PLMJ and the AIP Set Up a Legal Support Platform for Small and Medium-sized Companies

PLMJ and the AIP-CE (Portuguese Industrial Association – Business Confederation) have developed a partnership to implement a legal support platform through which PLMJ will provide legal support, under special conditions, to small and medium-sized companies (SMCs) which are members of the SMC International Club. The objective is to help these SMCs obtain the specialised, high-quality legal advice necessary for them to clearly identify the risks and opportunities inherent to their internationalisation projects. Within the scope of this partnership, PLMJ and the AIP also wish to promote a set of events, working meetings and training sessions for these companies.

The objective of the SMC International Club is to encourage cooperation between SMCs in their approach to external markets and their internationalisation projects.

In specific terms, PLMJ has made itself available to work with the AIP-CE in providing legal support to SMCs which are members of the SMC International Club, particularly in areas relating to their internationalisation projects and to export business.  These SMCs can benefit from PLMJ’s experience and its network of international partnerships (Angola, Mozambique, Brazil and Macao) and the Central and Eastern European Platform (Platform for cooperation with leading law firms from Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

The cooperation protocol was signed during the Portugal Exportador 2009 congress on 29 October of this year.

PLMJ and the AIP-CE believe that this legal support platform for the internationalisation of SMCs will meet the needs of these companies in the face of the economic problems they are now facing. The platform will also contribute to assisting these companies to rise to the challenges of doing international business.

This protocol forms part of the policy of supporting SMCs and the ‘spin-off and start-up’ programme that PLMJ has been developing over the last year as a way of making a responsible contribution to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in SMCs.