Practice Areas
Administrative, Civil, Commercial and Constitutional Litigation
The firm boasts a solid litigation area, offering clients its attorneys’ vast experience in administrative, civil, commercial, labour, criminal and tax litigation. Its partners have taken part in major legal proceedings through the representation and legal advocacy of parties. Its work in this area includes disputes involving contracts (e.g. contracts for distribution, works, services, acquisitions of shareholdings, joint ventures, real estate and commercial establishments), non-contractual civil liability and commercial companies (particularly disputes on company decisions). Its partners also have experience in representing and advocating public and private entities, including companies, in legal proceedings taken before the Administrative Courts, and in submitting its clients’ cases before the Constitutional Court.
Banking and Financial Law
The firm provides services to financial institutions and non-financial entities in their banking and financial activities, assisting in the planning and implementation of special transactions. In the area of financial contracting, its attorneys have assisted its clients in drawing up and entering into banking contracts.
Family and Successions Law
The firm has attorneys and a solicitor with key experience in assisting its clients in the area of Family and Successions Law, always giving priority to out-of-court solutions, but with a consolidated legal practice in proceedings such as inventory/partition proceedings, divorce and legal separation from bed and board, cohabitation and all related maters such as parental responsibility, granting the occupancy of the family home and alimony. Also in the area of Successions Law, VC Associados provides succession planing services, including assets restructuring and preparation of wills, assisting in the bureaucratic and fiscal process of preparation and presentation of the assets description and the partition proceedings, including judicial inventory.
Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring Law
The firm includes a number of attorneys with experience in the area of insolvency and company restructuring proceedings, whether involving preparations to file for insolvency or revitalization for its clients, or third parties for debt recovery. These attorneys have also provided pre-judicial assistance, including monitoring business dealings for the purpose of restructuring and preparing insolvency or revitalization proceedings, or advocating in the respective court cases, including the monitoring and preparation of insolvency plans.
Intellectual and Industrial Property Law
The firm provides assistance to its clients in issues involving intellectual property, namely in all matters related to trademark registration, patents and copyrights, together with litigation proceedings.
Expropriation Law
The firm has key experience in the area of public expropriations, representing both public expropriation entities as well as expropriated individuals, intervening in administrative proceedings and the subsequent litigation phase.
Information Technologies Law and Personal Data Protection
The firm has attorneys with relevant experience in the area of information technologies, privacy and personal data protection. In the area of personal data, its activities include the due diligence phase to the preparation of notification/authorization requests to the Portuguese National Commission for Personal Data Protection (Comissão Nacional de Protecção de Dados Pessoais) and creation of privacy and personal data processing policies. The firm also has experience in creating IT resource usage statements/policies, assisting its clients in the area of e-commerce, namely in determining information to be published at websites and negotiating and drawing up contracts in this area.
Sports Law
The firm has attorneys with vast experience in issues involving sports law, representing sports agents in diverse national and international sports law venues, negotiating and drawing up athletic contracts, representing athletic entities with domestic and international sports bodies, and assisting in the establishment of limited liability athletic companies.
Real Estate, Urban Development and Environmental Law
The firm has key experience in issues involving urban development and construction, with involvement in designing and executing legal urban transactions. The firm regularly assists its clients in the areas of real estate purchasing, development and management, including the acquisition of construction permits, acquisition of property and negotiation of property development contracts. The firm is also equipped to assist its clients in issues involving environmental law, representing them in license applications, environmental impact studies, public inquiries and judicial appeals.
Contract Law
The firm includes attorneys with substantial experience in issues involving the negotiation and drawing up of contracts, particularly distribution contracts (agency, commercial concession and franchise), consortium contracts, joint venture contracts, works and other service contracts, contracts involving real estate activities (including purchases and sales, rentals and tourism development), and contracts for commercial establishment conveyance and sales.
Tax Law
The firm’s attorneys have relevant experience in the area of tax litigation, including administrative and legal proceedings, and particularly in monitoring tax inspection proceedings, reversal proceedings and tax liens.
Labour Law
The firm provides assistance to companies in all issues involving the labour domain, representing them before the labour courts and administrative authorities with jurisdiction in the area of labour. Its attorneys have vast experience in negotiating and drawing up employment agreements and other legal instruments involving labour relations, including employment termination agreements and procedures for collective dismissal, human resources management support, preparation of disciplinary proceedings and monitoring of labour misdemeanour proceedings. Its attorneys have provided assistance in company restructuring processes, specifically in the transmission of establishments, departments and business branches and outsourcing.
Criminal and Misdemeanour Law
The firm has vast experience in the areas of criminal and misdemeanour law, from the dual standpoint of defence and prosecution, assisting individual clients and, in particular, companies and their board members. Specifically, its activities in these areas include crimes against persons and honour, property crimes, public safety crimes, environmental and public health infractions, corruption and money laundering, tax and social security offences, financial/economic infractions (particularly those involving the securities market), telecommunications and data protection infractions and labour infractions.
Public Law, Regulation and Public Procurement
The firm has attorneys with consolidated experience in issues involving administrative law and public procurement, assisting private entities. The firm regularly supports its corporate clients in participation in public tenders in a broad range of economic sectors. Its attorneys are experienced in assisting and representing clients before public regulatory authorities.
Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions
The firm has attorneys with vast experience in every key area of commercial companies, including company incorporation, shareholders’ agreements, amendments to articles of association, transformation, merger and de-merger, dissolution and liquidation, resolution of disputes among partners or between partners and the company, together with general legal advice to companies. The firm also provides assistance to clients in acquisitions, mergers and restructuring, using multi-disciplinary teams, and monitoring its clients from the due diligence phase through the transaction’s negotiation and conclusion.
