Three associates have left Linklaters’ Portuguese arm after the firm discovered their plans to set up the office of an incoming international rival.
The three associates – banking lawyer Antonio Payan Martins, tax specialist Patrick De Werbe and capital markets lawyer Francisco Almeida – left the firm on Tuesday evening (8 May) after details of a business plan called ‘Project Iberia’ were found on a laptop, revealing how the lawyers were going to launch a Portugal office for an unnamed international firm.
