Sónia Afonso Vasques

Throughout her professional career, Sónia has advised public entities (local authorities, public sector companies, among others) and private entities, both national and foreign, on all matters of public law, particularly in the areas of municipal law, public procurement, including the contract enforcement phase, and administrative litigation.

She also has extensive experience in town and country planning, advising real estate developers on prior urban control procedures relating to tourism and local accommodation projects, the construction of retail establishments and housing developments. She has also been involved in urban due diligences of real estate assets, assessing their constructive capacity and respective urban constraints. She also provides legal representation in urban management litigation.

Sónia also monitors expropriation processes and advises clients on matters relating to the public water domain, including judicial recognition of private property.

As far as environmental law is concerned, Sónia has considerable experience in the area of waste management, namely in interacting with waste management entities, executing waste management contracts, monitoring administrative offense proceedings brought by APA - Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (Portuguese Environment Agency), both at the administrative and judicial stages, and challenging administrative acts practiced in environmental licensing and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedures.

Head and coordinator of the Public Law, Urban Planning and Spatial Planning areas at PARES.