PARES

What PARES does

PARES — legally Plácido de Abreu & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, SP, RL — is a full-service Portuguese law firm founded in 2011 and headquartered in Lisbon at Rua Alexandre Herculano 23, registered with the Ordem dos Advogados under no. 39/11. The firm operates across 18 practice areas (Litigation & Arbitration, Banking & Finance, Commercial & Corporate, Competition & EU Law, Environmental, Sports, Labour, Tax, Real Estate, Public Law, Family & Succession, Insolvency & Restructuring, Criminal/Compliance, IP, Data Protection, Registry & Notary, TMT, and Urban Planning) supplemented by six specialised service modules (Compliance, ESG, Golden Visa, Immigration & Nationality, Foreign Investment in Portugal, and Bureau Français). Headcount is approximately 57 with a broader team of ~70 referenced across the website, including 13 named partners, associates, trainees, and administrative staff led by Executive and Financial Director Lília Manaio.

The firm's revenue model is professional-services based: fee-based legal advisory billed to corporate, institutional, and private individual clients, with no publicly disclosed hourly rates, fee structures, or SaaS-style pricing. PARES serves a diversified client base spanning multinational corporates and inbound foreign investors — including Eurofins, Airbus Flight Academy (via Sevenair), Lxbio Pharmaceuticals, CERES Fininvest/Llopis Portugal, and Lahav Green Energy — alongside private individuals using Golden Visa, real estate, and succession services. Distribution is direct (no intermediaries), supported by a multilingual PT/EN/FR website, weekly newsletter, social media, and three physical/pseudo-physical touchpoints (Lisbon HQ, Algarve partnership from May 2026, and the dedicated Bureau Français). Demand generation leans heavily on legal-directory credibility (Legal 500 EMEA 2026, Leaders League 2026 in four practice areas, BEST LAWYERS 2025, Iberian Lawyer Forty Under 40 Awards in 2024 and 2025).

PARES is a privately held Portuguese sociedade de advogados with no parent company, no disclosed funding rounds, and no publicly visible financial figures. The firm is operationally active, evidenced by repeated 2026 hires, ongoing know-how publishing, and the June 2026 joint launch of "Value2Exit" with Peakwise. There is no proprietary technology product; technology is limited to standard legal practice management tooling plus website analytics, and there are no APIs, software platforms, or in-house AI/ML capabilities.

Name

PARES

Legal name

Plácido de Abreu & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, SP, RL

Website

https://paresadvogados.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

PARES is a full-service Lisbon-based Portuguese law firm founded in 2011, serving corporate and private clients across 18 practice areas and 6 specialised services in four languages, with footprint extended to the Algarve via a 2026 partnership.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Advisory Services: PARES generates revenue by providing fee-based legal advisory services across 17 practice areas and 6 specialised services to private individuals, companies, and institutional clients in Portugal and internationally.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

PARES is a full-service Portuguese law firm providing multidisciplinary legal advisory services across 17 practice areas and 6 specialised service modules to corporate clients, private individuals, and international investors. The firm delivers litigation and arbitration, banking and finance, commercial and corporate, competition and EU law, environmental, sports, labour, tax, real estate, public, family and succession, insolvency and restructuring, criminal/compliance, intellectual property, data protection, registry and notary, and TMT advisory work, supported by dedicated Compliance, ESG, Golden Visa, Immigration & Nationality, Foreign Investment, and Bureau Français desks. Operations are conducted in Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish, with direct client engagement through a Lisbon headquarters and an Algarve partnership.

Product overview

PARES is a full-service Portuguese law firm (Sociedade de Advogados) providing multidisciplinary legal advisory services. The firm operates as a single integrated service portfolio organised around 18 distinct practice areas (covering all major branches of law) supplemented by six specialised service modules (Compliance, ESG, Golden Visa, Immigration & Nationality, Foreign Investment, and Bureau Français). The TMT practice area provides advisory on AI, fintech, e-commerce, and digital platforms. The firm also offers a weekly newsletter and maintains partnerships (e.g., with Peakwise for Value2Exit). No separate SaaS product or software platform is offered — the offering is professional legal services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Legal Advisory Services (Full-Service Multidisciplinary Practice) Integrated multidisciplinary legal advisory delivered by a team of partners, associates, solicitors, and trainees, coordinating advice across 17 practice areas (Litigation & Arbitration, Banking & Finance, Commercial & Corporate, Competition & EU Law, Environmental, Sports, Labour, Tax, Real Estate, Public Law, Family & Succession, Insolvency & Restructuring, Criminal/Compliance, IP, Data Protection, Registry & Notary, and TMT) for corporate clients, private individuals, and international investors in Portugal.
• Compliance Advisory Regulatory compliance, anti-corruption, and corporate governance advisory services delivered as a specialised service module to corporate clients operating in Portugal.
• ESG Advisory

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• PeakwiseminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026PARES and Peakwise jointly launched 'Value2Exit', a joint initiative/product announced June 2026, aimed at providing enhanced advisory services to clients, likely in the context of exits, mergers, or business transitions.
• Algarve Law OfficeminorOthers · 14 May 2026PARES established a partnership with an office in the Algarve region of Portugal in May 2026, extending its physical presence and service capability to southern Portugal.
• Passo a Passo - Associação de Ajuda PsicossocialminorOthersPARES provides pro bono legal advisory services to this non-profit psychosocial support association as part of its ESG and social responsibility commitment.
• A Escola da MariaminorOthersPARES is a partner of the 'A Escola da Maria' project, providing pro bono legal services. This project was featured in PARES news in April 2026.
• Arte InstituteminorOthersPARES provides pro bono legal support to Arte Institute, an organisation promoting art and cultural initiatives.
• RHI PortugalminorOthersPARES provides pro bono legal advisory services to RHI Portugal as part of its ESG/social responsibility programme.
• Ephemera - Associação CulturalminorOthersPARES supports Ephemera cultural association with pro bono legal services.
• Aliança pro BonominorOthersPARES is a member of Aliança pro Bono, a network promoting pro bono legal work in Portugal.
• Emaús - Non-Governmental OrganizationminorOthersPARES provides pro bono legal support to Emaús NGO, a charitable organisation.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Pérez-Llorca: Top Iberian law firm with a Madrid focus and growing cross-border practice, frequently engaged in Portuguese matters from outside Portugal; comparable in serving Iberian corporate clients but skewed toward Spain.
• Cuatrecasas: Major Iberian law firm with a substantial Lisbon office offering corporate, banking, real estate, and tax practices; competes with PARES for premium corporate, FDI, and cross-border mandates involving Portuguese targets or assets.
• Uría Menéndez: Leading Iberian law firm with established Lisbon and Madrid presence serving cross-border corporate, M&A, and regulatory work; competes with PARES in the Portuguese market segment of large Iberian mandates.

Direct peers

• Vieira de Almeida (VdA): Top-tier full-service Portuguese law firm with deep practice coverage in commercial, banking, real estate, tax, and public law, sharing PARES's full-service positioning and competing for the same corporate and cross-border clients.
• PLMJ: Largest full-service Portuguese law firm headquartered in Lisbon, offering corporate, M&A, banking, real estate, tax, and litigation practices with a similar multidisciplinary model to PARES, competing directly for the same mid-to-large corporate mandates and foreign investment work.
• Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados: Established full-service Portuguese law firm with strong M&A, banking, and litigation practices, regularly appearing alongside PARES in rankings like Legal 500 and Leaders League for the same kinds of corporate mandates.
• SRS Advogados: Full-service Iberian law firm with a strong Lisbon presence covering corporate, real estate, tax, and employment law, comparable in scale and practice breadth to PARES and competing for similar corporate and foreign investment clients.
• ALC — Alegre, Cunha, Lopes & Associados: Mid-sized Portuguese full-service law firm with comparable practice areas (corporate, real estate, tax, labor) and similar team scale, competing with PARES for mid-market corporate mandates and foreign investor advisory work.
• BMA — Bouzamoura, Macedo & Associados: Portuguese full-service law firm practicing in corporate, M&A, real estate, and tax, similar in size and full-service positioning to PARES; competes directly for mid-market corporate and FDI mandates in Lisbon.

Regional players

• Gómez-Acebo & Pombo: Established Spanish full-service firm with strong corporate and M&A practice that occasionally advises on Portuguese matters; comparable in practice mix but primarily Spain-based, so a regional rather than direct head-to-head peer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pares-advogados

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles27 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PARES