Brazilians are one in every 10 lawyers in Portugal

Attracted by a reciprocity agreement between the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) and its Portuguese counterpart, Brazilian lawyers are increasingly choosing to cross the Atlantic for professional practice. Currently, more than 9.3% of lawyers registered in Portugal are Brazilian.

Data provided to Sheet by the Portuguese Bar Association show that, of the approximately 34,000 professionals registered at the institution, 3,173 are Brazilian. Of these, almost 60% are concentrated in the Lisbon region.

The figures represent an increase of almost 482% in relation to the 536 Brazilians who were registered in the Portuguese entity in 2017, the year in which immigration from Brazil grew again in Portugal.

In addition to the reciprocity agreement for professional practice and the ease with the language, Portugal also attracts Brazilians with a wide range of postgraduate degrees in law, including masters and doctorates. In many cases, students end up choosing to remain in the country after the end of their studies.

This is the case of the lawyer from Rio de Janeiro, Raphaela Souza, who arrived in the country for a master’s degree at the University of Lisbon in 2016. Even before concluding, she knew that she wanted to remain practicing law in Portugal.

“I’ve already migrated with the necessary documents to start the registration procedures at the Portuguese Bar Association, a great facility that exempts us from the internship to carry out a final evaluation exam”, explains Souza, owner of the consultancy Portugal Para Todos.

Like many of her Brazilian colleagues, the lawyer ended up specializing in the area of ​​Portuguese nationality and immigration: a sector that, with the various changes in legislation and regulations in recent years, is very hot.

Figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) show that almost 400,000 Brazilians have obtained Portuguese nationality since 2010. Facilitating access to the benefit for grandchildren of Portuguese people, in 2020, helped to make demand explode.

In addition to entering the local market, many have opted for entrepreneurship, opening dozens of offices. Creating their own businesses is also a way to overcome two problems cited by Brazilian professionals: low wages and, in some cases, professional discrimination.

After a period as a lawyer for a multinational in São Paulo, Carlos Rebolo was transferred to the company’s office in Lisbon in 2014. “I was very well received and immediately felt at home”, he says.

When he was already well established in the Portuguese capital, at the end of 2017, he received the information that he would need to move to another European capital due to a company reorganization. Decided to remain in Portugal, he then decided to explore the local law market.

“From my perspective at the time, the local job market didn’t seem attractive to me either, and the desire to embark on entrepreneurship was already starting. That’s when I thought: ‘why not have my own law firm?'”

Together with a partner, Angela Theodoro, who is also a Brazilian lawyer, they are at the head of TR Advogados, a law firm focused on business law and foreign investment, areas in which the duo already had extensive experience.

“We understand that Portugal is in a very positive moment, with a large influx of investments, positioning itself as an attractive pole in terms of technology, infrastructure, training of the workforce, all of this in an environment with a high quality of life”, completes Theodoro .

Reciprocity with Brazil became part of the statute of the Portuguese Bar Association in December 2015. As a matter of principle, Brazilian lawyers do not need to revalidate their diplomas or take additional tests, with a valid and active registration at the OAB being sufficient.

Brazilians also do not need to do professional internships, but there is a long list of documentation to present. Completing the application process may take a few months.

While there are similarities between Portuguese and Brazilian law, the many legal differences on either side of the Atlantic pose an additional challenge for foreign professionals.

“The biggest challenges are related to the complexity of the profession itself”, says lawyer Raphaela Souza. “Although the reciprocity agreement allows us to be registered in the Portuguese order, we are faced with orders and laws that are different from the rules that are applied in Brazil.”

In the evaluation of the professional, these differences impose the “continuous need for studies, courses and specializations”. The lawyer highlights the good offer of free courses that can already be taken on the portal of the Portuguese professional entity.

The two countries’ bar associations also signed an agreement to allow additional training for lawyers who undertake this transatlantic mobility.

“The agreement has been beneficial for both countries, with only a few difficulties arising due to the lack of training of professionals on the specific rules of each of the legal systems”, says the president of the Portuguese Bar Association, Luís Menezes Leitão. “The main challenge is the need for training upon arrival, because then Brazilians integrate without difficulty”, he says.

Leitão recognizes, however, that there are limitations when it comes to reception capacity in the Portuguese professional market. “They effectively exist, but they do not specifically refer to lawyers from Brazil. In fact, Portugal has three times the average number of lawyers in the European Union, so anyone who intends to practice law in Portugal must be aware of this situation and the difficulties facing it. entails,” he points out.

The reciprocity agreement also allows Portuguese lawyers to practice in Brazil. The OAB informed, through its advisory, that it does not have the specific number of professionals working in Brazil under the mechanism. The entity detailed, however, that there are 1,675 lawyers born in Portugal who are regularly enrolled in the institution.