WE DEFEND THOSE WHO BUILD. WE PROTECT WHAT MATTERS.
EVERY CASE IS TREATED AS IF IT WERE THE ONLY ONE.
Three decades of legal experience dedicated to defending our clients' interests.
Commercial
and Corporate Law
Legal support for companies, partners and investors in the incorporation, organisation, growth, restructuring and protection of their corporate and commercial interests.
Need legal support?
Get in touch with our team for clear, rigorous legal support tailored to your case.
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The Experience Behind Our Practice
Over 30 Years of Consolidated Experience
With more than three decades of legal practice, we combine strong legal knowledge, extensive practical experience, and a mature understanding of the challenges faced by businesses, individuals, and investors.
Rigorous Legal Expertise with Close Client Support
Every case is handled with attention to detail, technical precision, and strategic focus, ensuring personalized and close support throughout every stage of the process.
International Presence and Coordinated Legal Assistance
Through a network of strategic partnerships across Portuguese-speaking and European markets, the firm provides coordinated legal support for both national and international matters and operations.
Commercial and Corporate Law
Commercial and corporate law is a central area of business activity. It governs the formation, structure, operation, and transformation of commercial companies, along with many of the legal relationships that underpin the life of a business.
In Portugal, the Commercial Companies Code (Código das Sociedades Comerciais) is the main body of law on the subject, setting out how companies are organised, the rights and duties of shareholders, management and administration, corporate resolutions, and the key moments in a company's life.
At Armandino Lopes Advogados, we provide legal advice on commercial and corporate law to companies, business owners, shareholders, and investors who need support with forming a company, defining its structure, drafting and reviewing articles of association, bringing in or removing shareholders, transferring shares, passing resolutions, restructuring internally, and dissolving and winding up a company, as well as with preventing and resolving disputes between shareholders.
This is an area where getting the legal framework right from the start can prevent internal deadlock, disputes between shareholders, invalid decisions, and serious risks to the continuity and stability of the business.
If you are looking for legal support in commercial and corporate law in Guimarães, our team offers careful, strategic guidance on the matters that directly shape the structure, governance, and protection of your business.
Our work in this area also covers the strategic reading of relationships between shareholders, the drafting of internal rules of operation, the analysis of whether corporate resolutions are valid and what effect they have, the liability of managers and directors, and the structuring of corporate transactions that have a significant impact on the company.
As a firm with established experience supporting businesses and investors, we provide legal advice on commercial and corporate law with a focus on legal security, risk prevention, the defense of shareholders' interests, and the soundness of business decisions.
For anyone who needs a commercial and corporate lawyer in Guimarães, we offer close, technically rigorous support tailored to the reality of your business, whether during formation and growth or in moments of tension, conflict, or restructuring.
Situations where legal support is essential
Forming a company
The choice of corporate structure, along with the definition of the company's purpose, its capital, the distribution of shares, and the rules governing how it operates, should be set on a sound legal footing from the very beginning.
Choosing the type of company
The decision between a single-member private limited company, a private limited company, or a public limited company should reflect the scale of the project, the number of shareholders, the governance model, and the company's future strategy. Portugal's own public company-formation services list these as the available company types.
Drafting and reviewing the articles of association
The articles of association are among the most important legal documents a company has, as they set out the essential rules on structure, powers, capital, and operation. The "Empresa na Hora" service offers several model sets of articles for different types of company, which shows just how central this document is to forming a company.
Shareholder agreements
The relationship between shareholders should be set out clearly when it comes to voting rights, the distribution of profits, the entry of investors, future exits, management deadlock, and the mechanisms for resolving disputes.
Bringing in new shareholders or investors
Admitting new shareholders should be structured legally so as to define rights and duties, protect the company, and keep the interests of everyone involved in balance.
Departure, exclusion, or removal of shareholders
Situations involving a breakdown, incompatibility, or restructuring of the company call for a close look at the articles of association, the applicable law, and the legally appropriate way to exit or reorganize.
General meetings and corporate resolutions
The validity of a corporate resolution depends on following both the law and the company's own rules. Problems often arise around notice of meetings, quorums, majorities, and the substance of the resolutions themselves.Â
Dissolution and winding up
Closing a company and winding it up require a proper resolution and the right legal framework, and these are matters that sit squarely within company law.
In-Person or Online Legal Support
Do you need legal support?
Schedule a consultation with our firm and receive clear, professional guidance tailored to your case.
About Us
More Than Three Decades of Strategic Legal Practice
Armandino Lopes Advogados is a law firm headquartered in Guimarães, with offices in Porto and Maputo, founded in 1995. With more than three decades of activity, the firm combines consolidated legal experience with an international outlook, advising businesses, private clients, and investors in Portugal and across Portuguese-speaking markets.
Our practice covers Civil, Tax, Administrative, Commercial, Employment, Insolvency and Corporate Restructuring, Family, and Foreign Investment, with particular expertise in tax litigation and the defense of companies before the Tax Authorities and Social Security.
Through a network of partnerships with law firms in Lisbon, Vigo, Madrid, Paris, Luanda, São Paulo, Macau, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago, we provide our clients with coordinated legal assistance across the markets where they operate or intend to invest.
This international positioning is further strengthened through collaboration agreements with professors and academics from Universidade Portucalense, the Faculty of Law of the University of Porto, the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, and the Catholic University of Porto, maintaining a close connection to academia and leading legal scholarship.
Rigor, proximity, and results. That is what defines us.
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A Rigorous Legal Approach, From Assessment to Representation
1.
Assessment
We begin by understanding the facts, reviewing the documentation, and identifying legal risks, relevant deadlines, and the full scope of the situation.
2.
Strategy
We define the most appropriate approach for the case, based on the client’s objectives, the applicable legal framework, and the best way to protect their interests.
3.
Action
We handle the matter with technical rigor, whether through negotiation, contract drafting, document regularization, dealings with public authorities, or litigation proceedings.
4.
Ongoing Support
We keep the client informed and supported throughout every stage of the process, with close communication, clarity, and a focus on achieving a legally sound solution.
In-Person or Online Legal Support
Rigor, experience and confidentiality
Schedule a consultation with our firm and receive clear, professional guidance tailored to your case.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Commercial and Corporate Law?
It is the area of law that governs the formation, organization, operation, transformation, and dissolution of commercial companies, along with a range of legal relationships connected to business activity. In Portugal, its core is found in the Commercial Companies Code (Código das Sociedades Comerciais).
What is legal advice in commercial and corporate law for?
It helps ensure that a company makes legally sound decisions, organizes its structure correctly, prevents conflicts between shareholders, and reduces the risks in its activity and governance.
Who might need support in this area?
ï‚·Legal support may be needed by business owners, commercial companies, startups, investors, shareholders, managers, directors, and companies in the process of forming, growing, restructuring, or facing a dispute.
Who can help with commercial and corporate law matters?
A lawyer experienced in commercial companies, business contracts, corporate governance, and shareholder disputes can guide you through these matters with rigor and strategic insight. In Guimarães, Armandino Lopes Advogados provides legal advice in this area with a focus on the company's legal security, risk prevention, and the defense of clients' interests.