Martim Valente

EU and Competition law

Martim is a senior counsel in the EU and Competition law practice. He has over 15 years’ experience, with respect to all aspects of anti-cartel and abuse of dominance proceedings, merger control and the implementation of compliance programmes. He has particular expertise in the TMT, financial services, retail and consumer goods and pharmaceutical sectors.

Prior to joining PLMJ, Martim was a Legal Director at the UK's Competition and Markets Authority. He also worked at two leading international law firms: Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in Brussels, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London. In addition, Martim spent six months on secondment to the competition team at Google. Martim uses his experience gained in Brussels and London to assist clients in understanding the complexities of the local regime.

Recent cases Martim has been involved include the defence of multinationals in the context of the rapidly emerging competition class actions regime in Portugal. Martim also has significant merger control experience, which includes representing companies in Phase 2 proceedings before the Portuguese Competition Authority. In addition, Martim is currently working on some of the most recent high-profile antitrust enforcement cases in Portugal, both before the Portuguese Competition Authority and the Competition Court.

Martim obtained his primary law degree at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa and LLM degrees from the College of Europe (Bruges) and the University of Chicago. Martim is bilingual (Portuguese/English), is fluent in French, and has a basic understanding of Spanish and Italian.