Tagus & Co.
The six lawyers of Tagus and Co. at the end of the day in their chambers: two partners reading a draft at the walnut table under a brass lamp, colleagues at the shelves of law reports and by the tall windows over Lisbon's rooftops and the river.

Rua do Alecrim 42 · six people · est. 2017
first reply the same working day

Scope, fee and timeline in writing, before the work starts.

We act for founders, buyers and relocating families whose matter crosses into Portugal: a fixed fee wherever the work can be scoped, a capped hourly rate where it cannot, and the whole plan in writing before you pay for any of it.

Send an enquiryRead a specimen

The letter

Nine working days, median, from the first call to a letter like this one.

Every matter starts with this document: what we need from you, the steps in order, what we do not control, the timeline and the fee, signed before you pay for any of it. This one is a specimen for a UK software company's Portuguese subsidiary, with the details changed.

A cream envelope closed with a red wax seal on a walnut desk, a fountain pen laid across it and its cap beside the seal.

Tagus & Co.

Rua do Alecrim 42, Lisboa
Five lawyers · est. 2017

Scope of work · TG-0571 · specimen, details changed

For
The directors of a UK software company

Every letter opens by naming the matter in one sentence, so there is never a doubt about what the fee covers.

§1The matter

Incorporation of a Portuguese private limited company (Lda.) as the wholly owned subsidiary of a UK software company, with one manager resident in Portugal.

Five documents, listed before we start, so the work never stalls on a request you did not see coming.

§2What we need from you

  • The parent company's certificate of incorporation, apostilled
  • A certified translation of its articles
  • A board resolution approving the subsidiary
  • Passport and proof of address for each manager
  • The share capital, and the bank you would rather use

Seven steps, in the order they happen. You get a dated line from us the day each one closes, including the two that wait on someone else.

§3Steps, in order

  1. 01Engagement letter countersigneddays 0–2
  2. 02Tax number (NIF) for the parent companydays 2–6
  3. 03Certificate approving the company namedays 2–5
  4. 04Articles drafted, agreed and signeddays 6–11
  5. 05Registration at the commercial registrydays 11–18, to 23
  6. 06Beneficial-owner declarationdays 18–20, to 25
  7. 07Bank account and social security registrationdays 20–24, to 35

We name the queues that are not ours, in writing, before they can cost you a week.

§4What we do not control

Steps 05 and 07 wait on the commercial registry and the bank, and a slow registry pushes steps 06 and 07 back with it. We quote them as ranges, and write to you the day either queue moves.

Solid gold is time we control. Hatched is time spent waiting on the registry or the bank, drawn to its slow end.

§5Timeline

Our workWaiting on the registry or the bankIf the queues run slow
Working days from the countersigned engagement letter. The registry adds 5 to 10 at step 05, and the bank 2 to 8 at step 07: 24 working days if both run at their usual pace, 35 if both run slow.

A fixed fee, stated before any work starts. What we pass through is itemised at what it costs us.

§6Fee

Fixed fee for steps 01 to 07: plus VAT. Registry fees, the certified translation and the apostille are passed through at what they cost us, itemised on the invoice.

Your letter carries the number. This specimen does not.

Signed by the lawyer who will run the matter, before you pay for any of it.

Signed

Catarina Vale, Managing Partner

Issued
9 working days after the first call

Practice areas

Four practice areas. Each one starts with a letter like that one.

Choose one to see who it is usually for, the three documents we will ask you for first, and how long it took to close in 2025.

Tagus & Co.

Scope of work · 01

Corporate & startups

Company formation, shareholder agreements, governance and the commercial contracts around them, written so the next person to open them can act on them.

Usually for

  • Founders & startups
  • SaaS & digital businesses
  • Investors & advisors

We will ask for

  • The parent's certificate of incorporation, apostilled
  • Passports and addresses of the managers
  • The cap table, or the list of shareholders

7 steps

First
Engagement letter countersigned
Last
Bank account and social security

28

working days, median,
letter to close (2025)

Signed by Catarina Vale

Start a corporate letter

The register

Counted from the files, since 2017.

Every matter we open takes the next number in the register, TG-0001 to TG-0614 so far. The extract below is counted from it, and 2025 from the ranges each letter quoted.

Tagus & Co.

Register extract · 2017 to date

Since 2017 we have opened 614 matters, filed or drafted 1,120 contracts and filings, and run 212 property due diligences.

Closed inside the quoted timeline, 2025

96 matters closed in 2025. A matter counts as inside when it closed by the slow end of the range its letter quoted.

Real estate and relocation close inside the quote least often: the Conservatória and AIMA queues are not ours to run, and §4 of every letter names them.

  • Corporate & startups

    92%36 of 39

  • Technology & privacy

    78%14 of 18

  • Real estate & relocation

    64%25 of 39

The letterhead

Five lawyers who write the letters, and Duarte Mendes, who opens every file and books your first call.

The meeting room at Tagus and Co.: a round walnut table with a carafe and a green folder between two empty leather chairs, navy walls, and a balcony window onto the street.
The meeting room at Rua do Alecrim 42, Lisboa, where clients who are in Lisbon take the first call.

  • Catarina Vale

    Managing Partner

    Signs the corporate letters and reads every enquiry the day it arrives.

    Start a corporate letter

  • Tomás Ramires

    Counsel

    Signs the technology and privacy letters: processing agreements, SaaS terms, GDPR.

    Start a technology letter

  • Inês Azevedo

    Counsel

    Signs the property letters: title, licences, the deed.

    Start a property letter

  • Miguel Saldanha

    Counsel

    Signs the relocation letters: residence permits, NIF, the family's file.

    Start a relocation letter

  • Leonor Faria

    Associate

    Drafts the corporate letters with Catarina: articles, shareholder agreements, governance.

    Start a corporate letter

  • Duarte Mendes

    Client operations

    Opens every file, runs the conflict check and books your first call.

    Send an enquiry

Your letter

Put the matter in front of us.

Five blanks, read by a partner the same working day. Fill them in on the letter and it drafts the rest: the documents we will ask for, and when you will hear from us.

Tagus & Co.

Rua do Alecrim 42, Lisboa
hello@tagusco.pt

Scope of work · TG-0615 · draft

§2What we will ask for

three documents, once you choose the matter

A partner reads this and replies the same working day.

then a call, as fast as it is moving

0 of 20 characters

Fee: fixed wherever the work can be scoped, capped hourly where it cannot: plus VAT, written into this letter after the first call.

Signed by a partner, after the conflict check

Before you write

Fixed fees wherever the work can be scoped, which is most of it: a company formation, a shareholder agreement, a property due diligence. The number is in your letter before we start. Where a matter genuinely cannot be scoped up front, we work to an agreed hourly rate with a cap you set.

The building at Rua do Alecrim 42 at blue hour: a tiled Lisbon facade with lit windows on its two upper floors, an arched door, and tram rails curving past it down towards the river.

Tagus & Co.

Rua do Alecrim 42, Lisboa
hello@tagusco.pt

Scope of work · yours · to follow

Write to us with the matter. A partner replies the same working day, with the next step and the documents we will need.

Yours faithfully,

Catarina Vale
Managing Partner, for Tagus & Co.

Tagus & Co.
Rua do Alecrim 42 · Lisboa

P.S. Five blanks, and the reply comes the same working day.

Send an enquiry

Chambers

Rua do Alecrim 42, Lisboa

hello@tagusco.pt

Five lawyers and one intake lead on Rua do Alecrim, since 2017.

© 2026 Tagus & Co. Counsel, Lisboa

Tagus & Co. does not exist: the firm, its people and every figure on this page were invented by SharpHaw for this concept build.

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