Manuel Sá Martins joined DTA in May 2017 and has since focused his practice in assisting both local and foreign businesses, non-governmental organizations, and international development partners in a broad range of legal issues, including legislative drafting, corporate and banking law, intellectual property, real estate property development, and labour/social security matters.
Prior to joining DTA, Manuel worked at prominent Portuguese law firms Uría Menéndez and Abreu Advogados, having acquired in-depth knowledge in and developed a strong interest in corporate and banking law, intellectual property, arbitration, and employment law.
Manuel holds a Law Degree (Licenciatura) and a Master’s Degree (Mestrado) from the Portuguese Catholic University in Porto, where he was granted the Professor João Baptista Machado award for his Master’s Thesis (18/20). Manuel has continued to develop further studies and obtained postgraduate degrees in Banking, Securities and Insurance Law, and in Corporate Law from the University of Coimbra, as well as in Intellectual Property Law from the Portuguese Catholic University.
Manuel is currently very active in the development of Timorese academia, working with the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL) and the National Parliament of Timor-Leste in drafting, editing, and publishing several law books on a myriad of legal issues, including the country’s first annotated text on the new Land Law (in conjunction with the Asia Foundation) and the first manual on Copyright Law (in conjunction with UNDP Timor-Leste).
Manuel speaks Portuguese, English, and Tetum.