Public and Environment

Today, relationships with the State and the public sector are unavoidable for any company or individual. At Abreu Advogados, with the weight of 25 years’ experience behind us, we are equipped to advise both private and public clients in their quest for sophisticated and robust legal solutions.

Abreu Advogados’ public law and environmental law practice area – the first in this market to offer separate specialist legal services in the area of the environment, sustainable development, renewable energy and climate change – expanded this experience over time to include all areas of business and all projects with some public component: not only in instrumental terms by providing administrative litigation, public procurement or environmental impact assessment services, but in substantial terms through its involvement in public infrastructure projects (such as PPPs, concessions for major dams, shipping terminals and ports, motorway concessions, sanitation and water treatment concessions), such as public service or natural resources concessions (such as road haulage or rail transport, sanitation, water and waste treatment services, power supply, and mining).

The success of our work and the accumulated experience lies in the strength of a team that is highly specialised in public law and environmental law, has close ties to academia and is a major contributor to legal training in this field in Portugal and in other Portuguese-speaking countries.

This practice area also provides services relating to the examination and preparation of development and planning instruments, including advice on processes involving urban licensing, tourism undertakings and expropriation, as well as to public domain licences, such as the water and ocean domains.

The key sectors of this practice area are:

Environment.
Energy and natural resources.
Oil and gas.
Development and planning.
Marine economics.
Mining.
Infrastructure and PPPs.

Testimonies

Advising on the tender, the negotiation of the concession and the execution (ongoing) of large dams for hydroelectric production, being the largest system ever implemented to date in Portugal.

Advising on tenders and concession contracts for passenger public transportation service to one of the largest European operators.

Renegotiation and restoring financial balance for municipal water and waste concessions.

Advising on multiple environmental licensing and closing/decontaminating proceedings of industrial plants.

Advising and monitoring the largest producer of renewable energy in the world on a licensing process of a natural gas combined cycle power station in Portugal.

Advising waste management entities on licensing proceedings for waste management systems for packaging and electric and electronic equipment, and general monitoring of the entity’s activities.

Coordination and legal advice to several national and international carbon funds in the carbon emission generation and transaction process.

Advising several companies in the renewable energy sector on implementing their activities in Portugal, including the licensing and construction of several power generating plants (using mini-hydro, solar photovoltaic and wind technologies).

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“Clients highlight the lawyers’ “deep understanding of the area” and report them to be “very knowledgeable“”

“Abreu Advogados acts for clients in the energy and transport sectors on projects, concessions and other public law matters. A highlight was assisting ALSA (part of the National Express group) in litigation against the Portuguese government following the latter’s revocation of the client’s sub-concession of the Oporto public transportation services. The team also regularly assists with the public law aspects of real estate transactions. José Eduardo Martins and Manuel de Andrade Neves jointly head the team.”