V Law Congress – ISMAT

We announce the holding of the 5th Law Congress – ISMAT, which will take place on 27 and 28 November 2025, at the facilities of the Instituto Superior Manuel Teixeira Gomes (ISMAT).

The event brings together specialists, academics, professionals and students for two days of reflection and debate on the major contemporary challenges of Law. This year’s edition places particular emphasis on how technology, society and the urban environment influence – and are influenced by – the legal system.

Among the topics highlighted are the following panels:

• The Applicability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Tax Law – Reality or Myth? A critical analysis of the potential, limits and risks of AI in modern taxation.
• Law and the City – A debate on emerging legal challenges in urban dynamics and in the planning of future cities.
• The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence – A multidisciplinary reflection on the integration of AI into legal practice and social processes.
• The Limits of Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age – A discussion on conflicts between fundamental rights, platform regulation and the impact of digital communication.

The congress concludes with a moment of particular academic relevance: the launch of issue no. 22 of “JURISMAT – Revista Jurídica”, ISMAT’s scientific publication which gathers research contributions from various areas of Law.

We invite the entire academic and professional community to take part in this event, which stands as a privileged space for dialogue, learning and the sharing of legal knowledge.

Programme

27 November

2:30 pm | Opening session

• Professor Doutor Rui Loureiro – Director of ISMAT
• Professor Doutor José de Faria Costa – Director of the Department of Law and Social Sciences at ISMAT
• Professor Doutor Alberto de Sá e Melo – Director of the Law Degree at ISMAT
• Guilherme Alberto – President of the Board of the ISMAT Law Students’ Association (NEDISMAT)

3:00 pm | Applicability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Tax Law – Reality or Myth?

• Coordination
  Professor Doutor António Amado
• AI and its applicability in Tax Law
  Professor Doutor António Amado
• AI as an aid to judicial decisions
  Judge Paulo Jorge Gomes
• The Constitutional Foundations of an “Artificially Intelligent” Tax Administration
  Professor Doutor Luís Pica

4:30 pm | Break

5:30 pm | Law and the City

• Coordination
  Professor Doutor Walter Lemos
• The relevance of Local Government in Defining Regulatory Norms for Urban Life
  Professor Doutor Luís Cabral de Moncada
• The City We Want and the City We Can Have
  Professora Doutora Cláudia Gaspar
• Right to the City and the Common Good
  Professor Doutor Walter Gustavo Lemos

28 November

2:30 pm | The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence

• Coordination
  Professor Doutor Alberto de Sá e Melo
• AI in Courts – harms or benefits?
  Judge of the TAF of Loulé
• The Feeding of Generative AI Systems at the Expense of Content Protected by Intellectual Property Rights
  Professor Doutor Alberto de Sá e Melo
• AI and Criminal Liability
  Professora Doutora Inês Godinho

4:00 pm | The Limits of Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age

• Coordination
  Professor Doutor Hugo Lança
• Who Silences the Machine? Freedom of Expression in Times of AI and Intellectual Property
  Professora Doutora Ana Guerra
• Between Emojis and Algorithms: Freedom of Expression in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of Contractual Liability
  Professoras Doutoras Isa Meireles & Diana Coutinho
• Incels, the Manosphere and Freedom of Expression
  Professor Doutor Hugo Lança

• Professor Doutor Alberto de Sá e Melo