David Carvalho Martins

David Carvalho Martins is the founding partner and leads the firm's presence in Portugal as managing partner. He has focused on labor and employment law for over 16 years, advising national and multinational companies on HR issues. David's clients represent a range of business sectors, including tourism, aquaculture, fishing and agriculture, culture and art, distribution, trade and food service, information technology, health, telecommunications, public administration, and public sector companies. He provides strategic, practical, and thorough legal advice; represents companies in labor and employment law and industrial relations matters; and brings creative solutions to business-critical decisions.

David has considerable experience in collective bargaining, where working time regulations are an important topic. He provides legal advice to companies regarding ways to revise their working time systems and flexible schemes (e.g. bank of hours, working time exemptions, adaptability, flexible work schedules). David takes into consideration the place of work (telework, work at distance, mobile workers, workers on board fishing vessels), as well as applicable law and data protection and privacy matters (either in public or in the private sector). He also handles labor and employment litigation.

David is experienced in counseling clients based in Portugal regarding labor and employment matters in the Portuguese-speaking nations of Africa, as well as companies based in those nations that operate in Portugal. When needed, he collaborates with top working partner firms in Africa and in Macau to provide clients with a single point of contact for assistance with multinational projects across those markets. He has also been a guest lecturer at African Universities.

David is guest lecturer at the University of Lisbon – Faculty of Law, on topics such as Introduction to the Study of Law, General Theory of Civil Law, Contracts Law, Rights in Rem Law, Succession Law, Civil Procedure Law, Commercial Law, Economy Law, European Union Law, Private International Law and Labor Law. In 2021, David was appointed as global coordinator of the young scholars section of the International Society for Labor and Social Security Law (ISLSSL).

David is a PhD candidate at the University of Lisbon, Faculty of Law, and University of Murcia (Spain). He is also a partner in the São Paulo, Brazil office.