Ricardo da Silva Passos

Ricardo da Silva Passos obtained a law degree at the Universidade Clássica de Lisboa (Classical University of Lisbon, Portugal) in 1975 and a diploma of advanced studies at the université de Strasbourg (University of Strasbourg, France) in 1978. He then completed his studies at Harvard University, USA, where he obtained a Master of Laws in 1984.

He spent one year as a Deputy Public Prosecutor (subdelegado do procurador da República) at the Tribunal Judicial da Comarca de Cascais (District Court, Cascais, Portugal) from 1975 before working as a lawyer in the Secretariat of the European Commission of Human Rights (Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France) from 1978 to 1986. In 1986, he joined the Court of Justice as a legal secretary to Judge José Carlos de Carvalho Moitinho de Almeida.

He was Head of Division in the Secretariat of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizens’ Rights of the European Parliament from 1988 to 1999 and, subsequently, Head of Unit in the Legal Service of that institution between 1999 and 2010. He was then Director of Institutional and Parliamentary Affairs in that service from 2010 to 2016. In 2002, he was appointed as a member of the Secretariat of the Convention on the Future of Europe.

Mr da Silva Passos was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 19 September 2016 and was elected by his peers as President of Chamber on 30 September 2019.