Profile
Bernardo Ayala became a partner of Uría Menéndez in 2008. Prior to that, he was a partner at Sérvulo & Associados. He is currently the managing partner of Uría Menéndez-Proença de Carvalho’s Lisbon office.
He provides legal advice in the areas of public law, project finance and energy and natural resources.
In these areas, Bernardo focuses particularly on (i) public contracts (especially project finance contracts), (ii) administrative litigation and public law related arbitration, (iii) civil liability of public authorities, (iv) public M&A (regulated sectors), (v) privatisations, (vi) regulatory in general, (vii) financial products contracted by public entities, and (viii) environmental, energy and natural resources matters.
Bernardo Ayala has been consistently considered a “Leading Individual” in public law and project finance by Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and International Financial Law Review.
In 2009, Bernardo was one of the lawyers awarded the “40 under Forty” award by Iberian Lawyer. In the same year, Bernardo was considered the Best Public Lawyer in Portugal by Diário Económico.
Education
- Law Degree, Universidade de Lisboa, 1993
Professional associations
- Portuguese Bar Association
- International Bar Association
- European Group of Public Law
- Public Contracts in Legal Globalization network
Teaching activity
He lectured on several public law subjects at the Faculty of Law of the Universidade de Lisboa between 1992 and 1998 (constitutional law, administrative law, fundamental rights and urban planning law), and at the Faculty of Law of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa between 2003 and 2015 (public procurement, public-private partnerships, the state-owned corporate sector and fundamental rights).