Portugal

Firm overview

Transformative Legal Experts

We are a law firm based in Portugal that combines a full service with bespoke legal craftsmanship. For more than 50 years, we have taken an innovative and creative approach that has produced specific, strategic solutions to effectively defend the interests of our clients. 

We are a full-service firm and we support our clients in all areas of the law, often with multidisciplinary teams, and always acting as a business partner in the most strategic decision-making processes. PLMJ has specialist lawyers that know the sectors and markets they work in well, and they always keep in close contact with the regulators for each sector.

With the aim of being close to our clients, we created PLMJ Colab, our collaborative network of law firms spread across Portugal and other countries with which it has cultural and strategic ties. PLMJ Colab makes the best use of resources and provides a concerted response to the international challenges of our clients, wherever they are. The national partnerships allow us to extend PLMJ’s presence from Lisbon, Porto and Faro to the Azores, Coimbra, Guimarães and Madeira.  International collaboration is ensured through firms specialising in the legal systems and local cultures of Angola, China/Macao, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tome and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.

We also have international desks specializing in Angola, China, France, Germany, Italy, Mozambique, Scandinavia, Switzerland and UK markets. Each desk focuses on a specific market and has a multidisciplinary team experienced in supporting and advising international investors. Besides knowing the idiosyncrasies of language and culture, these teams have a deep knowledge of the market, legislation and workings of the economy of the place where they work.

Firm overview

J+Legal was founded during a lunch of friends, all of them passionate by practicing business law for the benefit of their corporate and individual clients, providing them with the best service and advice.

The founders value solving clients’ most important problems through a strategic but pragmatic hands-on approach with the active involvement of the highest level of seniority and expertise. Accordingly, J+Legal has a ratio of associates to partners significantly below that of other firms, allowing us to timely provide solid and original solutions.

J+Legal values working together with motivated, talented, focused and entrepreneurial lawyers, bringing the right mix and diversity of people, expertise, talent and seniority across practice areas and specialisms.

We do so with a in depth specialization in our core practice areas (Competition; Corporate Governance; Criminal, Misdemeanor and Compliance; Industrial Property; Labor and Social Security; Litigation; M&A and Private Equity; Real Estate; as well as Tax) and deep knowledge of key industries (Banking and Finance; Construction and Public Work; Energy; Families and Private Wealth; Gaming; Hospitality and Leisure; Immigration and Relocation; Industrial and Consumer Products & Services;  Retail and Distribution; Telecommunications; Transportation and Logistic).

At J+Legal we aim at playing a central and innovative role in developing how law is practiced, how lawyers are trained and how business risk is managed. J+Legal’s aim is not to become the largest law firm measured by number of offices or lawyers. J+Legal shall rather focus in becoming the firm of choice for clients with respect to their most challenging legal issues, most significant business transactions and most critical disputes. Clients’ interest and outstanding quality and dedication are the hallmarks of our practice.

As we value diversity, there will not be a J+Legal “type”. Our people shall represent a wide range of backgrounds and interests, while also sharing common key characteristics: intelligence, creativity, energy, dedication, commitment to excellence and a wide range of other interests, because being just a great lawyer doesn’t make a great firm.

Firm overview

Abreu Advogados is the law firm set to provide legal advice in a new society, working daily to ensure that for new industries, new ideas are created; for new pressures, new solutions are planned and for new challenges, new answers are provided.

A full-service law firm with offices in Lisbon, Oporto and Funchal (in partnership) and a network of associated law firms in Portuguese speaking jurisdictions, Abreu Advogados is amongst the largest law firms in Portugal.

With a professional management structure committed to creating a client-oriented culture, Abreu Advogados was the first law firm in Portugal to certify its quality management system under the European ISO 9001 standards and is now at the forefront of ESG practices in Portugal.

Tax law is the firm’s DNA. Abreu Advogados’ tax team is one of the largest, most highly-skilled and most senior tax teams in Portugal. It has a track record in transactional tax, international taxation, indirect taxation, complex litigation, transfer pricing and private wealth taxation. Abreu Advogados' tax team has a long-standing client database, addressing the most diverse areas, while always investing in new areas of tax law. Its involvement in climate change taxes, renewable energy taxation, digital assets and blockchain technology taxation and recently the new EU taxes for 2023-2027, have considerably boosted its position in the market.

Given the range of areas in which the lawyers are experts, as well as the inherently innovative nature of the matters which they deal with, the firm often teams up with some of the largest international law firms. Together they handle some of the largest and most complex tax-related transactions of the new circular and digital economy, assisting prominent families and family offices and taking on tax litigation, shaping both tax law and tax authorities’ regulations and practice.

Firm overview

The Garrigues Tax Department provides ongoing and bespoke advisory services on Portuguese and international taxation to Portuguese and foreign companies and to multinational groups and individuals.

Its umbrella structure, alongside the quality and experience of its team of professionals, means this practice is ideally placed to provide the solutions required by businesses today.

Firm overview

Vieira de Almeida (VdA) is a leading international law firm with more than 40 years of history, recognised for its impressive track record and innovative approach in corporate legal services. The excellence of its highly specialised legal services covering several industries and practice areas, enables VdA to overcome the increasingly complex challenges faced by its clients.

Our tax team has unique analytical abilities and is best known for its capabilities in structuring highly efficient innovative structures within a highly scrutinised and regulated environment, in every market where our clients operate. We are pragmatic and agile, working in cross-practice tailor-made teams that focus on the relevant demands of each matter and jurisdiction.

Firm overview

As the world continues to change and we witness the increasing role of technology, discussions around tax are getting more complex and intense.

Also, despite many domestic challenges, tax is more and more a global concern for global organizations (MNCs), demanding global action on managing tax issues.

On the other hand, transparency, ‘fairness’ and tax governance are now everyday topics in MNCs board agendas, as governments take effective steps to make this the new tax landscape for businesses: the BEPS action plan and other OECD statements are strong evidence of this new mindset.

It is in this context where leaders are being called upon to help drive tax uncertainty within their organizations and to make visible their “tax storyline” consistently with the organization’s principles and values, at the same time they are asked to have a positive contribution to society and to add value to the business.

Our tax professionals are forward thinkers with a strong understanding of this new tax landscape, as well as of the business drivers and conditions across the jurisdictions in which clients operate.

 At KPMG we take a holistic approach to tax planning, so that clients have a consistent, robust and effective view on their tax issues and concerns.

Because our tax professionals take the time to understand the clients’ business issues – not just the challenges related to tax – they also know when and how to draw on the experience and knowledge of other local and global service lines to help address these tax issues and concerns.