Portuguese Desk

The Portuguese language, with approximately 220 million native speakers, is commonly listed as the sixth most spoken language in the world and the third most spoken European language around the globe. Portuguese is spoken in Europe (Portugal), South America (Brazil), Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe) and Asia (Macao, special Administrative Region of China and in East-Timor). Galician, spoken in northwestern Spain, is closely related to Portuguese.

Portuguese law is part of the family of the civil law legal systems, based on Roman law. As such, it has many common features with most legal systems in Continental Europe. In fact, while the French civil law was the main influence in the Law of Portugal in the 19th century, the major influence has been, since the early 20th century, the German civil law. Portuguese Law remains also the basis or, at least, influences deeply the legal systems of the several countries of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and of some other territories that were once part of the Portuguese Empire.

A relevant part of the work performed at SUA relates to these jurisdictions of the former Portuguese Empire. This is mainly due to the fact that (i) foreign investment in such countries is governed by Portuguese Law or by laws inspired or influenced by Portuguese Law; (ii) private and commercial disputes are often under the jurisdiction of Portuguese Courts or resolved by Arbitral Tribunals in Portugal; (iii) the majority of those disputes are resolved in Portuguese and English language.

Moreover, SUA provides legal advice and court/arbitral tribunal representation throughout Portugal. having large experience with Portuguese courts and relevant arbitral centers. SUA’s clients can expect dispute resolution counseling and general legal assistance on most areas of the law. When further legal assistance is required for transactions and other legal matters, SUA also recommends efficient notaries and works alongside with them, particularly in Lisbon.

In the German legal market, SUA gathers interesting and unique features as it provides services to an expressive range of international clients also in Portuguese language. In fact, a significant part of SUA’s work in Germany results also from the need to have legal services rendered in Portuguese, apart from English. This includes clients, for instance, from Brazil, Portuguese speaking countries in Africa, East-Timor and Macao.

Located in Munich, SUA is key to provide legal advice to Portuguese clients and other Portuguese speaking clients in Germany. Frequently, these clients require a Portuguese Lawyer (authorized to practice in Germany) to deal with their disputes in Germany, notably because they are not comfortable with the German language. Cases also exist where German lawyers wish to have direct contact with a Portuguese lawyer to obtain assistance and legal advice on matters of Portuguese law and other Portuguese speaking jurisdictions. SUA provides all these legal services and helps eliminating those language and potential cultural barriers when providing them.

In a nutshell, SUA not only provides an extensive range of legal services addressing the international and local needs of clients in Portuguese and/or in Portugal, but also facilitates communication between clients and colleagues and other eventual players.