Mário Marques Mendes

Mário Marques Mendes is a partner and head of Competition and European Union Law of the Lisbon office at Gómez-Acebo & Pombo.  

Mário has over 40 years’ experience in all areas of competition law, including restrictive practices, abuse of dominant position, merger control and state aid, representing Portuguese and international clients in matters before the European Commission and the Competition Authority, dealing with landmark cases before Portuguese courts, in particular the Competition, Regulation and Supervision Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union. In the latter, he has represented not only private companies but also the Portuguese government and the European Commission itself.  

He has a law degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and a Diploma in Higher European Studies, European Union Law from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium (Scholarship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). He holds an LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, in the United States.  

Mário is highly recognised by the most prestigious legal directories. He was recently inducted into the Legal500 Hall of Fame and the Global Competition Review 100 honoured him as an Elite Lawyer in 2018. He is also recognised by Chambers and Partners and Legal500 as a leading practitioner in the areas of Competition/European Law and Competition/Antitrust Law.  

Mário is a trainer and speaker at various training courses, seminars and conferences – having, for example, participated as an NGA (Non-Governmental Advisor) at meetings of the International Competition Network. Mário is the author and co-author of several specialised legal publications, including several titles of Getting the Deal Through, published by Law Business Research, and is the exclusive co-author of the Portuguese chapters.