Minister of Justice, Portugal

Catarina Sarmento e Castro was born in Coimbra (Portugal) in 1970. She has been the Minister for Justice of the XXIII Government since March 2021. She was Secretary of State for Human Resources and Former Combatants of the XXII Government.

Catarina Sarmente e Castro has a PhD, master’s and undergraduate degree in Law from Coimbra University School of Law. She has lectured at the Coimbra School of Law since 1994 and is currently Assistant Professor. Over the years she has taught in undergraduate degrees, postgraduate degrees, master’s degrees and PhDs at her university and others, in the fields of Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Law Enforcement Administrative Law, New Technologies Law, including online administration and personal data protection.

She has been a member of the Public Prosecution Office’s Advisory Board and a judge in the Constitutional court. She has also been a member of the Administrative and Tax Courts Higher Council and a board member of the Portuguese Data Protection Authority.

She has several works published – books, chapters in books and articles in reviews in the various fields of the law, namely Electronic Law, Data Protection and Privacy Law, Constitutional and Fundamental Rights Law, General Administrative Law, Law Enforcement Administrative Law, Administrative and Tax Justice, School Law, and local municipalities Law.

She has been invited to take part in conferences and seminars in Portugal and abroad in the same fields.