PLMJ partner Luís Sáragga Leal wins European Managing Partner of the Year
October, 2011 - Portugal, Portugal
29 September 2011
The President of the management board of PLMJ, the largest Portuguese law firm, was in Geneva to accept the most prestigious honour in international commercial law from the UK publication The Lawyer
PLMJ founding partner, Luís Sáragga Leal, has received the European Managing Partner of the Year award from the prestigious UK publication The Lawyer. The award was given last night in Geneva during The Lawyer European Awards 2011 ceremony and Sáragga Leal was the only Portuguese lawyer among the finalists for this award for which he was nominated alongside managing partners from across Europe. PLMJ’s board president said “the European Managing Partner of the Year award is a particular source of motivation for an independent law firm which is increasingly international such as PLMJ”. Receiving the honour during the ceremony, Sáragga Leal drew attention to “the fact that this award is being given to a Portuguese firm in a year of such upheaval and difficulty for our country and for Europe”.
The lawyer who helped to found Portugal’s largest law firm more than 40 years ago alongside António Maria Pereira, Francisco Oliveira Martins and José Miguel Júdice also maintained that “periods of crisis also bring unique opportunities for those who know how to take risks and start new businesses, to adopt new management solutions and put into practice new professional projects. This is especially so for firms that enjoy a strong professional reputation for excellence and consistency in client service and in which this culture is shared by all the partners. This is PLMJ’s DNA”. Sáragga Leal added that “we share a long history of success based on a commitment to professional values that we put into practice every day with ethics, innovation, specialisation and more than 40 years of professional experience and dedication to our clients and to the management of PLMJ”.
PLMJ co-managing partner Manuel Santos Vitor was also at the ceremony at the Grand Hotel Kempinski where the spotlight fell on the firm twice, with PLMJ also among the seven nominees for Iberian Firm of the Year for the second year in a row. Upon receiving the European Managing Partner of the Year award, Sáragga Leal pointed out that “the presence of partner Manuel Santos Vitor at this ceremony is of particular importance to me because it demonstrates that the generational transition at PLMJ is guaranteed”. Manuel Santos Vitor was also the only Portuguese guest speaker at the conference that took place before the ceremony and featured a debate on the current state of the legal services market in Europe.
Seen as a celebration of excellence and professionalism in the practice of commercial law, The Lawyer Awards, which take place annually, are an important event for European lawyers. The winners are selected by a panel of judges from distinct areas of the European legal world including managing partners of law firms and board members from large multinationals and their focus on quality rather than quality.
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A career of huge challenges and great conquests
As a founding partner of the firm, Sáragga Leal has been one of the leading proponents of PLMJ’s internationalisation. He has been at the forefront of the firm’s expansion strategy having coordinated the opening of PLMJ International Legal Network member firms in Angola, GLA - Gabinete Legal Angola, and Mozambique, GLM - Gabinete Legal Moçambique, and having negotiated partnership agreements with leading firms in Brazil, Cape Verde and Macao. More recently the focus has been on China where Sáragga Leal has been twice this year to strengthen the partnership with China’s largest law firm, Dacheng Law Offices. These visits were also an occasion for him to present opportunities for investment in Portugal and in Portuguese-speaking countries. In addition to the internationalisation project, the PLMJ founding partner is also responsible for the biggest corporate and M&A operations handled by the firm and for advising its most important clients.
Alongside his day-to-day work as a lawyer, Sáragga Leal dedicates part of his time to the PLMJ Foundation. This project, which he helped set up ten years ago, is now a point of reference in the art world both in Portugal and internationally.
This award is recognition of the work of the whole of the firm which today has more than 200 lawyers and it is also a great incentive to continue to provide the best service to the client.
Recognised both inside and outside the firm as an example of dedication and professionalism for several generations of lawyers, Sáragga Leal wished to share this award with all PLMJ’s partners to honour the support they all give to the firm’s management bodies.
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