Florbela Martins do Carmo
Ponta Delgada
Team
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Partners
Victor Jorge Almeida Borges da Ponte was born on 1 January 1956 and holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the Classical University of Lisbon. He was admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association on 23 February 1980 and, until August 2005, practised on his own account — though for most of that time alongside other lawyers with whom he shared premises. Over more than four decades he has built experience advising private and public companies in negotiation and contracting, support to management bodies, human resources law, civil liability litigation and legal support to insurers and banks.
In August 2005 he became founding partner and director of BPLD — Borges da Ponte, Linhares Dias & Associados — Sociedade de Advogados, SP, RL, stepping down as director at his own request in 2025. He also taught Civil Procedure, Enforcement Proceedings and Appeals at the Azores District Council training centre (1995–2001), and completed a course in Regional Law (University of the Azores/FDUL, 1998) and a management course for business owners (University of the Azores/CCIPD, 2010), as well as training in civil liability for medical acts run by the Portuguese Bar Association. He attends the annual seminar on employment law organised by the Regional Government of the Azores.
He was a member of the Azores District Council of the Portuguese Bar Association (1991–1993) and its President (1993–2000), the highest office of the Azorean Bar. He served as Vice-President of the Municipality of Ribeira Grande (1979–1981) and President of its Municipal Assembly (1982–1996), and has spoken at conferences on the State's non-contractual civil liability, the Labour Code, the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Code and the special revitalisation procedure.
Paulo Linhares Dias has practised law since 1997, mainly in administrative law, public procurement, financial jurisdiction and criminal law, with particular emphasis on offences connected with the exercise of public office and by holders of political office. He holds a doctorate in Public Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, awarded with distinction and honours.
He is an Invited Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, where he teaches Constitutional Justice, Special Administrative Law (Regulatory Law), Social Security Law, Social Security Administration and Public Economic Law. He is an Integrated Researcher at the FDUC Legal Institute and Resident Researcher at OIRESP — the International Observatory on the Regulation of Public Sector Entities, based at the Faculty of Law of the University of Santiago de Compostela.
In alternative dispute resolution, he sits on the arbitrator panels of the APMEP Arbitration Centre and the National Construction Arbitration Centre in public procurement matters. He is the author of several books, book chapters and articles in public law journals, and a regular speaker at national and international conferences and seminars in his fields.
Vasco I. Alves Cordeiro holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra and a postgraduate qualification in Regional Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, in partnership with the University of the Azores. As a lawyer, his chosen fields are civil law — notably contracts, family and succession — together with criminal, commercial and tax law.
Alongside practice, he has held a range of public offices at regional and European level. As a legislator he served as a Member of the Azorean Regional Parliament. In government he was Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries, Regional Secretary for the Presidency and Regional Secretary for the Economy in successive regional governments, going on to lead the XI and XII Regional Governments of the Azores as President.
His career also has a significant European dimension: he was President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe and President of the European Committee of the Regions, representing the interests of Europe's regions before the institutions of the European Union.
Ana Rêgo-Costa Amorim da Cunha holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, in the legal sciences stream. Her academic grounding underpins a practice focused on the legal relationships of individuals in their employment, family and property dimensions.
She practises in employment law — with emphasis on contracts of employment and employment litigation — and in family and minors law, advising on prenuptial agreements, divorce and judicial separation, the exercise of parental responsibilities, judicial and out-of-court division of assets after divorce, and the accompanied adult regime.
Her work also covers succession law, including estate planning, wills, deeds of proof of heirship and tax filings, and the division of estates whether by agreement or in dispute. She complements this with general civil law advice.
Francisco Montenegro da Cunha Baptista Abreu dos Santos holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and a postgraduate qualification in Employment Law. His academic and professional path reflects an orientation towards the areas where the law of persons meets economic and social relations.
His practice centres on employment law — contracts of employment, employment litigation, collective bargaining, accidents at work and employment-related administrative offences — and on family and minors law, where he advises on prenuptial agreements, divorce and judicial separation, parental responsibilities, judicial and out-of-court division of assets, and the accompanied adult regime.
He also works in succession law, including estate planning, wills, proof of heirship and contested division of estates, and in investment and immigration, advising on residence permits for investment and work, acquisition of Portuguese nationality and property rights. His practice extends to energy and natural resources and to litigation and alternative dispute resolution.
Leonardo da Ponte holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra. That grounding supports a varied practice developed over the years within the firm.
His primary fields are commercial law and public procurement, together with real estate and maritime law — areas oriented towards advising companies and economic operators on matters of considerable technical complexity and operational impact.
Alongside these, he also works in employment law and criminal law, offering clients broad coverage in fields that demand rigour, speed and close familiarity with court practice.
Associate lawyers
Ricardo Manuel de Amaral Rodrigues, born on 1 June 1958 in São José, Ponta Delgada, holds a law degree from the University of Lisbon. In 1983 he opened his first practice in Vila Franca do Campo and later in Ponta Delgada, practising for sixteen years and serving on the Azores District Council of the Portuguese Bar Association. During that period he also advised organisations connected with farming and fisheries.
His move into political life did not take him away from the law. As a Member of the Portuguese Parliament for the Azores constituency (2005–2013), across three legislatures, he was consistently his parliamentary group's coordinator on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, and chaired the Subcommittee on Justice and Prison Affairs. He coordinated working groups on the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Sentence Enforcement Code, the Cybercrime Act, the State's non-contractual civil liability, the protection of victims of domestic violence and the Code of Civil Procedure, among others.
He was a full member of the Superior Council of the Public Prosecution Service, of the General Council of the Centre for Judicial Studies and of the Superior Council for Internal Security between 2011 and 2013. Between 2017 and 2021 he was a member of the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts, elected by Parliament. Between 2013 and 2025 he was Mayor of Vila Franca do Campo.
José da Silva Andrade holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, awarded on 24 September 1998, and was admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association on 22 October 2021. His training in the Coimbra school of law underpins a rigorous and technically demanding practice developed over more than two decades in the courts.
He began practising in 2001 on his own account, building substantial independent experience until July 2010. Since August of that year he has practised exclusively at BPLD & Associados as an associate lawyer.
At the firm he practises as a generalist, with particular emphasis on civil law, criminal law, employment law and family and minors law. That breadth allows him to advise clients across a wide range of matters, providing an integrated response to their legal needs.
Sofia Serpa Silva holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (2013) and a Master's degree in Forensic Legal Sciences from the same faculty (2016). Her master's focus on forensic sciences reflects a vocation for court practice and the rigorous conduct of proceedings.
She completed the Portuguese Bar Association traineeship in 2018 and joined BPLD & Associados in May 2019, where she advises private sector companies and practises as an associate lawyer.
Her chosen fields are criminal law and administrative offences, consumer law, offences against the economy and public health, and family law.
Elga Nunes Pereira holds a Master's degree in Law, in the corporate legal sciences stream, from the Faculty of Law of NOVA University Lisbon, obtained in January 2010. She was admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association on 29 May 2012 and has since practised in full, with a focus on the concrete needs of individuals and companies.
She has been with BPLD & Associados since 2013, where she practises exclusively as an associate lawyer. Her practice is general, covering civil, criminal, employment, family law and litigation, with an approach built on closeness to the client and effective dispute resolution.
She is also a qualified conflict mediator, trained in mediation and alternative dispute resolution with a specialisation in justices of the peace, which allows her to offer clients consensual and less costly solutions. She is a certified trainer, holding the CAP qualification.
Maria Baldaia Botelho holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of NOVA University Lisbon (2012) and a Master's degree in Public International and European Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam (2013). Admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association in 2016, her dual qualification with a European and international dimension gives her a distinctive perspective on the matters entrusted to her.
She completed her traineeship at PLMJ — Pereira, Sáragga Leal, Oliveira Martins, Júdice e Associados, RL, and with Dr Duarte Pinheiro. Between 2018 and 2024 she headed the human resources office at RIAC — the Azorean agency for the modernisation and quality of public service, gaining detailed knowledge of public administration and its organisational dynamics.
Since May 2024 she has practised exclusively as an associate lawyer at BPLD & Associados. Her practice is general, with particular attention to public law, where her European training and public administration experience are especially relevant.
Beatriz Andrade holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of NOVA University Lisbon (2014) and a Master's degree in International Relations from the University of the Azores (2017). This dual legal and international training gives her a broad perspective on legal problems, particularly where domestic and global dynamics meet.
She began practising in 2014 at BPLD & Associados, where she completed her Bar traineeship in 2017. She currently practises there exclusively as an associate lawyer and is also part of the legal department of Grupo Bensaude.
Her chosen fields are employment law, consumer law, administrative offences and family law, with a practice built on close support to clients and swift resolution of the disputes entrusted to her.
José Miguel Toste, born in Angra do Heroísmo on 24 August 1992, holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (2014), where he was named best fourth-year student in Fundamental Rights and in Administrative and Tax Litigation by the Institute of Legal and Political Sciences. He also holds a postgraduate qualification in the law of the State, Autonomous Region and local authority corporate sector (2016).
His career began in 2013 with a summer traineeship alongside Dr Álvaro Monjardino, followed between 2014 and 2015 by the tutor network of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, where he was responsible for Fundamental Rights. Between 2015 and 2016 he was a legal officer at Saudaçor — the Azorean health resources and facilities management company — and from 2016 to 2020 an adviser to the offices of the Regional Secretaries for Health of the XII Regional Government of the Azores.
He joined BPLD & Associados as a trainee lawyer in December 2020 and became an associate lawyer in March 2023. His experience in the regional public sector, particularly in health, together with his postgraduate training in the public corporate sector and in regional and local administration, equips him for technically complex matters of public and administrative law.
Beatriz Martins do Vale holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (2023) and, in the same year, completed the second postgraduate course in Civil Liability Law run by the faculty's Private Law Research Centre.
She has worked with BPLD & Associados since October 2023, following the firm's activity and the legal support provided to its clients. She was admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association on 30 June 2025 and has practised actively since then.
Her chosen field is civil liability law, for which she holds specific postgraduate training and which demands rigorous attention, in both its contractual and non-contractual dimensions, to the interests of the clients she represents.
Isabel Costa Pacheco holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, where she built a grounding oriented towards technical rigour and legal practice.
She has worked with BPLD & Associados since September 2023, following the firm's activity and taking part in the legal support provided to its clients. She was admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association in June 2025 and has practised actively since then.
The years spent within the firm from 2023 gave her close and continuous contact with court practice even before admission, which today translates into careful conduct of proceedings and attentive defence of the clients entrusted to her.
Henrique Pacheco holds a law degree from the Faculty of Law of Lusófona University and a postgraduate qualification in Corporate Finance from the Faculty of Law of the Portuguese Catholic University. Combining legal training with a financial qualification gives him a perspective attentive to the economic reality in which companies operate.
His career began in general practice, giving him exposure across the different fields of law and the range of questions clients bring. He now works chiefly in administrative law, with particular emphasis on public procurement, a field that demands precise knowledge of pre-contractual procedures and of the rules governing performance of public contracts.
He retains a particular interest in corporate law, notably in sustainable corporate finance. Alongside practice, he served on the audit board of JAUPA — Association of Young Azoreans United for the Azores.
Secretarial support
Isabel Raposo
Ponta Delgada
Cláudia Daniel
Ponta Delgada
Paula Álamo
Angra do Heroísmo