Álvaro Laborinho Lúcio

Álvaro José Brilhante Laborinho Lúcio (Nazaré, December 1, 1941 – October 23, 2025) was a Portuguese jurist, university professor, former Minister of Justice, and writer.
Holding a Master's degree in Civil Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra and a career magistrate, he was a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Justice. From January 1990 to April 1996, he successively served as Secretary of State for Judicial Administration, Minister of Justice, and Member of Parliament. Between March 2003 and March 2006, he held the position of Minister of the Republic for the Autonomous Region of the Azores. With intense civic activity, he was a leading member of several associations, most notably APAV and CRESCER-SER, of which he was a founding member. With published articles and numerous lectures on topics related to justice, law, education, human rights, and citizenship in general, he is the author of books such as... Justice and the Just, Palace of Justice, Education, Art and Citizenship, The Trial: A Critical Narrative of Justice – and, in co-authorship, Lift the VeilAwarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Raymond of Peñafort by the King of Spain and the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ by the President of the Portuguese Republic, he was a member of the International Academy of Portuguese Culture and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Minho. In 2014 he published... The Caller, his first fiction book, in 2016 the novel The Man Who Wrote Tiles (finalist for the Fernando Namora Award 2017), in 2019 Freedom Alley (semifinalist for the Oceanos Prize 2020), and in 2022 The Shadows of a Holm Oak, all at Quetzal. In 2023, the Assembly of the Republic awarded him the Commemorative Gold Medal for the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.