PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Rita Samoreno Gomes and Petra Carreira, PLMJ
1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings Court filings in civil proceedings are open to the public (except pending injunctions) unless they are kept confidential by the court of its own motion or upon request of the parties, such as to protect sensitive or confidential information, business secrets, private data, the intimacy or dignity of the parties, or family and private life. Subject to the above, public disclosure entails the right to access the case file and obtain cop- ies or certificates. As a rule, lawyers are free to consult case files, even those in which they do not act for any of the parties, unless they are confidential. Non-lawyers can only access non- confidential court files if they are considered to have a legitimate interest. The court may also decide to protect court filings and proceedings from public disclosure by con- cealing confidential information or documents, and by limiting the number of persons allowed access to the proceedings and evidence (eg, by restricting access to experts and/or the parties and their counsel). 1.4 Legal Representation in Court As a rule, only lawyers with a valid registration with the Portuguese Bar Association can act as legal representatives before Portuguese courts. Foreign lawyers who are authorised to practise in their home EU and EEA member states, or lawyers from other countries who enjoy the free- dom to provide their services under European Union law, may practise in Portugal under their home-country professional licence. However, they may only act as legal representatives before the Portuguese courts under the supervision of a lawyer registered with the Portuguese Bar Association. European Union lawyers may also practise in Portugal under their home-country
• the judicial courts, which include the Supreme Court of Justice, the courts of appeal (appel- late courts) and courts of first instance, the latter of which fall into several categories according to the subject matter and econom- ic value of the dispute and territorial jurisdic- tion (eg, criminal, family, labour, commercial and enforcement courts); judicial courts include specialised courts such as the Court of Intellectual Property, the Maritime Court and the Court of Competition, Regulation and Supervision, which have jurisdiction over the whole country; • the administrative and tax courts, whose role is to settle disputes arising out of the exer- cise of public power and tax relations – these include the Supreme Administrative Court, the central administrative courts (north and south) and the administrative and tax courts in the first instance; • the justices of the peace ( julgados de paz ), which are small claims courts with special features and jurisdiction; • arbitral tribunals; • courts-martial, which may be created in war- time; and • the Conflicts Court, whose role is to resolve conflicts of jurisdiction between courts. Estimating a general timeframe for court cases in Portugal is very difficult, as the duration of proceedings depends on various factors, includ- ing the court hearing the case, its workload and schedule, the complexity of the case, the num- ber of parties involved and their conduct, the nationality of the parties, the number of witness- es to be heard, and the need for expert opinions; however, a commercial dispute typically lasts up to 18 months from filing the claim to trial, with trials generally lasting from one to three days, although several days, weeks, or even months may pass between each trial session.
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