Practice areas

Our firm has extensive experience in criminal and administrative offenses law, both in the exercise of legal representation and in terms of prior and preventive advice, whether in the context of crimes provided for in the penal code or in the context of crimes provided for in specific legislation. We ensure constant support in all phases of the criminal process, whether it is investigation, instruction, trial, or appeals, as well as in administrative offense proceedings.

We highlight the following areas:

• Legal representation and accompaniment of the client at any stage of the criminal process: enquiry; investigation; trial; execution of sentence.
• Accompanying defendants in judicial interrogations and interrogations before the Public Prosecutor’s Office and criminal investigation departments.
• Preparation of criminal complaints.
• Acting as an assistant; private accusation.
• Criminal liability of companies and other legal persons.
• Appeals against judicial decisions.
• Preparation of compensation claims grafted onto criminal proceedings.
• Habeas corpus.
• Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Law.
• Crimes of responsibility of holders of political office.
• Crimes in general.
• Fiscal Criminal Law – tax offences and offences against Social Security (tax fraud; abuse of fiscal trust, among others);
• Road traffic offences, labour offences, tax offences, environmental offences, etc.

We work in various areas of real estate law, including drafting, negotiation, special operations, and other areas of private law, including related litigation, highlighting the following areas:

• Advisory services regarding purchase and sale contracts and respective promises; Transfer of properties for residential and non-residential purposes, of all types of assets, whether they are residential, hotel, industrial, commercial, services, urban or rural land.
• Services in the various forms of property transfer and everything related to real rights of enjoyment such as surface rights, usage and habitation rights, commodatum, periodic or permanent habitation rights, financial leasing, lodging, usufruct, easements, among others.
• Advisory services in private contracting and property registration, real estate management, and the support of real estate mediation companies, property administration and management, including the support of condominiums and their administrations.
• Advisory services for the development and licensing in the areas of tourist, residential, and local accommodation projects.
• Litigation, eviction actions, property claims, demarcation, execution for the delivery of property, and other forms of defense of possession and property, precautionary measures.
• Advisory services to investment funds and real estate management companies.
• Assistance in the areas of real estate financing and construction, including horizontal property, shopping centers and other commercial exploitation complexes, urban planning and territorial management instruments, municipal licensing of urban operations, industrial/commercial and environmental licensing.
• Advisory services in banking operations and financing models, generally associated with guarantees on properties, among others.

Our office provides services through close monitoring of companies and entrepreneurs in all business, financial, and commercial transactions, as well as in litigation, highlighting the following areas:

•  Formation of companies, associations, and foundations.
• Dissolution and division of companies.
• Merger, demerger, and transformation of companies.
• Acquisition and disposal of shareholdings.
• Shareholder agreements and amendments to company contracts.
• Transfers, assignment of operation, and commercial leasing.
• Agency, distribution, franchising, and leasing.
• Negotiation, review, and drafting of national contracts.
• Support and advisory services for private clients and investors regarding visas and residence permits.
• Litigation: Judicial challenging corporate resolutions, judicial inquiry into the company, dismissal of managers and directors, exclusion/expulsion of partners and possibly shareholders, subject to certain requirements, financial leasing, credit claims; Judicial or extrajudicial collection of credits from partners or shareholders related to unpaid profits or dividends by the company; Judicial convening of the General Assembly; Opposition to mergers and demergers of companies and the subordination agreement; Judicial liquidation of the company; Civil liability action against managers/directors and/or against partners/shareholders; Judicial appointment to corporate positions.

We provide our advisory services regarding the conditions and procedures for the entry, stay, exit, and removal of foreign citizens from Portuguese territory, as well as the status of long-term residents, whether in administrative or contentious matters, as well as providing associated services, highlighting the following areas:

• Visas and residence permits:”Golden Visa”, Start-up; D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, D7.
• Equality status
• Family reunification.
• Portuguese nationality.
• Non-habitual resident status (NHR)

Our office assists both corporate and individual clients in the field of consultancy and litigation.

Among others, we provide the following services:

• Drafting employment contracts and regulating the employment relationship, according to the Client’s needs and the legal framework;
• Legal support for business restructuring processes, with or without job reduction (collective dismissal procedures, job extinction procedures, lay-off procedures);
• Work accidents;
• Occupational diseases;
• Claims for labor credits in insolvency processes and special revitalization processes;
• Legal support in negotiating collective labor regulation instruments (IRCT), in the context of direct negotiation or in the context of conciliation, mediation, or arbitration;
• Monitoring processes related to ACT inspections;
• Conducting disciplinary proceedings;
• Advisory services in labor situations with special regimes (domestic service, shows, onboard work, sports practitioner).
• Labor and administrative litigation.

We provide personalized support for matters related to family, children and youth, adults under guardianship, successions, and nationality, acting both preventively, with legal advice and consultancy, and in judicial and extrajudicial resolution.

In this practice area, we provide consultancy and legal representation, namely in:

• Marriage processes and prenuptial agreements.
• Separation of persons and property, simple separation of property, divorce, recognition and termination of de facto unions, and precautionary procedures.
• Regulation and modification of the exercise of parental responsibilities.
• Partitions and inventories, resulting from divorce and/or separation of persons and property and death, heir qualification, wills, and donations.
• Actions for the review and confirmation of foreign judgments.
• Investigation, recognition, and challenge of paternity and civil sponsorship.
• International conventions on maintenance, international child abduction, and community regulations on family, children, and youth.
• Processes for adults under guardianship and authorizations for the practice of acts.
• Nationality processes, residence permits, and family reunification requests.

Our office seeks to meet the needs of clients in an area that is extremely important in the lives of individuals and legal entities, acting especially in the field of tax procedure and litigation, that is, in the support and representation of clients in relation to disputes between them and the Tax Administration, safeguarding the rights and interests of taxpayers, whether individuals or legal entities.

In this area, we highlight:

• Consultancy and advice in the preventive domain, analyzing and evaluating with the Client the various risks that may exist;
• Representation of clients in tax and customs procedures and processes, whether in the administrative phase or in the litigation phase (Claims, Reviews, challenges, tax executions, among others) as well as in tax arbitration;
• Tax and social security crimes and infractions.

Our office – Lima Cruz – M. Amélia Cruz – Lawyers, has extensive experience in litigation, conducting its activities with dedication, commitment, and loyalty, closely monitoring the client and aiming for the quick and successful resolution of their matters and/or claims.

In terms of litigation, we work in administrative litigation, but also in civil law, as well as in criminal and administrative offense law. In this context, we provide, among others, in addition to preventive consultancy:

• Administrative, tax, criminal, labor, corporate, and civil litigation;
• Legal representation in contractual or non-contractual civil liability actions, including professional civil liability and professional orders;
• Road traffic accidents; Leasing; Guarantee of Obligations.
• Legal representation in actions and mediations in the areas of insurance, consumer, etc.
• Conflict resolution;
• Arbitration processes;
• Preparation and presentation of the right to be heard and defense, drafting of written defenses, requests, judicial challenges, trial hearings, and appeals, related to administrative offenses.
• Enforcement processes; Injunctions; Precautionary procedures;
• Financial liability;
• Representation of clients in processes of determining criminal responsibilities, with the definition of defense (or accusation) strategies, whether in economic and financial crimes (fraud, corruption, breach of trust, fraud, tax crimes, among others) but also in other types of crimes, such as domestic violence, cybercrime, and crimes against people and property in general, as well as crimes of responsibility of holders of political office, among others.
• General litigation.

Lima Cruz – M. Amélia Cruz – Lawyers, has proven experience in the area of credit recovery and debt payment default, adopting pre-litigation measures (Demands; Drafting payment agreements with debt restructuring, namely with reinforcement of personal or real guarantees), as well as all litigation measures, with a view to the coercive realization of our Clients’ credit rights. We provide advisory services in:

• Judicial and extrajudicial negotiation of credits from the perspective of the creditor and the debtor, and their formalization;
• Judicial credit recovery;
• Litigation arising from bank credit;
• Insolvency process;
• Special revitalization process (PER);
• Special process for payment agreement (PEAP).