Sérvulo & Associados - Sociedade de Advogados, RL

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Public

"by far the best"

Chambers Europe Guide

In terms of Public Law, Sérvulo has, for a long time, held pride of place in the Portuguese legal world. This is due to our lawyers’ ability to combine their academic and theoretical knowledge with highly professional skills. As a result, and through the deployment of one of the largest Public Law teams in Europe, Sérvulo is able to offer an unequalled level of knowledge and experience in the areas of Constitutional and Administrative Law. This is justly recognised by both the legal community and the business sector, as well as by international legal directories.

Sérvulo approaches Constitutional Law from two standpoints. In its own right, it represents an important field that covers, in particular, the defence of human rights and the way in which the powers, competencies and autonomies of the various public entities interrelate. Transversally, Constitutional Law plays a decisive role in determining the course of other branches of Law. An understanding of Constitutional Law is critical to the giving of legal advice in a variety of practice areas, including Administrative, Criminal, Employment and Competition Law. Added to this is the growing importance of appeals made to the Constitutional Court.
In the area of Administrative Law, special mention should be made of the domains of preparing and drafting public contracts. Our public procurement practice is, moreover, strongly linked to our vast experience in project finance, asset finance and acquisition finance.

Within these practice areas, Sérvulo assists clients in the main economically relevant fields, those which are of strategic and social importance. These range from education and defence to large infrastructure projects across a wide variety of sectors, including those that are regulated (with a special emphasis on water, energy, health, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals).

Related Publications » Awards and Nominations »

VI National Congress on Electronic Public Procurement
23.November 2012

Sérvulo lawyers publishes book
21.December 2012

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Constitutional and Administrative

Sérvulo has provided legal services in these fields to both public and private clients. We have assisted in numerous areas, particularly as regards administrative processes, the drafting of administrative decision-making processes and the analysis of the constitutional compliance of any administrative measure or claim to be submitted to the Administration.
In addition to this, and as requested by clients, Sérvulo employs its considerable academic know-how and acknowledged technical proficiency in the preparation of opinions and reports on issues of significant legal complexity and economic, financial or strategic relevance.

Public Procurement

Over the years, Sérvulo has built up a recognised expertise in the preparation and drafting of public contracts, an expertise which is demonstrable at a range of levels. First of all, it can be seen in the role the firm plays, and has played, in law-making initiatives related to public procurement legislation. It is equally visible in the firm’s work involving the preparation and oversight of pre-contractual processes, from the initial phase through to conclusion and including all related negotiations. Sérvulo provides legal advice in this area to both public and private entities and covers all the various parties and issues involved in public procurement, including service provision, supplies, public works contracts and the award of public works or service concession contracts.
Moreover, Sérvulo assists clients in the execution of public contracts, dealing with any adjustments that are made, including the unilateral modification in the name of public interest, renegotiations, terminations or breaches of contract.

Infrastructure

Sérvulo has had a role to play in all the major public projects carried out on Portuguese soil. The legal advice the firm offers takes advantage of the specialised knowledge of the team involved, particularly when dealing with public-private partnerships and large infrastructure concessions (e.g. railways and highways). Sérvulo’s infrastructure and projects team has the capacity to meet clients’ needs on an ongoing basis and is able to oversee every stage of the pre-contractual process as well as handle issues that may arise during execution of the contract.

Water, Energy and Telecommunications

Sérvulo’s thorough understanding of the water sector is widely acknowledged. Its knowledge base has grown out of the legal advice provided for a range of organisational formats operating in the sector, in concessions for both municipal and multi-municipal systems, and the drawing up and signing of the contracts involved. Sérvulo has also accumulated experience and an in-depth knowledge of the energy sector and its regulatory framework, through participation in the preparation and monitoring of sector-specific public procurement procedures and regulatory processes. Sérvulo has acquired a similar experience in the telecommunications sector, particularly as regards regulatory structures.

Health and Pharmaceuticals

Sérvulo can also offer extensive experience in providing regulatory legal advice to companies in the health sector. We have specific expertise in ground-breaking pharmaceutical ventures and the organisations representing these, especially as regards regulatory issues and the handling of applications to INFRAMED, I.P., for medicines (human or veterinary), medical devices, cosmetics and personal hygiene products. We also offer help for authorisation procedures, at the national and community level and procedures for subsidies, parallel imports and advertising.

Constitutional and administrative litigation

In addition to our knowledge of the main areas of substantive law, Sérvulo also has a team that specialises in the various procedural remedies designed to protect clients’ interests. This team has significant experience of representing its clients in court in cases of administrative litigation that have gone right up to the Supreme Administrative Court. It has an equivalent level of experience in constitutional litigation, both before the various lower courts and the Constitutional Court itself.