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When Miguel Saldaña says his role is about connecting people, he means it literally. The corporate litigation counsel at T-Mobile is responsible for managing and resolving legal disputes that may threaten the company’s cell sites and network infrastructure. The second his employer loses the ability, even for a minute, to connect people, the attorney takes it personally.
“Connectivity isn’t an option for us,” Saldaña says. “People have to be able to contact emergency services, their loved ones, and have online access wherever they may be. It’s about public trust, and outages are something we just can’t afford to be a regular occurrence.”
Saldaña has been at the cellular carrier since 2023, having built out significant experience in real estate litigation in private practice. It’s his first in-house role, and while there has been a learning curve to serving just one client, Saldaña says he’s made it a priority to try and connect with partners across the business on behalf of T-Mobile’s real estate litigation team.
Working on behalf of one cohesive mission has been a welcome change. Saldaña says the skill set he cultivated at law firms has translated in-house incredibly well.
His reputation working with outside counsel certainly remains. “Miguel brings forth a rare mix of strategic foresight, practical execution, and consummate professionalism, especially in the litigation arena. He has a sharp eye for risk and a steady hand in high-stakes matters, consistently guiding his team toward efficient and business-minded resolutions. His collaborative approach, coupled with his deep understanding of both the law and the business, makes him an indispensable litigation partner,” says Tirso M. Carreja, Jr., partner at Shutts & Bowen LLP.
The attorney immersed himself in the technical and operational complexities of wireless infrastructure, and increasing that knowledge base is always an ongoing effort. He collaborates closely with engineers who design and maintain everything from cell towers visible on hillsides and rooftops to the backbone infrastructure that supports nationwide communications. Every day, Saldaña is called to translate dense legal language and potential legal ramifications into practical, actionable counsel for technical teams and business leaders.
The translation piece comes fairly easily. Saldaña grew up in Los Angeles to immigrant parents in a neighborhood that “had more taquerias than McDonald’s.” Everywhere he looked, Saldaña saw people working hard to make lives of their own. Education was highly valued in the Saldaña household, and two of his siblings wound up becoming teachers. But Saldaña’s father saw something different for his youngest.
“He’d say that he already had two teachers, and that I should become a lawyer,” Saldaña recalls. “It was like he knew from when I was very young what I should pursue. He really understood me.”
But before law school, Saldaña took two years to work the job he says will always be the toughest he’s ever had, teaching English at the very middle school he once attended, on behalf of Teach For America. While he knew he’d be going to law school, he still wanted to take time to engage in the “family business” of sorts. His first class had thirty-five students who spoke six different languages. It was rough, but the lawyer admits he still misses teaching.
The teaching background has sure come in handy, though. Saldaña is a translator and interpreter of sorts, boiling down intricate scenarios for non-lawyers.
“I rely on my teaching background every day,” the counsel says. “I am here to provide the business with information that they can understand, give my recommendation, and then they make those business decisions. I’m here to facilitate getting there. That’s what teaching was all about.”
And the attorney’s spirit of empowering the next generation is alive and well.
In the Bay Area, he serves as president of the Scholarship Fund for the East Bay La Raza Lawyers Association (EBLRLA), an organization dedicated to fostering camaraderie and opportunity among Latinx attorneys. Each year, the fund distributes significant scholarships, more than $40,000 to 13 law students in 2025 alone.
As he mentioned in an interview with Fennemore (the attorney spent nearly seven years in private practice and also served as a judicial clerk for the US Bankruptcy Court) in 2022, “In California, Latinos represent 36 percent of the population, yet only 7 percent of licensed lawyers. I not only take tremendous pride in being a Latino lawyer, but also appreciate the responsibility that comes along with the title.”
And for those young lawyers-to-be, Saldaña provides advice worth noting.
“Let it go,” the counsel says. “Give your full effort and then live with the results. Everything else is just outside noise.”
That outside noise can include some internal anxiety. Saldaña says he knows what imposter syndrome feels like and that he hopes young professionals navigating those same feelings can understand that they are, in fact, good enough. His advice: you belong where you are. Give your full effort and understand that you will learn and grow from what you do today.
When Saldaña isn’t tackling high-stakes litigation or raising scholarship funds, the attorney is likely trying to maximize his time with his family that includes his wife and two young children. Saldaña says his family is what keeps him grounded, including weekly calls to his mother. Maybe that’s yet another reason he won’t tolerate a dropped call.
Shutts & Bowen is a full-service law firm that has provided leadership and high-quality legal services to businesses and individuals for 115 years. With eight offices throughout Florida, Shutts offers a full range of legal services to its clients locally, nationally and internationally. Our firm employs approximately 280 attorneys who focus on more than 30 distinct practice areas, including real estate, land use and zoning, development, construction, litigation, appellate, hospitality, intellectual property, financial services, corporate, labor and employment, insurance and taxation. Shutts & Bowen has the capabilities and resources to represent its clients’ needs across a myriad of industries – wherever their businesses may take them.
