Lisbon annual report
Portuguese law firms targeting business in Dubai and
Algeria
As Lusophone Africa suffers the effects of lower oil prices, law firms in Lisbon are turning their
attention to more unfamiliar jurisdictions
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Portuguese law firms are facing growing
pressure to expand into new jurisdictions,
according to Rodrigo Almeida Dias, FCB
Sociedade de Advogados.
“A key challenge is related to the
expansion of Portuguese firms beyond our
borders,” Almeida Dias says. “Mozambique
and Angola have faced challenges brought by
lower oil prices – those are clearly strategic
markets, and we want to be there, but we
also have to look at new jurisdictions, such
as Dubai and Algeria.”
Meanwhile, in the Portuguese market,
advising technology sector companies on
data protection issues is currently a major
source of work for Portuguese law firms,
according to Almeida Dias.
“The TMT and IT sectors, with all
the new regulations for data protection,
and the related niche businesses [are
an opportunity] for law firms,” he
says. In addition, the finance sector is
also generating a significant number of
instructions, adds Almeida Dias. “The
restructuring of banks and transactional
work [in the finance sector] has clearly
been an opportunity in the last few
years,” he adds.
Almeida Dias says the main concern
for law firms relates to economic and
political instability in Portugal, specifically
a “socialist government supported by
left-wing parties in parliament, which will
probably lead to heavier taxation”.
Law firms must prepare for the impact of artificial
intelligence on their business
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Adjusting to the impact of artificial
intelligence on the legal sector is one of the
key challenges facing law firms, says João
Caiado Guerreiro, managing partner of
Caiado Guerreiro.
“One of the big challenges with
technological change is adapting to the
34 • IBERIAN LAWYER • September / October 2016
influence of artificial intelligence on law
firms,” he says. In addition, firms also
need to adjust to the changing demands
of the new generation of lawyers,
according to Caiado Guerreiro. “Law
firms need to adapt to be able to attract
the best young, bright lawyers that are
looking for slightly different things in
a different timeframe than they were
ten or 15 years ago,” he explains. “But
we are confident we can do that, along
with our competitors, as we have a lot of
experience of adapting to change.”
Caiado Guerreiro says Portugal is
undergoing a transformation that is
creating many new opportunities for law
firms. “Portugal is changing a lot,” he
says. “There is a lot of foreign investment
coming in, in real estate and tourism,
and there are big opportunities there.”
Meanwhile, the country’s financial sector
is being restructured and this – along
with the ever-changing tax regime – will
generate a lot of instructions for lawyers.”
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