José Lupi is the founder and Managing Partner of Lupi & Associates.
He has over a decade of experience in cross-border corporate M&A, banking and finance, private equity, investment funds, securities and debt capital market transactions covering a broad range of sectors from financial services to energy, resources, mining and infrastructure projects in Macau, China, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and Portugal.
Clients praise “his negotiation skills, his cultural awareness of both the Asia and South American markets (mostly Brazil), and his relentless commitment to excellence”, and are particularly impressed by “his exceptional communication skills combined with his ability to provide simple and strategic solutions to complex legal issues”, recommending him to anyone doing business in Macau as “an outstanding lawyer”. “His corporate law advice and commercial expertise in the Greater China region is especially sought after by his local and international client base”. He is considered an “extraordinary lawyer with perfect balance of technical knowledge and commercial awareness and outstanding negotiation skills”, “extremely business oriented” and “trustworthy”.
José Lupi is qualified to practice in Macau, Brazil and Portugal. He is an appointed arbitrator of the Hainan International Arbitration Court, an arbitrator of the Macau Lawyers Association Arbitration Center, and a mediator and arbitrator with the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association. He is also a member of the China Mainland and Greater Bay Area Commission of the Macau Lawyers Association, the Federation of Portuguese Speaking Lawyers, and the Macau Wealth Management Association.
Prior to founding Lupi & Associates, he was an international partner of King and Wood Mallesons (KWM) in Beijing, where for over a decade he advised Chinese and international private and state-owned companies and funds in some of the largest transactions and investments between China and Brazil, Angola, Argentina, Congo, Spain, Mexico, Mozambique and Portugal. During his time with KWM, he was also a member of the Greater Bay Area Management team, an observing member of the 4th and 5th Council, and the Macau founder of the King & Wood Mallesons Hengqin Joint Venture Firm. In Brazil, he was head of the China desk of Gabriel Quintanilha Advogados in Rio de Janeiro, where he advised Chinese private and state owned enterprises with the full range of their Brazilian corporate and tax matters.
In Africa, José Lupi was the Greater China counsel of one of the largest private investors in the mining, infrastructure, real estate, banking, finance, aviation, energy and agriculture sectors in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Portugal and the Republic of Congo. Previously he was a legal consultant and the head of business development for a leading firm in Macau, and a legal counsel for both real estate firm in Macau and a multinational corporate service provider in Lisbon, Portugal. His other roles include working as an immigration foreign lawyer for a Hong Kong immigration firm, and as an international management consultant for a strategic advisory group in Madrid, Spain.
José Lupi holds a Doctor in International Law (Ph.D.) from the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, a Master in International Business Administration (M.I.B.) from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the Chongqing University under a scholarship from the Central Government of China, and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in Portugal. He also holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.) Erasmus Program from the Faculty of Law of the University of Genoa in Italy and is regularly invited as lecturer by the Center of Legal and Judiciary Training of the Macau Legal Affairs Bureau and as a speaker by the Macau Lawyers Association and the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in Macau.
José Lupi has been recognized as an up and coming lawyer in Macau by Chambers Greater China Region and Global Guides of 2024, as a notable practitioner by Asialaw 2023, 2024 and 2025, and as a highly regarded lawyer in Macau financial and corporate law by the IFLR 1000 rankings of 2023, 2024 and 2025.
He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, English and Italian.
