Cuatrecasas

Partner

Expert in public law, particularly in infrastructures, concessions of public works and services, regulated sectors, energy and the environment, as well as in judicial reviews and arbitration (national and investment) relating to concessions and contracts, and to banking regulations; acts as arbitrator and member of selection panel for public law.

Lourenço Vilhena de Freitas has participated as a lawyer in various arbitration proceedings, some with an international component, particularly relating to public procurement. He has also acted as arbitrator in various arbitration proceedings relating to concession agreements and public procurement, and is an arbitrator at the Arbitration Center of the Câmara de Comércio e Indústria Portuguesa and at CAAD – Centro de Arbitragem Administrativa. He was vice-chair of the Arbitration and Litigation Resolution Center at Universidade de Lisboa.

He has held several positions in the Portuguese government, including deputy secretary of state for Tax Affairs, deputy-substitute for the Cabinet Chief of the State Secretariat for Public Administration, and deputy state secretary for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. He was a member of the Portuguese government’s administrative reform committee (XVI Constitutional Government of Portugal). He advised on the legislative reform in the oil sector, the reform of the General Cultural Heritage Act in Portugal, and on the reform of judicial review in Guinea Bissau.

He is an associate professor at Universidade de Lisboa and assistant professor at Universidade Lusíada. He was an assistant professor at Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas and a lecturer of interdisciplinary legal practice (public law) at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He was director of the research project on energy law of the Center for Research in Public Law at Universidade de Lisboa.

He is the author of several manuals, publications and articles on energy and public procurement.