies in different sectors of activity in Bolivia. He has also been a consultant to the German international cooperation agency GIZ on labor law in the rural context.

Rodrigo obtained his law degree from the Universidad Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Bolivia in 2003 and a diploma in Labor Law at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (Bolivia) in 2006.

Career

Rodrigo Montellano has spent over 18 years in the labour law related fields, amassing a vast work experience in several different activities and branches. He held very important charges in the Bolivian Ministry of employment like participating in numerous government commissions; most notably, the Normative analysis and development commission and the Ministry’s portfolio representation before the Andean Community. In the private sector, he worked as an external advisor for high profile enterprises in sectors involving mining, oil and gas, telecommunication, sales, pharma, construction, and services.

Rodrigo is a specialist with solid experience in general advising in labour law in general, individual and collective labour related conflict prevention, collective negotiation, conciliation, labour arbitration, administrative processes in general labour subject and reinsertion, prevention and management of sexual and workplace harassment related conflicts, processes of dismissal, organizational restructuring, processes of forming in labour law for human resources and work inspections.

Rodrigo Montellano was recognized as a Star Associate three consecutive years since 2021 by Chambers and partners as well as a Rising Star by The Legal 500. He also has several academic degrees and enjoys publishing opinion based articles regarding several current topics, he gives free labour law webinars and courses in the same fields for human resources branches in private companies.

Professional Memberships

Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de La Paz

Public Bar Association (RPA) under Bolivia’s Ministry of Justice

Publications

Opinion article on endorsement of payment settlements of social benefits (2022)

Opinion article on job stability (2022)

Opinion article on the implementation of continuous hours in the private sector (2023)

Clients

San Cristóbal Mining

Nestlé

Unilever

Child refuge “Aldeas infantiles SOS”

AXS Bolivia

FAGAL Food industries

Impala terminals (Trafigura)

HP Medical

Belcorp

Pharmatech Boliviana

Ericsson

Nokia

Ovando (Astara)

National Oilwell Varco (NOV).

Wildlife Conservation Society

UPL

Roche Bolivia

Fexpocruz

Shell

Solactiva

Tecnofarma

Tupiza mining

Pedidos Ya

Petrex

Work Highlights

Advice and support to the ABBOTT company in complex labor restructuring processes that implied the closure of various areas, a measure that was developed successfully and that allowed the company to reduce labor costs to maintain its operations.

Advice and support to the Nestlé company in the resolution of complex collective labor conflicts, achieving favorable results for the company and without any type of contingency.

Advice and support to the UNILEVER company in complex labor restructuring processes that allowed the conclusion of labor relations with more than 100 workers and reduced labor costs. These measures were developed successfully and without contingencies for the company.

Industry Sector Expertise

Manufacturing

Mining

Industrial

Pharma

Oil

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Bolivia

Languages Spoken

Spanish

Experience

High complexity individual and collective labour related matters

Awards

Education