Our Interlegal members are truly treasures of experience and legal wisdom. Members not only get to forge great global connections but also get to broaden their worldly legal knowledge via each member. For our latest venture we asked members to share with us some of the information to enlighten us on legal events and updates that have happened in their country’s legal industry.
We are grateful to have João Paulo Menezes Falcão from MF & AC Advogados for taking the time and sharing his inputs with us. Here are a few of the many contributions that flowed in from João.
Upon being asked about the benefits of Interlegal, João responded positively quoting, “We have benefited a lot from Interlegal membership. Interlegal provided us with professional networking, case referrals, legal education, foreign law practice education, amazing cultural experiences, and lifelong friends! In the last 3-4 years we have received case referrals concerning the following subject matters: corporate foreign investment, real estate foreign investment, M & A and online banking fraud.”
João also shed light on two important rulings quoting, “One important court ruling (January 2022) and one “tragic” end (May 2022) of a criminal case. They are both more than six months old, but we think they are important enough to the aim of these notes.
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- Ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice no. 2/2022, January 26
– Case No. 34545/15.3T8LSB.L1.S2-A. Summary: The damage of loss of procedural chance, the basis of the obligation to compensate, must be consistent and serious, and the burden of proving such consistency and seriousness rests with the injured party.
The case relates to malpractice lawyer’s liability. In short, the lawyer received instructions to appeal and filed an empty appeal (without its grounds). Thus, the appeal was rejected and the lower court’s decision against the client stood. Consequently, the client claimed a compensation from the lawyer for having lost the opportunity (chance) of reverting the lower court’s ruling, due to the attorney malpractice.“(…) the consistency and seriousness of the lost opportunity is what allows us to say that there is damage from the loss of chance susceptible of compensation, that is, the consistency and seriousness fulfills one of the requirements demanded by the legal institute (civil liability) on which the injured party bases his right, being constitutive (not an impeditive) of the right invoked. (…)”; (…) for there to be damage from loss of opportunity susceptible to compensation, it is not enough to prove the attorney’s unlawful conduct, it is not enough to prove the damaging act/fact (the verification of the unlawful act does not in itself already contain the damage to be compensated), since, as we repeat, according to the legal institute invoked there can be no compensation without also proving the existence of damage and caused by such unlawful act/fact.(…)”
- Tragic end of a criminal case:
X, the former president of the Portuguese Private Bank (BPP), an institution that specialized in the management of private fortunes, was convicted of 16 crimes in three separate cases (fraud, computer and document forgery, and tax evasion and money laundering), all related to the BPP’s collapse in 2010, and sentenced to several years in jail. The court proved that the former banker took 13.61 million euros from the bank.
While awaiting the res judicata effect of two cases and the ruling of the third one, he told Portuguese courts that he would be traveling to the UK, between September 12 to 30, 2021. After leaving the country he announced that he would not be returning to Portugal unless he was granted a pardon. Then Portuguese authorities issued European and international arrest warrants and he was found and arrested in South Africa. Portuguese authorities have sought X’ extradition to Portugal and asked that South African authorities consider him a serious flight risk while the proceedings are ongoing. However, before the extradition process ended, X allegedly hanged himself, on the 12 May 2022, in a Westville prison cell known for its terrible conditions (X had previously complained to the UN about the prison conditions).”
We are grateful to have Alexandre Dupont from Orbis Legal Advisory Ltd for taking the time and sharing his inputs with us. Here are a few of the many contributions that flowed in from Alexander.
We could understand Thailand’s inclination towards digital revolution and use of technology in the legal industry by Alexandre’s response quoting, “The most trending changes in the legal industry in Thailand will include the enhancement of digitalization in the legal field and use of technology in legal practice, such as online legal research, e-filing and online documents management. In addition, there might be a shift in the demand for certain types of legal services, such as those related to intellectual property, e-commerce and data privacy, due to the growing digital economy in Thailand.”
Talking about the deals closed in the year 2022, Alexandre says, “We have mostly assisted our clients in the restructuring of their business entities (recapitalization, implementation of governmental promotion scheme, etc) in view of re-enhancing new expansion after the lifting of Covid restrictive measures.”
Upon being asked about the benefits of being a member of Interlegal, he stated that, “There has been no exchange of work since the beginning of the pandemic but we have started to receive new referrals from our Interlegal colleagues since last year.”
We are grateful to have Miguel Neto from Miguel Neto Advogados for taking the time and sharing his inputs with us. Here are a few of the many contributions that flowed in from Miguel.
On trending changes in the legal industry in Brazil, Miguel stated “It will be M&A transactions involving Energy, Commodities, and Technology”. He further talks about the deals closed in the prevailing field of law in 2022 which he quoted, “We closed deals in Telecom, Oil and Retail sector among others”.
Conclusion
We thank our members João Paulo Menezes Falcão from MF & AC Advogados (Portugal), Alexandre Dupont from Orbis Legal Advisory Ltd (Thailand), and Miguel Neto from Miguel Neto Advogados (Brazil) for taking the time to provide their valuable insights. We are ever so grateful for their contribution to the network, and we look forward to meeting them at the upcoming annual meeting in May 2023 in Turkey.