Mário João Fernandes

Mário João Fernandes is an Of Counsel and has been at Abreu Advogados since 2014, working primarily on public law with a particular focus on legislative procedure, regulatory production and negotiation of regulatory regimes (domestic law, EU law, international negotiations), as well as on the statutory design of complex legal regimes (organic laws, coordination of central, regional and local competencies, public-private partnerships, concessions, regulated economic activities).

He has also been involved in matters related to market regulation, competition, public procurement and foreign investment, having participated in some of the most significant restructuring operations of multinational groups in Portugal. He has participated in several international arbitrations on foreign investment (ICSID and ICC).

Mário João Fernandes was Legal Advisor at the Portuguese delegation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (DELNATO) in Brussels (2007-2012); Coordinator for European Affairs at the Office of the Minister of Justice,  where he was responsible for the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Representative of the Minister of Justice before the Group of the Future of Justice where he was responsible for drafting the contribution to the future Stockholm Programme for the area of Freedom, Justice and Security; liaison officer for the area of Justice with the Vice-President of the European Commission  – Commissioner Franco Frattini (2007-2008).

He was also a consultant in Brussels in the areas of environment, energy, public markets, telecommunications and law and internal matters (2006); Principal Technical Counselor at the Permanent Representation of Portugal at the European Union in Brussels and was in charge of the area of the Environment (2002-2005); He was a member of various ministerial cabinets from 1996 to 2002, responsible for legislative procedure.

He has maintained a strong connection to education. He was a teaching assistant at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Law, director of the Legal magazine of the Academic Association of the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Law (1995-2002), and is currently teaching at the Institute of Legal and Political Sciences at in various postgraduate diplomas at the University.