OUR PRACTICE

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL represent clients in some of the largest and most complex transactions in areas of high level of specialization. Our lawyers advise on a wide range of corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, split-ups, public offerings, financial products and financing transactions. Our experience continues to grow with the needs of our clients.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL is recognized by its expertise and know-how in M&A and private equity. Our team is specialized in Corporate & M&A, and has solid experience in restructuring operations of both national and international groups, in mergers and acquisitions, demergers, global transfer of assets and liabilities or similar transactions, of international dimension. CARRAZEDO E PASCOAL has participated in some of the most complex and innovative M&A operations. Our experience also includes capital risk operations, in all of its aspects, and buyout operations and correspondent financing. Our expertise includes legal assistance in corporate governance, required for the development of our clients’ activity.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL also has vast experience in legal assistance on all phases of national and international bankruptcy procedures, as well as restructuring procedures. We are widely recognized for our creative and innovative approach in complex restructures, both national and international. Our experience in this area allows for a better comprehension and anticipation of the needs and objectives of our clients. We represent multinational companies, and some of the major Portuguese groups in labor matters. Our practice is focused in daily labor matters such as individual disputes, labor agreements and work security, but also includes collective dismissal procedures and other procedures pertaining labor restructuring of companies, including legal assistance in M&A operations.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL is a law firm with solid references, recognized by its specialization in areas such as Banking, Finance and Capital Markets (leverage finance, acquisition finance, project finance, structuring risk-hedging derivatives products and financial operations). Our Banking, Finance and Capital Market team provides legal assistance within a wide range of financial operations, to banks and investment funds, financial corporations and other institutional investors, as well as sponsors and private equity funds. We have solid and wide experience in all matters concerning derivatives markets, providing legal counseling to public entities, local governments, national and international banks, as well as Portuguese institutions, in preparing documents pertaining instruments for hedging operations. We are also a reference in capital markets; we provide legal assistance to issuers, underwriters and selling shareholders in public and private offers of stock exchange.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL provides legal assistance in all types of operations that involve stock exchange or compliance.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL provides legal assistance to the energy sector, specialized and focused on the objectives and interests of its clients. CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL has extensive knowledge on the markets of electricity and gas, with emphasis on renewable energy and the carbon market. Our Energy team is comprised by professionals with extensive knowledge of this sector as well as its different activities, its legal and regulatory framework and representation of the different stakeholders.
We provide legal advice for several international infrastructure projects, specially in Angola, Mozambique, Senegal, Cape Verde, Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe, where we have provided legal support for national and international companies, in different kinds of public contracts and other different areas, such as transports, energy, water and sewage.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL has experience in both national and international projects; we provide legal advice to several companies in the energy sector, international investors and banks, and we keep up with the most recent technological innovations for energy transactions. Our active presence in partnerships with international law firms allows us to obtain a unique position in this area, which corresponds to the international profile of our clients.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL provides legal assistance in tax matters, in a multidisciplinary and multi-jurisdictional dimension to national and international clients. Our tax assistance focuses on foreign financial institutions activities, specially on financial operations, debt issuance, securitization operations, structure financing and derivative finance instruments. We provide legal advice to foreign and national corporations of large dimension, investment banks and commercial banks, capital risk funds, investment funds, property funds and hedge funds; additionally, we also provide legal advice to private customers and to small and medium companies, ensuring a fully integrated legal assistance as to tax matters in M&A operations, demergers, company restructures, joint-venture agreements, project finance and equity structures, and operations in the real estate sector. We have large experience in international tax matters, including legal assistance in foreign investment operations in Angola, both of corporate and real estate nature. CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL offers legal counseling pertaining tax benefits on income tax (including gold visas), as well as tax planning on the reorganization of the family assets, in line with the specifics of each Client.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL has the knowledge and experience required to provide a complete range of services in Labor Law, namely on the following matters:

• Daily assistance on legal and conventional matters;
• Assistance on restructure procedures in companies, including collective and individual dismissal procedures, extinction of the work post, lay-off and others;
• Legal assistance on the management of labor relations (including matters of functional and geographical mobility, attribution of fringe benefits, drafting of bonus plans and stock options);
• Legal advice on disciplinary procedures and subsequent follow-up of those in the judicial system;
• Assistance in meetings with unions and employment associations (collective negotiations);
• Work accidents, health and security at work;
• Legal advice on Angolan Labor Law;
• Labor Audits;
• General Labor Litigation;
• Drafting and revision of individual labor agreements;
• Social Security.

Public-Private Parternships (PPP) are a useful tool to keep the investment rhythm in infrastructure projects and the development of the economy. The advantages are clear: they represent additional funds to the governments, besides public resources, to invest in development projects. On the other hand, PPP incorporate the technical knowledge and management skills of the private sector, adding value and technical efficiency, thus providing an impulse to the local economies.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL has large and recognized experience in legal assistance in operations between public and private sector, either to promote private investment in public works, or in public concessions to develop projects, but also in the execution of supply agreements for goods and services.

Our local presence and monitoring of the procedures in this context by MC&A teams, and the extensive knowledge on these matters provides us with a privileged position; this law firm has provided legal advice in PPP procedures, both on the Mozambican and Angolan governments perspective, as on the investors perspective.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL has extensive knowledge on complex litigation and arbitral procedures, being often solicited to represent its clients on crucial matters, such as bet the company, and also in innovative areas, as being litigation financing and strategic litigation. Our area of practice focuses on litigation and arbitration, in all extension of the substantive areas, including commercial, civil, banking and finance (including litigation of derivatives), tax and administrative. CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL team includes lawyers who are arbitrators in reputable chambers in matters of financial and administrative law, as well as experts witnesses in matters of financial law.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL in the need to respond to the demands of companies, with the provision of legal services experienced in information technologies and digital businesses. In the path of innovation, it has been developing its performance in several operations in the area of technology. By keeping abreast of the latest technological developments in the area of intellectual property, we can guarantee expert advice in areas of rapid development and growing impact, such as information technology and e-commerce. The team also keeps up to date with the most recent developments in areas as diverse as the cultural industries, fashion, biotechnology and nanotechnology.

In the preparation and implementation of compliance programmes with the Data Protection General Regulation and other applicable legislation within the scope of data protection, in the preparation and review of contractual conditions applicable to the processing of personal data, in the response to personal data breaches, in advising and providing representation in criminal proceedings, regulatory offence proceedings and civil proceedings relating to personal data privacy and protection, in the conduct of specific audits relating to personal data privacy and protection, in the conduct of privacy impact assessments of specific projects, in the assessment of technological systems and structures in the light of personal data protection rules.

We have extensive experience in matters related to freedom of the press, crimes of offense to honor and good name (defamation, injury) committed through the media, violation of secrecy and privacy and image rights. We also accompany the media in administrative offenses promoted by the sectorial regulator and we support the advertising sector in the most varied markets, in matters of misleading and comparative advertising and in the launch and execution of relevant advertising campaigns.

The areas of privacy and cybersecurity have grown exponentially in recent years. This has increased the work we do in audits and in helping companies adapt to the new legislation. As part of this work, we have created integrated compliance programmes from scratch. The team supports companies that have suffered security incidents, providing assistance with strategy issues and risk mitigation. We also provide a Data Protection Officer service on an outsourcing basis.

CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL Criminal and Compliance team has experience in defending and prosecuting highly complex criminal cases, with special focus on economic crimes, criminal tax law and social security, money laundering, corruption, fraud, market protection and cybercrime.

The team also ensures the defense of its clients in misdemeanor cases initiated by the regulatory authorities and acts in the preventive counseling of its clients, particularly in the field of financial law, capital markets, pharmaceuticals, environment, real estate and economics.

The team provides compliance services, especially in the field of corruption prevention, money laundering and terrorist financing, offering its clients auditing services to detect potential contingencies and subsequent corrective advice and compliance with best practices, as well as training, assistance to the Compliance Officer and adaptation of international models to Angolan legislation.

Works in multidisciplinary teams in an integrated manner with other areas of CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL, actively collaborating with its clients in internal investigations to mitigate risks and avoid potential liabilities

The area of ​​FinTech and Financial Regulation offers comprehensive and strategic legal advice to both operators who are investing on financial technology (FinTechs), as well as the traditional financial sector. The professional experience of our team at the financial regulator and in the financial sector allows us to understand, in a privileged way, the method of thinking of supervisory authorities and the main challenges for the sector, making possible to offer informed, incisive and innovative advice.

Services

• Specialist advice on FinTech (crowdfunding, robo-advice, Initial Coin Offerings – ICOs, Open Banking, blockchain, cryptocurrencies)
• Advice on financial regulation and financial legislation implementation projects (MiFID, PSD2, IDD, PRIIPs, AML, MAD, UCITS, AIFMD, EMIR, MMF, SFTR, CMD, Crowdfunding)
• Advice on Spanish financial regulation
• Obtaining licenses, registrations and authorizations
• Advice on the submission of applications to integrate a Sandbox / Innovation Hub
• Regulatory Compliance programs and activities
• Training programs on financial regulation
• Processing and advising on enforcement actions at national and European level

Entities

• FinTechs
• Credit institutions
• Investment firms
• Entities providing payment services and electronic money
• Seguradoras
• Insurance companies
• Investment funds
• Issuers
• Private Equity
• Start-ups

Law is one of those areas that has escaped from the impact of data and technology.

It is a science of arguments, persuasion, emotion and human judgment.

Could it be that justice, the law, its actors and its institutions are evolving according to the times, with technology and scientific knowledge?

At CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL, we want to do more and better.
The age of technological evolution may be the golden age for justice.

Scientific and social evolution allows the growth of new rights, access to a system of justice closer to the ideal of happiness, based on equity and analysis of the specific case.
Regarding legal careers, new professions are emerging and the concept of hybrid lawyers is being developed – using new technologies, capable of professional achievements never before accomplished.
Collective choices are promoting social welfare and, for that reason, justice is urged to adapt.
At  CARRAZEDO & PASCOAL we created the Legal Intelligence department to disrupt the experience of our customers.

We work from an ontological perspective, reforming our legal services, adapting them to concepts such as Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Advocacy 4.0, AR (Augmented Reality) and Smart Law.
We design new systems and explore topics, such as AAI (Augmented Attorney Intelligence), LDT (Legal Design Thinking) and HL (Hybrid Lawyers).
We are prepared to deal with Blockchain technology, and we have systems capable of generating our own Smart Contracts.

We want to transform the way people see justice and its actors and the best way to do that is to offer services with differential advantages to our clients.