THE FIRM

U.S. legal consulting firm built for one corridor, every dimension of it.

Areia Global is a cross-border tax and advisory consultancy headquartered in Lisbon. The firm advises American private clients and family offices navigating the Portuguese landscape, and Portuguese institutions, funds, family offices, and companies on U.S. matters across tax, securities, corporate, and compliance.

The work is advisory and analytical, mapping U.S. exposure, designing compliance programs, coordinating across advisors, and providing ongoing U.S. advisory to institutions and individuals operating across the corridor. Where matters require a formal legal opinion or attorney-client privilege, that work is handled through Areia Global Legal Advisors, an affiliated Florida law firm. For matters requiring Portuguese law, Areia Global works with a network of qualified local counsel.

Empty train station platform with yellow trains on either side, a metal bench in the center, under a large glass and metal roof, with buildings visible in the background.

Team

We have a versatile team that adapts according to the nature and complexity of the matter. Our fee structure is flexible, aligned with the value and scope of each engagement.

Woman in a navy blue suit sitting on a leather chair, smiling with hand on chin.


  • Managing Partner

    Sasha Young da Silva is a U.S. tax and cross-border advisory professional focused on Americans in Portugal and the Portuguese institutions that serve them. Born in New Orleans and raised between Aruba and Atlanta, her global perspective is shaped by a lifetime of international living — Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Mexico City, Bogotá, Cartagena, Puerto la Cruz, Alexandria, and now Lisbon.

    She began her career at White & Case and McGuireWoods, advising on complex project and asset finance transactions including aircraft leasing, energy sector financing, and major infrastructure projects. She later moved in-house at Amazon Prime Video, where she supported production and licensing transactions across Latin America and advised on international tax, currency, and regulatory matters.

    That background — transactional, international, tax-intensive — is the foundation of the practice. Sasha advises American private clients and family offices on U.S. tax and cross-border planning, and Portuguese institutions, funds, and companies on the U.S. tax and compliance dimensions of their work.

    She holds a J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Northridge, and is admitted to the bar in Florida and Washington. She speaks English, Papiamento, Spanish, and Portuguese, and takes her coffee cheio com açúcar.

Person wearing a dark blue suit sitting on a brown chair, smiling, with short black hair and glasses.


  • Director of Operations

    Alexandra Rivers serves as Director of Operations, building the operational infrastructure and processes that support Areia Global's institutional and client-facing work. She holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and is certified in both Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt methodologies, with a career spanning senior quality engineering roles in the medical device industry and the founding and operation of a full-scale commercial and retail bakery. That combination — corporate systems rigor and the operational demands of running a business from scratch — is what she brings to the work here.

    Alexandra relocated to Lisbon in the summer of 2024 with her husband and three children. As a committed foodie, she considers Lisbon's cross-cultural food scene a professional hazard. She also reports that a humid summer in the States is not adequate preparation for a humid winter in Portugal.

A man with a beard and short hair, dressed in a navy blazer and white shirt, sitting on a chair against a plain background.


  • Advisor

    Ross Berlin advises on U.S.-Portugal cross-border tax and estate planning matters, with a focus on treaty analysis, PFIC and CFC compliance, Golden Visa fund structuring, and coordinated cross-border estate strategies. Matters requiring attorney representation or privilege-protected advice are handled through Areia Global Legal Advisors, the affiliated Florida law firm, where Ross serves as Of Counsel.

    Before entering private practice, Ross clerked for Judge Paul C. Huck of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and Judge Kevin G. Ross of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, practiced as an appellate public defender, and litigated complex appellate and billion-dollar civil matters at a national AmLaw 100 firm and Morgan & Morgan's Complex Litigation Group. He is also the founder of Straightforward Financial Advice, LLC, a registered investment advisory firm.

A woman with blonde hair, wearing a black suit and white shirt, is sitting on a brown chair. She is smiling and has one arm resting on her knee.


  • Executive Assistant

    Kate Nychay serves as Executive Assistant, managing operations, contract coordination, and the communication infrastructure that keeps a cross-border practice running across time zones, teams, and external partners.

    She holds a degree in Early Childhood Education — a background that, it turns out, develops precisely the organizational fluency and interpersonal range that complex professional environments demand. Originally from Seattle, Kate has lived in Portugal for over seven years, raising a dual-national daughter in Lisbon and building the kind of local fluency that only comes with time. She knows the city, the culture, and the particular texture of American expat life here in a way that informs everything she does for clients and colleagues alike.

Portrait of a woman with long curly dark hair, wearing a black blazer and black top, smiling while sitting on a tan chair in a room with light-colored walls and white curtains.


  • Program Coordinator

    Denise Moreno serves as Program Coordinator, responsible for the structure, sequencing, and execution of Areia Global's client-facing programs and initiatives. She brings over fifteen years of experience in project delivery, operations coordination, stakeholder management, and systems design across design, wellness, and service-based environments — with a track record of taking multi-step programs from planning through completion and building the reporting frameworks that keep them accountable along the way.

    Based in Portugal, she brings both local presence and cross-border operational perspective to the work.