Main Practice Areas
Head of Banking, Finance and Capital Markets. Commercial and corporate. Data protection. Real Estate. Head of the Portuguese GPA Network.
Languages
Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.
Leonor Sarsfield Costa Freitas is Partner at GPA since January 2008, Head of Banking, Finance and Capital Makets and Head of the Portuguese GPA Network. Specialist Lawyer, since 2007, in Financial Law, recognised by the Portuguese Bar Association since 2007, Leonor has over 30 years of professional experience. CIPP/E - Certified Information Privacy Professional - Europe, Privacy / Personal Data Protection by IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals and LPP – Legal Project Practitioner by the International Institute of Legal Project Management.
Leonor has worked in various domains, particularly Banking and Finance law, Commercial and Corporate law, Data Protection law and Real Estate law. Leonor has also been a guest speaker at various conferences in her area of expertise.
Leonor has advised on various financing operations, syndicated or not, multi-jurisdictional or at national level, including mortgage and property loans, as well as advising on the contracting and enforcement of bank guarantees. As mentioned above, she has also carried out relevant work in the area of data protection, as she is qualified as a Certified Information Privacy Professional.
Leonor is admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association and is member of the IAPP – International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Academic Curriculum
- Law Degree by Faculdade de Direito – Escola de Lisboa, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 1992
- Lawyer admitted to the Portuguese Bar Association, 1994
- Post-graduate degree in Society of Information Law - Internet, Copyright and E-Commerce, Faculdade de Direito, Universidade de Lisboa, 2001
- Specialist lawyer in Financial Law recognised by the Portuguese Bar Association, 2007 (title renewed in November 2022)
- Certified Data Protection Practitioner – Data Protection under GDPR - ICS Skills - Ireland - Irish Computer Society, 2016
- Data Protection Officer Course - Personal Data Protection under GDPR - European Privacy Academy - Deloitte – Belgium, 2017
- CIPP/E - Certified Information Privacy Professional - Europe, Privacy / Personal Data Protection IAPP - International Association of Privacy Professionals, 2018
- Legal Project Management Course - IE Law School IE Exponential Learning - Executive Education, Madrid, 2020
- LPP – Legal Project Practitioner – International Institute of Legal Project Management, 2020
- Law Firm Transformation Course - IE Law School - Exponential Learning - Executive Education, Madrid, 2021
- Legal Tech Essentials Course, Bucerius Law School, Germany, 2021
Professional Background
- Founding Partner at Nobre Guedes, Costa Freitas & Associados Law Firm, October 2003 to December 2007
- Legal Advisor at the Large Companies Department of Banco Espírito Santo, S.A., currently known as Novobanco, March 1999 to October 2003
- Contracts Advisor in the Legal Department of Banco de Fomento & Exterior, S.A., later Banco BPI, S.A., February 1994 to February 1999
- Trainee, Associate and Partner at Costa Freitas & Associados Law Firm, of which Leonor was Founder, 1992 to 2003