Rita has worked at leading law firms both in Portugal and abroad, including Vieira de Almeida (VdA), as well as Clifford Chance and Dentons in London, where she has advised clients on general banking and finance matters, structured finance and capital markets transactions. She was a legal adviser at the Issuer’s Department of the Portuguese Securities Commission (CMVM) and held management positions at international banks, including as Head of Legal of Deutsche Bank and Head of Legal, Compliance and AML at Abanca Portugal, as well as at a Private Equity firm dedicated to impact investments.

Rita holds a law degree from Universidade Nova de Lisboa (2006), is LLM in International Business Law by Católica University Global School of Law and she is a Certified ESG Analyst (CESGA®) by EFFAS – European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. She has completed an executive programme in Sustainable Finance at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (Cambridge University).

Rita leads the firm’s Finance, Compliance and Sustainability practice, drawing upon her experience advising clients in connection with banking and finance matters, capital markets transactions and financial intermediation and asset management issues. Her insight from both regulatory and in-house experiences allows her to provide guidance to clients in connection with financial regulation, compliance, and sustainability challenges.

She is a full member of the Portuguese Bar Association and speaks fluent Portuguese, English, Spanish.