Sofia Monge

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Leaders in Law endorses Sofia Monge as our exclusively recommended Inheritance Law expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch Sofia, please use the contact information provided above.

Areas of Expertise

  • Inheritance Law
  • Labor Law
  • Criminal law

Education

  • Degree in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, in the field of legal sciences
  • Postgraduate course on “Legal Problems of Drugs and Drug Addiction”, organized by the Faculty of Law of Lisbon and the Portuguese Institute of Drugs and Drug Addiction.
  • Post-Graduation in Labor Law at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
  • Lawyer since 2005
  • Founding partner and President of the General Meeting of Carlos Pinto de Abreu e Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, SP, RL
  • Professor of the professional course of Legal Services Technician, teaching the subjects of civil and criminal procedural practices and evidence at the Social Development Institute
  • Member of the Portuguese Bar Association as a Lawyer since 2005
  • Member of the Criminal Forum – Penal Lawyers Association
  • Member of the Legal Experts Advisory Panel of Fair Trials International since 2013
  • Member of the Committee on Human Rights, Social Affairs and Natural Affairs of the Bar Association from March 2017 to March 2020

Firm Description:

Vision

The utility of the exercise of Advocacy and the increased value of legal services is in the prompt response, in anticipation of problems, in the prevention of risks, in the utility of advice, in the minimization of damages, in the proactivity of the advice, in the quality of sponsorship and in the effectiveness of defense.

The work or activity of a Lawyer or a Lawyer is also a difficult and complex task, not just legal, but vision, strategy and management, always rich, innovative, exciting, unique and unrepeatable, because it generates more Significant value or risk minimization should not be neglected. The advocacy exercise is better than a simple and formal provision of a legal, traditional, concrete, watertight and ready to deliver service or the provision of simple, isolated, blind, aseptic, pre-prepared, repetitive, occasional and autonomous services .

Advocacy/Service

The Legal Profession is not a mere provision of services or a business. It’s much more than that.
The act of the lawyer is useful and generates value, beyond the strictly economic. The rights of people, freedom, patrimonial rights, honor and values ​​are our concern.

The value of our services lies in the speed of response, in anticipating problems and in risk prevention. Our advice and proactivity will be aimed at minimizing damage, ensuring the quality of the sponsorship and the effectiveness of the defense.

Principles/values

The legal profession is a profession of social interest, essential and of a clear personal nature. In addition, the importance of the lawyer goes beyond the defense of personal interests, although they cannot be waived, and requires a special relationship of confidentiality, trust and proximity with the client, the reason for our noble role.

The lawyer is a liberal professional, and therefore independent, who, with the tools of law and law, will do everything necessary to achieve the legitimate and just claims of clients. No matter how difficult the case is, no matter how many obstacles the cause has, or no matter how much effort or difficulty there is in the study, in the preparation, and in the comprehensive monitoring of the process. We do not give up.

 

Inês Azevedo

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Leaders in Law endorses Inês Azevedo as our exclusively recommended Immigration Law expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with Inês, please use the contact information provided above.

With more than 18 years of experience Inês Azevedo has an extensive legal background and worked form some of the most prestigious Top 10 law firms in Portugal. During her professional career Inês also worked for the Portuguese Government. In 2012 Inês was nominated deputy for the Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister where she was responsible for the Migration, Refugees and Discrimination dossiers. During 2013/2014 Inês was also assigned as National Coordinator of the European Year of Citizens.

In 2017 Inês left the Portuguese Government and opened her own law firm, Azevedo Legal, focused exclusively on Migrations and connected law areas such as Real Estate and Corporate. In 2020 Inês Azevedo merged her law practice with Ascenso Advogados, one of the most prestigious Tax Law Firms in Portugal.  Together they created Azevedo, Ascenso & Associados. The goal of Azevedo, Ascenso & Associados and Inês Azevedo remains the same, to serve all migration clients, privet or corporate, as a legal one stop shop.

Inês has a Master’s degree in development economics (ISEG) and several Post Graduations in Tourism Law (Lisbon Law School), Tax Law (Lisbon Law School), Energy Law (Lisbon Law School), Social Entrepreneurship (INSEAD) and Circular Economy (Cambridge).

Inês is enrolled in the Portuguese Lawyer’s Bar Association since 2006.

Firm Description

Azevedo, Ascenso & Associados is a migration centric boutique law firm. We are proudly a on stop shop for all clients, privet or corporate, that want to relocate to Portugal and need legal support to do so. We have all the necessary tools to support clients on every step of the way. Our law areas cover Migration, Tax. Real Estate, Corporate, Technology and Structured Investment Vehicles.

In short, Azevedo, Ascenso & Associados is a team of multidisciplinary, seasoned lawyers that guide clients on every step of the Migration journey. At Azevedo, Ascenso & Associados we know the rules, the bureaucracies, the practicalities, and we will always advise on the best path forward while making sure that clients have a full understanding of the process as well as all the information for the decision making.

As we say in Azevedo, Ascenso & Associados – It is your move but it is our game.

 

João Moraes Sarmento

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Leaders in Law endorses João Moraes Sarmento as our exclusively recommended Unfair Commercial Law Expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with João, please use the contact information provided above.

João Moraes Sarmento is one of the founding partners of Machado Sarmento & Associados and a lawyer with over 20 years of experience. His professional background is strongly related to the financial area, having worked for Banco de Portugal and Morgan Stanley at the beginning of his career, and working, as a lawyer, with a variety of national and international clients, SMEs and large companies to whom he advises and provides day-to-day legal support mainly in the corporate, financial and litigation areas.

Moreover, João is a member of the supervisory board of several companies with a presence in Portugal.

Areas of Expertise

  • Banking and Financial
  • Civil
  • Commercial and Corporate
  • Litigation and Arbitration
  • Marítime
  • Restructuring and Insolvency

Languages

  • English
  • French
  • Spanish

Firm Description:

Our Law Firm prides itself in establishing a consistent relationship based on dialogue, mutual trust, and the sharing of goals with its clients. Considering the ties we create in the various areas of law, we deem no cause is too small, and all causes are important.

We believe that law expertise and legal counsel is a commitment: honouring this means practising law with ample knowledge, but also with willingness, loyalty and complete motivation, thus applying our know-how, and experience through personalized proximity, focused 100% on the client and defending their interests, whether they are personal, business or institutional.

In a case-by-case approach, we develop isolated or integrated strategies, which show solutions, surpass expectations. In devising these paths of success, we count on a tradition to fulfil with excellence, ethics, and sobriety, as well as the capacity to innovate, taking the disruptive way of thinking and creativity to the field of justice.

With a law office in Porto bridging across the world, MSAd is an independent company. Consequently, at the end of the day we like to know that conducting business responsibly and in liberty, we serve well and by the Law. Ultimately, this is what the client expects of us and this is our mission.

Commercial Law Practice

The world of business requires the capacity of anticipation and adaptation. With integrated vision and strategy, we are present, for example in training, restructuring or the dissolution of companies; the establishment, acquisition sale or fusion of companies; in the processes of financing and investment; elaborating agreements and contracts.

Machado Sarmento & Associados also have a office located in Lisbon:

Tomás Ribeiro, nº 111
1050-228 Lisboa . Portugal

 

Marta Duarte

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Leaders in Law endorses Marta Duarte as our exclusively recommended Civil Law expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with Marta please use the contact information provided above.

Marta Duarte is CCA’s partner of the Litigation & Arbitration Department, having started her collaboration with the firm in 2007 as a trainee and developing her activity in Lisbon and Porto. Her experience focuses on the area of civil and criminal litigation, with a wide experience in disputes arising from press activities, industrial property disputes, and also in the area of insolvency and company recovery. Over the years she has also gained experience in insurance litigation. She represents one of the largest Portuguese media groups, as well as several national and international companies in the areas of insurance, industrial property and insolvency, and company rehabilitation.

  • Postgraduate Degree in Commercial Litigation by the University of Lisbon (2017)
  • Law Degree from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa (2007)
  • JusPrático Sociedades por Quotas e Sociedades Anónimas 2013, Wolters Kluwer (co-author), 2013
  • JusPrático – Sociedades por Quotas 2010/2011, Coimbra Editora and Wolters Kluwer (co-author), 2011
  • English
  • Spanish

Firm Description:

In a world updated to the second, we must be able to constantly adapt to change. CCA relies on a responsive attitude of adaptability to several scenarios and activity areas.

We focus on the future and helping organisations to achieve the best, boldest, and most effective solutions for 70 years. Innovation is in our blood. Our culture helps us to take down barriers and stereotypes and create a great work atmosphere that attracts the best talents. We are brave enough to find new ways of adding value and know-how to our clients and partners.

We support innovation and work with people and companies driven by great ideas, regardless of their size or industry. Our clients are multinational companies, SMEs, and Startups supported by venture capital or even family businesses or private clients.

Since 2020, we have been a partner of the international GBL Alliance network, a platform that allows our clients to access quality legal professionals around the world.

With offices in Lisbon and Oporto and a network of partners in Europe, Latin America, and North America, our real location is near our clients.

We are a team of business-oriented professionals with a common goal: to change the way legal work is made.

 

José Luís Arnaut

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Leaders in Law endorses José Luís Arnaut as our exclusively recommended Private Equity expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with José please use the contact information provided above.

José Luís Arnaut has a vast experience on legal strategic advice to public and private companies. His main areas of practice include restructuring, privatisations, mergers and acquisitions and private equity.

His career has started as a lawyer within the practice area of intellectual property law with special focus on patent, trademarks, domain names, new technologies and competition law, areas where José Luís reached high level of recognition.

José Luís Arnaut is a member of the board of directors of several national and international entities.

Founding partner of CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut.

Relevant experience

  • Since 1992 he has been European Patent Attorney at the European Patent Office (Munich).
  • Since 1996 he has been European Trademark Attorney at the European Union Office for Harmonization in the Internal
  • Market (Alicante) and Official Industrial Property Agent at the I.N.P.I. – National Institute of Industrial Property
  • In 1996 he was a member of the Monitoring and Revision Commission of the Industrial Property Code and between 1998 and 1999 he was a Member of the Revision Commission of the Industrial Property Code
  • He was a Member of Parliament for 12 years
  • He was Minister of State to the Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso (2002 – 2004) and Minister of Cities, Local Administration, Housing and Regional Development (2004 – 2005). He was President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Portuguese Parliament (2005 – 2008)

Education

  • Law degree, Faculdade de Direito, Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa
  • Diplôme d’Études Supérieures Spécialisées en “Accords et Propriété Industrielle”, CEIPI – Centre d’Études Internationales de la Propriété Industrielle, Université Robert Schuman em Strasbourg

Memberships

  • Member of the Portuguese Bar Association since 1996
  • Member of ABA – American Bar Association since 1996
  • Member of several international associations related with his area of practice, in which he has already held leading posts:  INTA (International Trademark Association), AIPPI (Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Industrielle), FICPI (Fédération Internationale de Conseils en Propriété Industrielle), ECTA (European Communities Trade Mark Association) and PTMG (Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group)

Firm Description:

CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut is a law firm that dates back to 1964 and is firmly established in the Portuguese market.

Renowned for its proficiency, professionalism and thoroughness, CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut builds long-term relationships with its clients which are based on trust and transparency.  CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut works to provide reliable, ethical and legally correct solutions for clients while striving to be creative, competitive and efficient.

Drawing on its multidisciplinary expertise, CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut organises its work teams to take account of individual client requirements.  This includes predicting likely scenarios and anticipating potential problems.  The goal is to provide quality legal and tax advice and contribute to the successful pursuit of clients’ business objectives.

We explicitly guarantee the quality of the services we provide.

We carry out our work with dedication, enthusiasm and to the highest ethical standards.

We invest in those who work for us, encouraging their personal and professional growth, reinforcing team spirit and, above all, valuing those who work with us.

We search for what is best in our day-to-day business as well as constantly innovating in the way we work.

Corporate responsibility is for us an essential value which we demand of all those who work with us.

With a strong presence in the Portuguese market, CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut is part of CMS, the largest European legal and tax service provider.  CMS´ wide range of jurisdictions and experience strengthens and supports CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut´s capacity, offering strategic added-value for clients of CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut. We have our own unique culture which defines our identity and our work.

Ranked as a Top 10 Global Law Firm, CMS can work for you in 42 countries and 74 offices worldwide. 4,500 CMS lawyers offer you business-focused advice tailored to your needs, whether in your local market or across multiple jurisdictions.

Who we are 

Ranked as a Top 10 Global Law Firm, CMS can work for you in 42 countries and with 74 offices worldwide. 4,500 CMS lawyers offer you business-focused advice tailored to your needs, whether in your local market or across multiple jurisdictions.

Your World First

‘Your World First’ is our promise to you. This means we are client-centric, have world vision and are performance driven.

Client-centric – Being immersed in the industry sectors our clients operate in is at the heart of what we do.  Our business is structured according to the industries our clients work in, delivering technically excellent lawyers who talk your language.

You can benefit from added value services such as Law-Now which provides practical and timely knowledge relevant to your business and from webinars for training at your desk. To help you manage your account, we deliver reporting information such as invoicing, matter progress, fees, work in progress and bespoke reports.

We have deep local expertise in many jurisdictions and major global centers. CMS has a track record of expanding to meet client needs, moving into countries such as Turkey and Oman to support infrastructure and energy projects.

CMS lawyers are part of organizations such as the CMS Lifesciences Asia-Pacific Network and the African Legal Network. We understand how macro trends, such as the fall in oil price, affect your business and stay on top of the news agenda, regulatory discussions and new legislation.

Performance driven – CMS takes pride in first-class execution and project management – we deliver results, not just opinions. This approach to service delivery is the same everywhere, based on a common training program and a shared understanding of what our clients value.

All CMS lawyers, both those we recruit and those we train in-house, are focused on providing quality advice and quality service.  We recruit, value and nurture top talent and through regular, independent evaluations, we identify opportunities to make improvements in our service and feed this back to our lawyers.

 

António Pinto Duarte

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Leaders in Law endorses António Pinto Duarte as our exclusively recommended Banking & Finance Law expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with António please use the contact information provided above.

Lawyer since 1975.

Law degree, by the University of Lisbon School of Law (1972).

Assistant teacher in the University of Lisbon School of Law (October 1977 – November 1986, with the regency of Real Estate Law and General Theory of Civil Law.

Consultant and attorney-at-law of several financial institutions, since 1985.

Practice in arbitrations (as an arbitrator and as an attorney).

Experience in public tenders (as a member of the jury and as an attorney-at-law).

Part of the list of arbitrators of the Arbitration Centre of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Experience in the elaboration of public contracts, namely concession contracts.

Participation in several legislative studies and, among them, one related to the legal regime of the State Owned Enterprises sector, and other on the subject of the environmental recovery of mining areas.

Executive Director of a banking institution since 2004.

Preferred Areas: Civil, Commerce, Banking, Financial, Labour, Mining, Real Estate Law, Litigation, Arbitration (national and international).

Languages: English, French and Spanish.

Firm Overview:

FDR was founded on 1st May 2004, resulting of the integration of two teams of professionals, one lead by António Pinto Duarte, already at that time with a long and recognised practice in the areas of Public and Private Law, together with its ramifications.

Nowadays, as FDR – Pinto Duarte, Côrte-Real, Casado Neves & Associados, Sociedade de Advogados, R.L., the firm follows and keeps up with the dynamics and the ongoing legal complexity of today’s society, in its different areas, with a group of lawyers of consolidated and multidisciplinary expertise and, at the same time, highly qualified and specialised in the various branches of the Law.

 

Filipa Arrobas da Silva

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Leaders in Law endorses Filipa Arrobas da Silva as our exclusively recommended Tax Law expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with Filipa please use the contact information provided above.

Filipa Arrobas da Silva has developed her work in the area of Real Estate law, with experience in national and international transactions in this area with a corporate and tax component.

Filipa provides legal support in transactions and operations at national and international level of purchase and sale of properties, leasing, management and operation of condominiums, works contracts and acquisitions of shares in commercial companies.

Firm Overview

DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, positioning us to help clients with their legal needs around the world.

We strive to be the leading global business law firm by delivering quality and value to our clients.

We achieve this through practical and innovative legal solutions that help our clients succeed. We deliver consistent services across our platform of practices and sectors in all matters we undertake.

Our clients range from multinational, Global 1000, and Fortune 500 enterprises to emerging companies developing industry-leading technologies. They include more than half of the Fortune 250 and nearly half of the FTSE 350 or their subsidiaries. We also advise governments and public sector bodies.

 

Sergio Catarino

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Sergio Catarino is Founding Partner of NASCIMENTO CATARINO & ASSOC.

Sergio graduated in Law from the University of Lisbon Law School in 1995 and was qualified as a Portuguese Lawyer by 1997. He later completed his post-graduate studies in Management and Electronic Commerce in 2000.

From 1997 to 2000, he was the Operations Director of Coface Services Portugal, S.A, and was the Vice-President of APEIN (Companies Portuguese Association of Information for Business and Debt Collection) from 1999 to 2002.

In 2005, Sergio founded Nascimento Catarino & Assoc. – Law Firm R.L., based in Lisbon, offering services throughout of Portugal. The firm is currently in the process of implementing a Quality Management System with the purpose of obtaining the ISO 9001:2008 quality management certifications.

SERVICES:

Risk Control

You should always seek to control risk, especially when operating in foreign legal system.
As with all big decisions in life research is the key.
Because one should make sure of the reputation and credentials of those we are dealing with, our control risk services allows Clients to perform credit control operations concerning Portuguese citizens or companies.
We also help Clients to identify, trace, freeze and recover financial and physical assets.

Debt Collection

Our debt collection service offers clients a low cost collection.
We provide legal services in Portugal as well as a highly-qualified debt recovery legal service.
We use a creative approach to every exact situation concerning debtor and debt.
The service is designed to collect outstanding debts without the use of legal proceedings. Our skill is in finding ways to resolve problem situations at an early stage.
Where appropriate we avoid contentious proceedings but were necessary we litigate in the best interest of our Clients.
We are pround member of ACA INTERNATIONAL, member of Qllective and GCMS partner in Portugal.

Real Estate

We check if the property if free of title, prepare and authenticate the preliminary contract and the deed, verify tax payments and make sure the property is duly registered in the name of the new owner at the Land Registry Officer.

 

António Paula Varela

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Leaders in Law endorses António Paula Varela as our exclusively recommended Commercial Law expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with António please use the contact information provided above.

ABV ADVOGADOS is traditionally a Law Firm dedicated to business law. We are privileged partners of a large number of portuguese and foreign companies, on a wide range of activities, in their operations both in Portugal and overseas.

In addition to legal consultancy, the firm activity is also highlighted for its area of litigation, ensuring the uncompromising defence of Clients interests also in this field.

Considering the increasing demand for legal services by individuals and families, including foreigners who choose Portugal as a living or working destination, we recently develop a specific area of Private Client, focused specially on residence, citizenship, family, inheritance and tax matters.

International Reach:

Apart from the activity in Portugal, the firm actively supports Portuguese and foreign individuals and companies in international projects, particularly in Angola, Cape Verde and Mozambique, jurisdictions where the firm has established local partnerships and has extensive experience.

Furthermore, the firm is the exclusive member for legal matters in Portugal of the Alliott Group, a prestigious international network of law, accounting and consultancy firms present in 70 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, America and the Asia and Pacific regions. This alliance allows us to better serve our clients not only in Portugal and in the other jurisdictions where we normally operate, but also in all the other countries where there are Alliott Group members.

Practice Areas:

  • Commercial and Corporate
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Debt Recovery
  • Real Estate
  • Banking and Financial
  • Labor
  • Oil and Gas
  • Intellectual property
  • Private Client, including “Golden Visa program ” and “Tax Regime for Non-Habitual Residents”

Values:

At ABV ADVOGADOS, we work focused on the Client.We truly believe that only a proximity relationship and thorough understanding of our Clients allows us to efficiently represent and defend their interests.

Furthermore, we always want to be a constructive partner to our Clients, providing pragmatic and objective legal solutions which result in fact in an added value to their activity.

Finally, we are committed to working in Portugal and in the other jurisdiction in which we operate, always following out the highest possible standard and fulfilling scrupulously the ethical and deontological rules governing the practice of the Law.

 

António Frutuoso de Melo

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Leaders in Law endorses António Frutuoso de Melo as our exclusively recommended Banking & Finance Law expert in Portugal. If you wish to get in touch with António please use the contact information provided above.

Born Viseu, Portugal, November 16, 1948 | Admitted, 1985, Portugal

EDUCATION

  • Coimbra Law School
  • Lisbon Law School (Graduate, 1979)

AUTHOR

  • Several Articles published in International Financial Law Review and other specialized magazines

CO-AUTHOR

  • Portuguese section, GT Guide to World Equity Markets
  • Portuguese section, Morgan Grenfell Handbook of International Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Portuguese section, European Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Portuguese chapter, European Corporate Finance Law – A Guide to M&A and Corporate Restructuring Legislation, Euromoney
  • Several articles for Dossiers Internationaux des Editions Francis Lefèbvre – Portugal

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

  • Teacher, Administrative Law, Lisbon University, 1977-1980
  • Professor by special invitation, Free University of Lisbon, 1985-1987
  • Chief of Staff for: Minister for the Council of Ministers, 1981
  • Minister of Labour, 1982

LANGUAGES

  • Portuguese, English, French, Italian and Spanish

Banking & Finance Law Practice:

Work handled covers a wide range of financial products, including structured finance, regulatory and capital driven instruments, derivatives and project finance. The firm also advises Portuguese branches of investment and commercial international banks on their activity in Portugal.

António Frutuoso de Melo e Associados:

AFMA originated from a project of independence and freedom of thought.

This is the culture that endures and that we intend to assure. In AFMA we continue to believe that the upside of law practice lies in the personalized expression of each of our lawyers. This has been, in fact, the key factor in the relationship with our clients at these challenging times.

We are proud of our route and we intend to keep the reasons and spirits for doing so.