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

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.

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

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

Founded in 1999, CMS is an integrated, multi-jurisdictional organisation of law firms that offers full-service legal and tax advice. With 70+ offices in 40+ countries across the world, employing over 5,000 lawyers, CMS has longstanding expertise both at advising in its local jurisdictions and across borders. CMS offers specialist, business-focused advice to clients - from major multinationals and mid-caps to enterprising start-ups - operating in complex business and constantly changing regulatory environments.

We are part of the CMS global team, a world leader in the ranking of the Top 10 Global Law Firms with in-depth local knowledge and local experience in over 40 countries.

Clients from CMS Portugal benefit from the experience, the legal know-how, the deep knowledge of several sectors in the industry and also an international coverage, unique in Portugal, that allows us to provide a truly global service with a rapid response capacity.

The high standards required by the digital and traditional world are transforming the markets and boosting new business models. On CMS, we provide a monitoring focused on the client, anticipating the market tendencies in order to develop quick and efficient solutions in the face of constant challenges.

Our office has been active for nearly 50 years combining an international outlook with deep local roots. CMS lawyers are recognized leaders in the field and ranked by the most prestigious international directories.

CMS, the largest organization of law firms in Europe, aims to be the best European organization for legal services, capable of providing legal and tax advice of undisputed quality and agility.

The unique way in which CMS is organized provides its Clients with high quality and consistent advice that is absolutely client-focused and coordinated across borders.

CMS is present in 73 cities, 44 countries.

Firm overview

TELLES is a Portuguese based law firm established 84-years ago, founded in Porto, where it is seen by other firms and peers in general as one of the most solid and reputable law firms. TELLES is a full-service law firm with offices in Lisbon and Oporto that has undergone an expansion strategy in the past years. From a 55-lawyer firm in 2015, the lawyer head count now stands at 22 partners and 98 lawyers, more or less equally divided between our two offices. With a client-oriented culture, TELLES is today one of the top-ten Portuguese law firms.

TELLES’s tax team is today one of the largest Portuguese teams with 5 tax partners and 12 lawyers. It has a track record in transactional tax, international taxation, indirect taxation, private wealth taxation and complex litigation, representing leading companies in some of the most significant pending tax litigation cases. TELLES’ tax team represents clients with an estimated amount of pending judicial and administrative litigation of around EUR 50 million.

TELLES’ tax practice has a wide client portfolio, some of them for more than 50 years, including blue-chip companies, international and Portuguese banks, multinational groups, mid-tier national champions and high-profile family offices. The tax team advises large Portuguese and multinational groups and can make output tax work in complex fields of tax such as debt work-out structures, cross-border business restructuring and acquisitions, private equity, international wealth planning and digital economy. We are today one of the largest tax teams in Portugal in what concerns private client and wealth management advisory.

Our top clients include banking and financial institutions, insurance companies, holding companies, venture capital and private equity management companies, industrial companies active in the textile, packaging, food and beverages, cable, paint and thermal insulation markets, as well as hundreds of private clients, including the wealthiest Portuguese and international families currently living in Portugal or seeking to relocate here.