Miguel de Serpa Soares (born 1967) is a Portuguese lawyer who served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for

Legal Affairs ''Legal Affairs'' was an American legal magazine that was launched under the auspices of Yale Law School, and which later became an independent non-profit venture with an educational mission. As the first general-interest legal magazine, ''Legal A ...

and United Nations Legal Counsel from 2013 to 2024.United Nations, Office of Legal Affairs, "Miguel de Serpa Soares leaves the Organization and Stephen Mathias is appointed Acting Legal Counsel"
Retrieved 11 February 2025.

Early life and education

Born in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, Serpa Soares graduated from the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

with a law degree in 1990 and the

College of Europe The College of Europe (; ; ) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with three campuses in Bruges, Belgium; Warsaw, Poland; and Tirana, Albania. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 as a result of the 1948 Congress of ...

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.

Career

Serpa Soares 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 in Brussels from 1999 to 2008, Chief of Staff of the Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Territorial Administration in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

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, Serpa Soares 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.

United Nations Legal Counsel

As United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel from 2013 to 2024, Serpa Soares' responsibilities were wide-ranging. In 2014, at the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, he gave introductory remarks at a session discussing "The role of the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 169 sov ...

in sustainable development." He continued to make the law of the sea a priority for the UN Legal Counsel. Serpa Soares often stresses the importance of healthy oceans to the success of the

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

. He retired in 2024 and was succeeded by

Elinor Hammarskjöld Elinor Jane Britt Hammarskjöld (born 4 November 1967)International Gender Champions International Gender Champions (IGC) is a network of female and male leaders of member states, international organizations, and civil society working for gender equality. It is an initiative of Women@TheTable, and was founded in 2015 by Caitlin Kr ...

(IGC), MemberMembers

International Gender Champions International Gender Champions (IGC) is a network of female and male leaders of member states, international organizations, and civil society working for gender equality. It is an initiative of Women@TheTable, and was founded in 2015 by Caitlin Kr ...

(IGC).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serpa Soares, Miguel Living people 1967 births Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations Portuguese officials of the United Nations Portuguese people of Angolan descent