Manifesto

Our history

PLMJ has existed for more than 50 years. And throughout our history we have always been sure, as we are today, that we will continue to lead. We have the responsibility of being the first project in Portugal to establish a modern law firm. And that mission has marked PLMJ’s brilliant journey.

At the end of the 1960s, António Maria Pereira invited Luís Sáragga Leal to form what would become the largest law firm in the country. It was all the result of a vision that the future would confirm was right over the course of the firm’s history. In the following decade, Francisco Oliveira Martins and José Miguel Júdice joined the two founders. “P” for Pereira, “L” for Leal, “M” for Martins, “J” for Júdice. PLMJ was born and quickly established itself as the benchmark for legal services in Portugal. Four letters that today represent the talent of more than 400 people.

And what does PLMJ's history consist of?

Pioneering spirit. From day one, we valued the strategic importance of training and retaining the best lawyers. There is no more powerful watermark than quality and PLMJ was the first to offer clearly defined professional development with access to the firm's capital, and objective, transparent and shared performance assessment criteria. And we have continuously adjusted these criteria over the decades to permanently align the expectations of the best talent with the firm's objectives and growing needs.

Efficiency and specialisation of our lawyers. We began training specialists even before this status was recognised by the Portuguese Bar Association. To this specialisation, we then added cross-practice teams with in-depth knowledge of our clients' businesses and growth challenges.

Internationalisation. We saw the opportunity and the contribution we had to make to the countries with which we have historical links, to strengthen the PLMJ brand in other countries and make it, and all of us, an international byword.

Perhaps what is most unique about PLMJ is its culture. PLMJ is what Portuguese society should be: a place where there is room for all those who stand out on merit and share our values. We have no other criteria. When we talk about PLMJ, we talk about freedom, innovation and about always debating opinions. We speak of independence. Of cohesion between different professional profiles and generations. Always looking to future generations. Honouring the past, surpassing it in the present and projecting it into the future.

Only those who give up cease to reinvent themselves in order to grow. It is with this attitude that we were born. It is with this attitude that we will continue to live in the future that we always face with renewed confidence.

 "We have been pioneers and often the very first. But nostalgia, only for the future.”