Raquel Galvão Silva

Raquel Galvão Silva is a Counsel in the firm’s Litigation, Arbitration & Investigations department in Lisbon. She has extensive experience in complex domestic and international dispute resolution, including litigation and arbitration, in a wide range of contentious matters, particularly related to commercial and corporate disputes, construction, healthcare, public law and intellectual property disputes.

Raquel is a member of Linklaters’ International Arbitration Group, with a special focus on Lusophone Africa countries. 

Furthermore, she advises on the full spectrum of intellectual property law, particularly in the healthcare and technology sector, such as providing legal advice on patent law and on the signing, execution and termination of software purchase, software development and license agreements, and also assists clients in regulatory issues, such as pharmaceutical regulatory compliance.

Raquel is an active member of international and national arbitration associations, often attending conferences and seminars in Portugal and abroad, as a participant or guest speaker.

She is a visiting professor at the NOVA University of Lisbon School of Law and a regularly contributes to international publications.

Raquel is ranked as an Arbitration Future Leader by Who’s Who Legal and has been consistently recognised as one of the leading patent lawyers in Portugal by IAM Patent 1000.

Work highlights

• Pfizer: representing, over the last 12 years, the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company in various proceedings before administrative courts and in all their major arbitrations and court proceedings in Portugal related with patent infringement.
• Deloitte Accountants B.V.: representing this audit and consulting firm on a €900m claim presented by Pharol (formerly known as Portugal Telecom SGPS, S.A.) related with an alleged breach of the auditors’ obligations when auditing the company.
• Concession contract arbitrations: advising concessionaires on a series of long-term concession contracts where validity is being disputed. Amongst others, this included the first major arbitration in Portugal filed by the Concessionaire to terminate a long-term concession agreement.
• Novo Banco: advising the bank on several disputes related with its incorporation as the first bridge bank in Portugal following the banking resolution of Banco Espírito Santo (BES).
• Investment structuring advice in order to benefit from investment treaty protection: advising domestic and foreign investors in relation to a series of strategic investments in Portugal and cross-border, with a special focus on Africa.

Raquel started her professional career as a Summer Trainee at Linklaters’ Lisbon and London offices in 2007. She then joined the firm’s Lisbon office as a Junior Associate in 2008, where she developed her career. She became an Associate in 2010, was promoted to Managing Associate in 2017 and then promoted to Counsel in 2022. Her cross-border experience includes a secondment with Webber Wentzel (Linklaters' alliance partner) in Johannesburg.

Within the firm, Raquel is also part of Linklaters’ International Arbitration Group and of the Healthcare and the Technology Sector Groups.

Raquel holds a Law Degree from the Faculty of Law of the NOVA University of Lisbon. She completed post-graduation studies in Intellectual Property at the Faculty of Law of the NOVA University of Lisbon, followed by a Master’s Degree in Company Law from the Faculty of Law of the NOVA University of Lisbon. She furthermore obtained an LL.M in International Arbitration at the Queen Mary University of London.

Additionally, Raquel invested in developing her knowhow by attending various national and international courses on topics related to her area of expertise, such as an Advanced Course on Patent Law, Biotechnology and Patent Law, Intellectual Property, Trademarks (by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and WIPO), Patents in Life Sciences, International Commercial Arbitration, and International Construction Contracts and the Resolution of Disputes.

Raquel is an active member of the Portuguese Arbitration Association (APA) and co-Chair of its Under40 committee. She is also member of the ICC Commission on Intellectual Property and of the ICC Young Arbitrators Forum. 

Raquel lectures on international arbitration and is a visiting professor at the NOVA University of Lisbon School of Law. 

Raquel has a keen interest in the tech sector, legal tech and fintech matters and actively develops office initiatives in this area.

She is a Member of the Portuguese Bar Association since 2011.

She speaks Portuguese and English.

Raquel has published  articles in national and international publications on topics related to her field of expertise, such as arbitration and intellectual property law, a selection of which follows here:

• “The Intellectual Property and Antitrust Review – Portugal”, The Law Reviews, 2018, with Carlos Pinto Correia, João Pateira Ferreira and Gonçalo Hogan
• “Legal Privilege & Professional Secrecy – Portugal”, Law Business Research, 2018, with Manuel de Abreu Castelo Branco
• “Investment Treaty Arbitration – Mozambique”, Global Arbitration Review, 2016, with Raul Relvas Moreira
• “The Southern African Development Community and its protocol in finance and investment”, TDM 4 - Transnational Dispute Management, 2016, with Nuno Lousa
• “International Arbitration in Brazil”, International Commercial Arbitration Handbook, Stephan Balthasar, C.H. Beck-Hart-Nomos, 2016, with Nuno Lousa
• The Intellectual Property and Antitrust Review, Chapter 10: Portugal, Oct. 2016
• Arbitrating Intellectual Property Disputes in Portugal: A Case Study, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Nov. 2015
• Amendments to the Brazilian Arbitration Law – an outsider’s view; Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Feb. 2014