Grant Thornton Portugal integrates legal arm with new team
Grant Thornton in Portugal has integrated a legal practice into its multidisciplinary platform, combining legal, tax, financial, technological and consulting capabilities under one structure. The move brings together three partners, three of counsel and three associate lawyers, with the firm also training trainee lawyers as part of the new practice.
Partners Ana Cristina Borges, Artur Filipe da Silva and Miguel Ramos Ascensão — a move anticipated exclusively by Iberian Lawyer (click to read) — are now supported by a broader team comprising of counsel Domingos Soares Farinho, Carlos Soares and José Pinto-Coelho, and associates Catarina Sequeira, Inês Oliveira and Diana Travassos Mata.
The team covers corporate law and M&A, real estate, urban planning and tourism law, employment and social security law, civil litigation and arbitration, public law, regulation and digital law, as well as immigration and nationality matters.
Ana Cristina Borges, partner and co-head of real estate, urban planning and tourism, has more than 20 years of experience in administrative, urban planning and land-use law. Artur Filipe da Silva, partner and head of corporate law and M&A, has experience in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, public procurement and real estate law. Miguel Ramos Ascensão, partner and co-head of real estate, urban planning and tourism, has more than 20 years of experience in real estate law in law firms in Portugal and Spain.
The new hires
Domingos Soares Farinho, head of public law, regulation and digital law, brings 25 years of experience along with an academic background as a professor at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Law and vice-president of the Institute of Legal-Political Sciences, advising public and private entities on administrative law, public procurement, regulation, digital law, data governance and digital transformation.
Carlos Soares, who joins from Barroca Advogados, is head of civil litigation and arbitration. He has more than 35 years of experience in litigation, arbitration, insolvency and corporate restructuring, representing domestic and international clients in civil and criminal disputes, arbitration proceedings and restructuring operations, alongside work in commercial contracts, sports law and real estate law.
José Pinto-Coelho, head of employment and social security law, joins from BRAM Legal. He has experience in labor and regulatory advisory, including in-house legal experience at a multinational group with 9,000 employees. His practice covers employment contracts, restructurings, disciplinary procedures, collective bargaining, social security, labor compliance and litigation.
Firm Context
The integration of the legal practice is part of Grant Thornton’s consolidation as a multidisciplinary platform in Portugal, according to Susana Melo, CEO of Grant Thornton in Portugal for the Tax & Advisory areas. “The integration of the Legal area represents a natural step in the consolidation of Grant Thornton in Portugal as a multidisciplinary platform”, she said, adding that “companies today face challenges that are rarely purely legal, tax, financial or technological, requiring a coordinated approach capable of combining technical knowledge, strategic vision and proximity to the business”.
Grant Thornton International is a network of independent firms present in more than 150 countries. In Portugal, Grant Thornton comprises three firms: Grant Thornton Consultores, active in consulting, tax and outsourcing; Grant Thornton & Associados – SROC, active in auditing; and Grant Thornton & Associados, Sociedade de Advogados, which provides legal services.
