Your Citizenship Lawyer
Rita Mayer Jardim
Rita Mayer Jardim holds a Masters with Distinction from Oxford University, in International Human Rights Law. She studied law in Lisbon University and qualified as a lawyer in Portugal. She is working towards a Doctorate in citizenship law at Coimbra University (currently suspended).
She set up an independent law practice in Portugal because she believes individuals with an international footprint need a holistic, culturally sensitive and personalised approach to legal support.
She is a Portuguese citizen who has lived in Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Lisbon, São Paulo, and London. She is fluent in Portuguese and English, decent at French and Spanish and at some point tried hard at Hebrew.
Rita is someone who cares and values the privilege of being a trusted advisor to some of the most inspiring, accomplished and worldly persons she has come across: her Clients.
How I Work
My work proposition is very different from that of multi-partner law firms or other small law practices also dedicated to citizenship law: I believe your citizenship lawyer is not inter-changeable with a junior associate, another partner in a law firm or whoever is available. What is key is the personal relationship of trust forged between the lawyer and the client. It is taking ownership of your matters.
You don´t need a large firm for that, nor a lawyer who "produces" citizenship by the thousands, without ever meeting those he/she helped forge as new citizens. You only need the lawyer you trust to be fully and unwaveringly dedicated to your objectives. Likewise, as your citizenship lawyer, I need to trust the person I will assist potentially becoming my "neighbour", which precludes working through intermediaries.
