Patrícia Paias joins MFA Legal & Tech as partner
MFA Legal & Tech has integrated Patrícia Paias as partner and head of the life sciences and IP litigation practice. She joins from Antas da Cunha Ecija, where she served as partner at the life sciences department.
According to Samuel Fernandes de Almeida, managing partner of MFA Legal & Tech, the arrival of Patrícia Paias “takes our value proposition to a new level of specialisation.” He adds: “We anticipate that the market will increasingly demand deep expertise at the intersection of technology, science and innovation. By integrating Patrícia into the structure we have developed with Jorge Silva Martins, we are strengthening an end-to-end offering in technology, pharma, regulation and even competition law, with a distinctive approach capable of anticipating trends and ensuring legal certainty for our clients’ assets, transactions and disputes.”
With more than 20 years of experience, she held in-house positions at multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Sandoz International GmbH (Munich), Gilead Sciences Inc. (Dublin), and the European Patent Office. In Portugal, she has practised at law firms such as Vieira de Almeida and DLA Piper, specialising in patent and regulatory litigation, as well as niche areas including Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs), biosimilars and orphan drugs.
Jorge Silva Martins, partner in the technology, innovation and regulatory practice, notes that bringing these capabilities together within a single structure “allows us to offer truly 360-degree advice to the industries of the future.” He adds: “Patrícia’s integration enables us to combine scientific rigour in life sciences and patent litigation with the firm’s established digital and regulatory expertise, creating strategic value in ecosystems where health, biotechnology and digital solutions are now inseparable.”
