José Luís da Cruz Vilaça

He practices in European Union Law and Competition, with extensive experience in EU law, competition matters, and issues related to the European Convention on Human Rights and fundamental rights protection.

Throughout his career, he held academic positions as full or guest professor and lectured at various universities in Portugal and abroad. He is the author of around 200 articles and books published by national and international publishers. He held political roles as Member of the Portuguese Parliament and Government member from 1980 to 1982, serving as Secretary of State for European Integration and leading Portugal’s accession negotiations to the European Communities in 1981/82.

After Portugal’s accession, he served at the Court of Justice: as Advocate General (1989–1995), first President of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (now General Court of the EU), and later as Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union (2012–2018), where he was elected President of Chamber. As a lawyer, he was founding partner and head of the EU and Competition Law department at PLMJ, and in 2019 founded Cruz Vilaça Advogados.

He has been with Antas da Cunha Ecija since 2025.

Academic Qualifications:

• Law Degree, University of Coimbra
• Master's Degree in Political and Economic Sciences, University of Coimbra
• Doctorate in International Economics, University of Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne

Recognitions:

• Band 3 and Senior Statesperson in Chambers and Partners - Competition/European Law
• Tier 3 in The Legal 500 - EU and Competition

Languages:

• Portuguese
• English
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Italian

Admission to the Portuguese Bar Association: 1969