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Débora Melo Fernandes
Contact
deboramfernandes@perezllorca.com
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Practices and Sectors
- Administrative Law
- Arbitration
- Energy
- ESG Criteria and Climate Change Regulation
- Infrastructure
Profile
Débora joined Pérez-Llorca’s Lisbon office in 2024 as a Public Law and Regulatory partner. Before joining Pérez-Llorca, she served as one of the partners leading the Public Law and Regulatory practice area at a Portuguese law firm. From 2007 to 2020, she worked as an associate in two of the most prestigious teams specializing in Public and Administrative Law in Portugal. During this time, she gained extensive experience dealing with high-end public law and regulatory issues. Débora also worked as a legal advisor to the Minister for Administrative Modernization. Currently, she serves as an arbitrator at the Administrative Arbitration Centre (CAAD). She is also a founder of the Associação de Direito Administrativo (ADA) and an ambassador for ‘Women in ESG’.
Studies:
- 2022 Master’s in Administrative Law, Law Faculty of Portuguese Catholic University
- 2008 Postgraduate Course in Public Procurement Law, Law Faculty of Portuguese Catholic University
- 2007 Degree in Law, Law Faculty of University of Lisbon
She is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish.
Experience
With over 15 years of experience in multiple areas of Administrative Law, Débora covers regulatory advice in a wide range of sectors, such as energy, mobility, life sciences, and TMT, and also focuses her practice on public procurement, concessions, and projects. She advises both international and domestic public and private clients in high-profile matters related to public tenders and the performance of public contracts and concessions, licensing procedures, and in complex regulatory matters. She also gives advice in relation to public properties (water, airports, ports, public assets). Débora has extensive experience in litigation, providing advice to public and private entities in intricate disputes before administrative and arbitral courts, including contractual and regulatory disputes and liability of public authorities. Débora acts as an arbitrator in Administrative Law arbitrations.
Academic and Publishing Collaborations
Débora is an invited lecturer on postgraduate courses at the main Faculties of Law in Portugal, focusing on topics related to public procurement, energy, and mobility. She teaches on the Energy Law Postgraduate Course at the Law Faculty of Portuguese Catholic University. She is the founder of the first graduate course on Electric Mobility Law (Nova School of Law) ever held in Portugal. Débora co-authored the book ‘Electric Mobility Law’ (‘Regime Jurídico da Mobilidade Elétrica’, 2022) and wrote a book on public procurement and sustainability (‘Local Preferences on Public Procurement’, 2022).
Débora is routinely invited to write for prestigious public law and regulation publications and books, including in Spain and Brazil. She has published more than 15 articles and papers, which are often quoted by courts and legal doctrine.
Recognition
- Chambers Europe: ‘Public Law (Up and Coming)’
- Best Lawyers: Administrative Law, Public Law
Professional Organisations
- Portuguese Bar Association
- Administrative Law Association
- Portuguese Arbitration Association
