The law firm MDR recently held, in Maputo, a media briefing to celebrate its ten years of activity in the Mozambican market, but also to present an overview of its work.

The dream was not born in these times, it comes from the past, with foundations laid in different lands. Ten years ago MDR Advogados was born, integrating from the beginning the Morais Leitão Legal Circle network, in a successful partnership. Today, the network has migrated to other territories: among the countries where language is no barrier, the network has offices in Angola, Cape Verde, Portugal and Mozambique, and has partnerships in other Portuguese-speaking countries.

Besides the language, which unites the African countries to Portugal, the other common denominator is the legal basis, with a very strong similarity in the codes and normative sources.

"When we started the project in Mozambique, we were only three lawyers; today there are about 20 employees in our office. This organic growth has been one of the network's strategies in the countries where we are, relying on very strong and talented local teams," said the partner and managing partner of MDR Advogados, Tiago Arouca Mendes.

According to the managing partner Morais Leitão's Portuguese member, Nuno Galvão Teles, says that since the very beginning, the firm's vision has included the international expansion and growth of its services, so "we have always sought to distinguish ourselves from the competition by allying ourselves with leading local firms that incorporate international experience with the best local knowledge".

Uniting all the members of the Morais Leitão Legal Circle network is the construction of a common culture of principles and procedures, which implies the regular rotation of the teams, with visits and stays in the different offices.

Promising Sectors

MDR Advogados believes that the Mozambican legal market is of high potential, and with the possibility of "growing well". For this, Mozambique needs to take advantage of the experiences of other countries in the development of certain areas, for example, gas.

"As we are doing a large energy project in Angola it is easier to then transport this "know how" to Mozambique," said Nuno Galvão Teles. For him, it will be easier for the country to adapt its legislation to new projects, according to its own evolution.

On the other hand, Galvão Teles, a specialist in the Energy and Mineral Resources sectors and in Capital Markets, considered that Mozambique has evolved in terms of the quality of service provision and the opening of the market to new players.

"When we made this alliance with MDR, the market was very closed, less sophisticated, but today it is clear for all to see that there are many good lawyers in Mozambique. Over the ten years that we have worked together, we have seen a remarkable evolution and consolidation of the Mozambican market", observed the same lawyer.

This transformation, like everything else, has taken and will continue to take its time, always in proportion to the changes that come with the organic development of the country itself. And, for lawyers, there are new areas of work opportunities opening up to accommodate the new realities. This, according to Tiago Arouca Mendes, "does not necessarily imply a change of professions, but an adaptation to the specific needs of the country for which there is an appeal to the other areas of law".

"There are several issues that we as lawyers need to be constantly monitoring. The best way to do that and to rise to the challenges is to be part of international networks to gather experiences from other jurisdictions," he said.

Moreover, the representatives of MDR Advogados at the media briefing addressed their commitment to continue contributing to the development of the national legal market by providing their services, as well as training and recruiting potential employees.