Jun 24, 2026 · 15 min · 11 segments
A narrated Q&A between the Institute and one of its clients, the Portuguese law firm Viera de Almeida, featuring Margarida Saragoça, Director for Business and Knowledge, and João Vieira de Almeida…
Beyond the Billable Hour, a Q&A with Margarida Zaragoza, Director for Business and Knowledge, and João Vieira de Almeida, Founder, Senior Partner, and Chairman of Vieira de Almeida.
How Vieira de Almeida is using foresight to prepare for the future of law.
Law is often imagined as a profession of precedent.
It looks backwards to move forwards, building arguments from what has been decided, tested, codified, and settled.
But what happens when the questions facing the legal sector no longer fit neatly inside the logics of precedent? For Vieira de Almeida, henceforth VDA, one of Portugal's leading full-service law firms with a dominant position in the national market and strong international reach, particularly across Lusophone economies, this was not an abstract concern.
The legal services industry is entering a period of unusual turbulence.
Artificial intelligence is changing how knowledge work is produced.
Regulatory environments are opening space for new players.
Clients are becoming more demanding and more sophisticated.
The hourly rate model, once treated as almost natural to the profession, is increasingly being questioned.
And geopolitical fragmentation is making cross-border legal advice more complex, not less.
In this context, VDA chose not to approach its next strategic cycle through a conventional strategy exercise.
Previous work had relied more heavily on quantitative analysis and familiar consulting frameworks.
This time, the firm wanted something more exploratory, creative, and long-term.
It needed a way of examining not only the business as it is today, but the worlds in which that business might need to operate in the coming years.
The project combined research, interviews, future issues mapping, scenario development, and partner workshops.
The result was not a prediction of the future, but a structured way to discuss possibility, risk, and strategic choice.
Beyond the Billable Hour, a Q&A with Margarida Zaragoza, Director for Business and Knowledge, and João Vieira de Almeida, Founder, Senior Partner, and Chairman of Vieira de Almeida.
How Vieira de Almeida is using foresight to prepare for the future of law.
Law is often imagined as a profession of precedent.
It looks backwards to move forwards, building arguments from what has been decided, tested, codified, and settled.
But what happens when the questions facing the legal sector no longer fit neatly inside the logics of precedent? For Vieira de Almeida, henceforth VDA, one of Portugal's leading full-service law firms with a dominant position in the national market and strong international reach, particularly across Lusophone economies, this was not an abstract concern.
The legal services industry is entering a period of unusual turbulence.
Artificial intelligence is changing how knowledge work is produced.
Regulatory environments are opening space for new players.
Clients are becoming more demanding and more sophisticated.
The hourly rate model, once treated as almost natural to the profession, is increasingly being questioned.
And geopolitical fragmentation is making cross-border legal advice more complex, not less.
In this context, VDA chose not to approach its next strategic cycle through a conventional strategy exercise.
Previous work had relied more heavily on quantitative analysis and familiar consulting frameworks.
This time, the firm wanted something more exploratory, creative, and long-term.
It needed a way of examining not only the business as it is today, but the worlds in which that business might need to operate in the coming years.
The project combined research, interviews, future issues mapping, scenario development, and partner workshops.
The result was not a prediction of the future, but a structured way to discuss possibility, risk, and strategic choice.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
