Department profile
VdA

General Business Law: Corporate

Europe Guide 2026 : Porto

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VdA

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About

Provided by VdA

VdA’s Porto office stands out in the Northern Portuguese legal market for its distinctive blend of hands-on expertise, deep technical knowledge, and innovative client service. The team is widely recognized for adopting a modern and strategic approach to legal advisory, in contrast with the more traditional models that prevail in the region. This enables us to forge long-term partnerships with our clients, grounded in strategic insight, agility, and trust.

Over the past four years, the Porto office has experienced significant growth, both in scale and in capabilities. This trajectory has been driven by a number of strategic lateral hires and internal promotions, reinforcing our commitment to excellence and sustainable leadership.

These developments are unmatched in the Porto legal market in recent years and signal a deliberate investment in establishing one of the region’s most sophisticated, senior, and versatile legal teams. The office currently includes approximately 40 professionals, providing in-depth expertise across Corporate and M&A, Tax, Labour & Employment, Public Law, Dispute Resolution (including Corporate Litigation, White Collar and Corporate Crime), TMT, Privacy, Regulatory, Governance, Real Estate and Social Economy & Human Rights.

For a comprehensive list of the services we provide both internationally and in the Portugal, visit the VdA website for more details: http://www.vda.pt/en

Chambers Review

Provided by Chambers

General Business Law: Corporate - Porto

What the Team is Known For
VdA houses solid teams that are able to assist clients with a diverse range of matters. The firm boasts a highly experienced tax team with considerable experience in tax structuring matters. Its employment law team has the capacity to handle collective changes to working conditions, collective redundancies and litigation relating to individual dismissals. The firm's corporate lawyers have experience in significant restructuring processes, while individuals focusing on public law matters advise on disputes over construction contracts.
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Strengths

Provided by Chambers

  • VdA provides an extremely high level of service, high responsiveness and is always available. The security and comfort of working with such a law firm is priceless.

    General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope

  • VdA is able to effectively frame risks, present practical alternatives and support strategic decisions in a clear and consistent manner, even in sensitive matters.

    General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope

Notable Practitioners

Provided by Chambers

  • Manuel Cavaleiro Brandão
    Manuel Cavaleiro Brandão

    Manuel Cavaleiro Brandão

    Senior practitioner Manuel Cavaleiro Brandão has considerable experience in temporary redundancies and collective dismissals made as part of corporate restructuring processes.

    • Manuel Cavaleiro Brandão demonstrates high technical knowledge and is always available to clarify doubts. He is a great help to our strategy and inspires a lot of confidence and security.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope

    • Manuel Cavaleiro Brandão combines great technical expertise with a practical business vision. This combination strengthens the confidence we have in his legal support.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope
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  • Miguel C Reis
    Miguel C Reis

    Miguel C Reis

    Miguel Reis provides advice on complex contentious and non-contentious tax assessments and audits.

    • Miguel Reis is proactive, intelligent and very detail-oriented.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope

    • When a matter becomes really difficult I always call Miguel Reis. He is one of the best tax lawyers in Porto and he is a very humble and nice person too.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope
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  • João Velez de Lima
    João Velez de Lima

    João Velez de Lima

    João Velez de Lima is one of the key members of the firm's tax team advising clients with ongoing tax management and aspects of M&A mandates. He also assists with tax audits and corporate restructurings.

    • João Velez de Lima is an insightful and efficient lawyer.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope
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  • Benedita Gonçalves
    Benedita Gonçalves

    Benedita Gonçalves

    Benedita Fernandes Gonçalves provides employment law support in relation to corporate transactions. She also handles standalone mandates relating to the implementation of collective redundancies and the introduction of new flexible working policies, as well as contentious mandates related to labour accidents and termination of contracts.

    • The availability, responsiveness, knowledge and all the support Benedita Gonçalves gives us in this operation are extraordinary.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope

    • She is available and with a very good response and problem-solving capacity.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope
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  • Isabel Gião de Andrade
    Isabel Gião de Andrade

    Isabel Gião de Andrade

    Isabel Gião de Andrade is a focused corporate law practitioner. She is experienced in corporate restructurings and transactions, including significant cross-border mandates. She also has commendable experience in the ESG sector.

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  • João Soares Franco
    João Soares Franco

    João Soares Franco

    João Soares Franco assists public companies with varied advisory and litigation mandates relating to their provision of services in Porto. He also acts for construction companies in disputes with government authorities in relation to varied projects.

    • João Soares Franco delivers quality, results and commitment to the clients.

      General Business Law: Corporate respondentEurope
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Ranked Individuals at VdA (6)

Porto

Members

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VdA has rankings in the following guides

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