RPBA (RICARDO DA PALMA BORGES & ASSOCIADOS, SOCIEDADE DE ADVOGADOS, SP, RL) is a Law Firm (Unincorporated Limited Liability Company of Professional Lawyers) based in Lisbon and founded in 2008, registered with the Portuguese Bar Association under number 77/08.
Under the terms of the Statute of the Portuguese Bar Association (Law n.º 145/2015 of September 9 - article 104, no. 3), the latter is obliged to hire and maintain an adequate professional civil liability insurance. RPBA subscribed a Professional Civil Liability Group Insurance for Lawyers with the group of competitors MARSH/MARKEL, constituted by the insurance broker MARSH, Lda. and the insurance company MARKEL INSURANCE SE, (Branch in Spain), which covers all Lawyers and Trainee Lawyers currently registered with the Portuguese Bar Association.
RPBA has a specific bank account to receive and pay amounts in the name and on behalf of Clients at the SANTANDER TOTTA bank.
Our fees reflect the criteria set forth by the Portuguese Bar Association, essentially based on the experience and training of those involved, as well as on the time spent by them in preparing the work to be delivered to the Client.
Our fees also consider factors such as: (i) the contribution given, the responsibility assumed, the amounts involved and the results obtained; (ii) the novelty, complexity and difficulty of the matters; (iii) any extraordinary efforts that may be necessary to comply with deadlines, demands of the Client or the requirements of the circumstances; (iv) the fees charged by other law firms and professionals with a similar profile and status to RPBA for comparable services.
Due to the specificity of each project and to the extreme difficulty in foreseeing the exact time to invest, RPBA does not commit, as a rule, to fixed fees, rather charging the time actually incurred in providing the service. Therefore, only estimations and probable minimum and maximum amounts for the fees to be charged are quoted, save if otherwise agreed.
The average blended hourly rate for each project is approximately €130. However, the hourly rate as well as the category of each professional may be revised by RPBA at least once per year and will be shown in a separate document.
The update of the hourly rates will be communicated to Clients at the beginning of each calendar year, whereby RPBA may, at any time, throughout any current year, admit and add to its practice new professionals with compatible hourly rates, in terms of seniority, qualification and experience, with that of the professionals listed in said autonomous document, without need of subsequent communication to Clients during that year.
RPBA shall give notice to the Client whenever the expected fees are exceeded or the professional category of a staff member is revised.
RPBA lawyers’ activity is regulated by the Portuguese Bar Association and subject to its disciplinary system and the strict compliance with the Statute of the Portuguese Bar Association (Law no. 145/2015 of September 9th), which determines lawyers’s standards of professional conduct.
In the absence of agreement regarding the fees billed by RPBA, the Clients may obtain from the Portuguese Bar Association an appraisal report regarding the respective correction.