Miguel de Serpa Soares
Miguel de Serpa Soares is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel. He was appointed to this position by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 7 August 2013.[1]
Biography
Born in 1967 in Angola, Serpa Soares graduated from the University of Lisbon with a law degree in 1990 and Collège d’Europe, Bruges, in 1992 with a Diplôme de Hautes Etudes Juridiques Européennes. He has been a member of the Portuguese Bar since 1993 and is the editor of the Portuguese Yearbook of International Law.
He worked in a number of capacities in the Portuguese legal system, including serving as Legal Adviser to the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union, Brussels from 1999 to 2008,[2] Chief of Staff of the Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Territorial Administration from 1996 to 1999, Chair of the Supervisory Board of Lisbon Port Authority between 1997 and 1998 and Associate Lawyer in a Portuguese law firm from 1992 to 1996.
Prior to his appointment with the United Nations, he served as Director General of the Department of Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal from 2008 to 2013. He has been Judge of the Portuguese University Moot Court of International Law since 2011.