The Project

The Lisbon DAO Observatory is the home page of the Research Project “Crafting Legal Responses to Blockchain-Based Decentralised Business Arrangements and Organisations”. This Research Project was set up within the Lisbon Centre for Research in Private Law (CIDP – Centro de Investigação de Direito Privado), as part of its “Modernisation of Corporate Law” research line.

 

The Research Project is headed by co-principal researchers Professora Doutora Madalena Perestrelo de Oliveira and António Garcia Rolo (both from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon) and counts with the participation of researchers João Serras de Sousa and Marta Boura (Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon), João Vieira dos Santos (Lusófona University, CMVM – Portuguese Securities Market Commission) and Ana Nunes Teixeira (PLMJ - Law Firm).

 

The objective of this Research Project is to try to find legal answers to the current legal challenges posed by Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) and similar arrangements in order to help shaping future legislative action.

 

In order to achieve this, the Research Project will organise discussions with industry members and scholars from various jurisdictions. Written output – such as research papers or e-books – is envisaged. In the end, through knowledge gained from the industry’s sensibilities and concerns and legal research from our team and from guest scholars, we will attempt to propose a holistic solution for a just and balanced legal approach to DAOs and similar blockchain-based decentralised business arrangements.

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Principal Investigators
Madalena Perestrelo de Oliveira

Madalena Perestrelo de Oliveira is currently a Guest Professor at the University of Lisbon School of Law, where she has been teaching since 2011. Her PhD thesis focuses on investors’ protection in capital markets, namely on civil liability for securities fraud and on delisting situations.

Madalena is a regular speaker at several courses and conferences. She helps coordinate various postgraduate and intensive courses in the Lisbon Center for Research in Private Law in the areas of corporate governance, corporate finance, investment funds, bankruptcy and breach of contract. She also published several scientific articles and books in her areas of study.

Madalena is a non-executive director at Novabase SGPS, SA., a Portuguese listed company, where she previously held the position of the board of the general meeting’ secretary.

She is also of counsel at PLMJ in the Banking and Finance and Corporate M&A practices, and deputy director at the Journal of Financial Law and Capital Markets (RDFMC).

António Garcia Rolo

Graduated (2013) in Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and LL.M. (2014) in European Legal Studies at the College of Europe (Bruges Campus), António Garcia Rolo is currently Guest Academic Assistant in the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, providing assistance in courses on securities law, corporate finance law, law of obligations and civil enforcement law. António Garcia Rolo has penned various published works on company law, European company law, securities law, cryptoassets, DAOs and civil and procedural law. António also regularly speaks in academic events and post-graduate courses on topics such as the law of cryptoassets, DAOs, company law and securities law.

He is also a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, a researcher at the Lisbon Centre for Research in Private Law, has been a practicing lawyer, and is currently a legal advisor in the Portuguese Central Bank.​

Researchers
Ana Nunes Teixeira

Ana Nunes Teixeira is a Portuguese qualified lawyer specialised in Corporate Law and M&A, currently working at PLMJ law firm as an Associate of the Corporate/M&A and Private Equity practice area. Ana has significant experience in advising companies and institutional investors on matters related to corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital and restructuring, as well as in assisting Fintech companies in corporate and financial law matters, particularly in the scope of investments in crypto assets. Prior to qualifying as a lawyer in Portugal, Ana worked as a Blue Book Trainee at the European Commission and as a Legal Researcher at KU Leuven University. Ana holds a MsC in Corporate and Business Law and a Postgraduate Degree in Banking and Securities Law by Católica University Law School, a Postgraduate Degree in Corporate Finance by the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, as well as an LLB in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Porto.

João Serras de Sousa

João Serras de Sousa is currently a Guest Lecturer at University of Lisbon School of Law (since 2015), where Graduated in 2015. Concluded his Master’s academic part in 2016 and is currently preparing his doctoral dissertation in the field of Legal Sciences (which focuses on knowledge and legal persons).

Researcher at the Lisbon Center for Research in Private Law – CIDP (since 2015) and speaker at several courses and conferences. His main research areas are Civil Law and Corporate Law.

Lawyer at PLMJ (since 2016) in Corporate M&A and Private Equity practice.

João Vieira dos Santos

PhD in Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Porto, having been unanimously approved in the Oral Defence, with the thesis entitled "Regulation of Forms of FinTech Corporate Finance - In particular Crowdfunding and Initial Coin Offerings".  Since May 2018, Legal Advisor at CMVM – Portuguese Securities Market Authority. Since February 2022, Professor at the Faculty of Law of the Lusófona University and Integrated Researcher at the Centro de Estudos Avançados em Direito Francisco Suarez. 

Marta Boura

Law degree (2017) at the University of Lisbon Faculty of Law and completed post-graduate studies in Banking Law (2017), Corporate Finance (2016) and Bioethics (2016), Marta Boura is a lawyer and a Guest Lecturer in Private Law at the University of Lisbon Faculty of Law, a PhD candidate and a researcher affiliated with the Lisbon Centre for Research in Private Law since 2019.

Previous experience lecturing Portuguese Employment classes in context of the Interdisciplinary Legal Practice program at the Faculty of Law of Nova University of Lisbon (FDUNL) (2018 and 2019).

Marta has published research in the fields of Private Law, Banking Law and Commercial Arbitration.

Partners

We have partnered up with some organisations representing the concerns of this nascent industry:

WACEO
A non-profit organisation that aims to provide regulatory clarity to DAOs and blockchain-based projects including DeFi, NFT and general blockchain implementation.
EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum
A European Commission initiative to accelerate blockchain innovation and the development of the blockchain ecosystem within the EU.
EU Crypto Initiative
A non-profit organisation that aims to shape EU regulation to favour open, permissionless, decentralised applications, levering blockchain technology.
DCentral Lab
An initiative of the BIG ERA Chair hosted by Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, and is an interdisciplinary team of researchers working across disciplines to critically assess decentralised technologies.