João Vieira de Almeida is VdA’s Senior Partner, in which capacity he chairs the Board of Directors.
Recognized as a leading high-end Corporate and M&A Partner, he has a stellar reputation as trusted adviser for large organisations on many of the Portuguese market’s most significant transactions. João is a member of various Boards of Directors and is Chair of Shareholders’ Meetings of several companies.
He is credited for developing VdA from a small 6 lawyers’ office into a 450+ people firm with a large international footprint, and widely recognized for his unparalleled leadership style, with an acute awareness of where the industry is heading. Proactively anticipating future challenges to the legal business, the willingness to move forward is always accompanied by a fierce commitment to the firms’ culture and values, driven by a strict “One Firm Firm” concept. Fostering a culture of teamwork, innovation and entrepreneurship is at the heart of João’s thinking, where all people across the firm feel they belong and have a fair and equal opportunity to reach their full potential, through a collaborative mindset towards the team, clients and the community.
Named in 2018, by The Lawyer, as European Managing Partner of the Year, João’s singular vision on continuous and agile transformation, consistently implementing international best practices to the firm’s management, operation, client and business-building initiatives, has become a case study at Harvard Law and been attested by successive domestic and international awards, including various FT Most Innovative Law Firm in Continental Europe Award.