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Founded in 1996 by Lita Gale, Lita Gale Solicitors provides a unique service in the UK dealing almost exclusively on matters relating to Portugal and Spain in the UK. We also serve and represent the British Community in Portugal.
Since 1993, Lita Gale took over the Portuguese work of the firm Stoneham Langton & Passmore, a 200 year old Mayfair Solicitors firm and the first English firm of Solicitors to open an office in Portugal in 1927.
In addition to offering full services expected from an English firm of solicitors we also have an affiliation with Wordpower Translation Services Ltd, official translators and interpreters of Portuguese.
Ms Gale is regularly interviewed in the media and recently in regards to the Madeline McCann case. Due to the sensitivity of the Portuguese process of justice has had to decline BBC, Channel 4, GMTV and ITN television interviews.
Ms Gale has been involved in several notorious cases, Ashurst V. Pollard, one of which is now quoted as legal authority in England, which dealt with the bankrupt estate of a British subject in Portugal. She was also involved in the removal of vulnerable children from an alleged cult the International Saturday Group, also making international headlines.
Over the years Lita Gale has represented various Banks, Trust Companies, residential and commercial developers and insurance companies. We have also assisted certain authorities in England, including Local Authorities in matters dealing with children. We have also had legal connections with the Inland Revenue.
Our associates and loyal clients, who have been clients of this firm for many years, have all made a difference to the Company. Without them we could not have continued to serve the Portuguese community in England and the British community in Portugal over the years Lita Gale has been in operation.
Our Consultants and business associates are a wholly separate and independent entity from Lita Gale Solicitors and as such are not regulated by the Law Society, but by their independent regulating bodies which are governed by equally strict standards such as the Ordem dos Advogados.
Lita Gale is the founding member for the UK of the International Association of Lawyers from Madeira with associates in Portugal, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxemburg, South Africa and Venezuela.
The firm is also members of the UK Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and of the Anglo Portuguese Society.
Donations made to date by or on behalf of Lita Gale Solicitors, both in England and in Portugal: -
- The Elton John Aids Foundation.
- Santa Casa da Mesiricordia Alcobaca and the Egas Moniz Hospital in Lisbon.
10% of the net fees raised through the sale of the Emergency Legal Guide To Property In Portugal at this site, will be donated to Charity for the benefit of the elderly, children and abandoned animals.
We are now collecting fees to donate to the Egas Moniz Hospital and to the home for the elderly in Fuzeta. If you would like to know more about these organisations and their needs or ifyou wish to make a donation now or in your Will, please contact us or pay online informing us specifically.
We have created a section on this site for artists, which are dedicated to the work of some of our clients, friends and ambassadors for Portugal and other countries.
Some are more well known then others but we like to encourage their work and also to thank them for their generosity in allowing their work to be displayed in our Gallery of Artists.
We have paintings by:-
Linda Brown - England
Gabriel Guieterres- Cuba
Roberto Valentin - Cuba
We have Music by :-
Dulce Pontes- Portugal
Bruno Marciano - Portugal
We have Pictures by :-
Jamie Gale
Albino Sleeper
If you would like to contact any of the artists please let us know or if you would like to show your work on our website, please contact us using the Contacts link at the top of the page.
VISIT OUR GUEST GALLERY and OUR GUEST STUDIO
Ashurst v Pollard [2001] Chancery 595 demonstrates that the application of Article22 is always fact specific.
A summary of the judgment of ParkerL reads:
"Dismissing the appeal that proceedings had as their object rights in rem, for the purposes of Article16(1) of the convention, if such rights were their principle subject matter, but in considering whether Article16(1) which was to be construed restrictively applied to a particular case, it was material to have regard to the Article's underlying rationale and consider whether the proceedings involved a factual investigation best carried out by the courts of the state in which the property was situated or raised questions of local law or practice.
The proceedings before the court involve no such investigation or any question of foreign law or practice and did not assert any property right against third parties or seek to establish, protect or perfect a property right, but rather raised personal issues between the parties as to the beneficial interests in the villa."
