A law firm like Baker McKenzie has a strong background that works with many types of legal issues, whether it`s cross-border transactions, mergers and acquisitions, or anything else. As Brazil continues to attract foreign investment and multinationals continue to grow globally, at Trench Rossi we can benefit a lot from a partnership with Baker McKenzie, as they have been doing a lot of these things for a very long time. In the meantime, we give them a glimpse of our success in Brazil and our local knowledge. We both get a lot out of our collaboration, and that`s one of the reasons it`s taken so long. The OAB has clearly made an effort to draw clear lines between what foreign companies can and cannot do in Brazil. For some Brazilian companies, the bar has been set. According to Gabbay, Ramos and Sica, a founding partner of a Brazilian law firm with more than 300 lawyers: “There is nothing to complain about. We coexist very well with those who respect the law. They still work with several Brazilian companies.
However, others feel that the rules are not applied as they are written. The founding partner of a Brazilian law firm of more than 200 lawyers expressed the complaints of many Brazilian legal professions competing with foreign law firms: are foreign lawyers from different jurisdictions treated differently due to such agreements? People who wish to travel to Brazil for a short time in order to establish or meet business contacts, attend trade fairs, speak at conferences or represent a foreign client, etc., must apply for a short-stay business visa, which is also valid for a stay of up to 90 days. Some countries are exempt from the visa requirement. As Jayanth K. Krishnan, Vitor M. Dias and John E. Pence reveal, foreign lawyers have been a part of life in Brazil for more than a century in their history of the Brazilian corporate legal sector. Prior to the 1960s, the regulation of foreign lawyers lacked focus and impact.
By the end of the 20th century, federal legislation and the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB), which governs the Brazilian legal profession, had enacted much stricter rules governing the practice of foreign lawyers. According to OAB Law 91/2000, any lawyer working for a foreign company – foreign companies are defined as those whose shares are controlled by non-Brazilians – can only act as “legal advisor”. Therefore, lawyers working in foreign law firms – even Brazilian lawyers who have passed the Brazilian Bar – cannot plead and practice Brazilian law. The physical presence of foreign companies is also different in each of the three countries. In India, foreign companies are banned from setting up – period. However, this does not mean that foreign lawyers are completely absent. On the contrary, foreign lawyers are forced to enter by plane to meet clients and fly away after completing their cases. In Brazil and China, foreign companies can set up their own offices, but these contexts end up diverging at another time. Brazil, as we looked at in this article, has strict regulations on how foreign companies can interact with Brazilian companies and, more importantly, what they can and cannot do.
While regulations also remain in place regarding foreign companies in China, enforcement of these regulations is often much more lax – leading some to view the status quo as “de facto liberalization” where this may not appear to be the case on paper. The continued development of domestic companies will influence – and will influence – the role of foreign companies in these jurisdictions. Despite these relationships, Brazilian companies remain Brazilian companies in these more formal cooperation agreements. Their lawyers, like any other Brazilian law firm, are excluded from OABs, although, as Musa notes, they tend to have a higher level of international experience and expertise. While these companies are often able to undertake domestic and international work, they are more likely to develop international work strategies because they use the knowledge and experience gained from their agreements to serve multinational corporations and other global clients. Finally, with respect to the autonomy-exclusivity continuum with respect to foreign companies, these Brazilian companies are somewhat closer to exclusivity with foreign companies than those of the global network types described above. However, it is important to note that these agreements do not necessarily indicate an exclusive relationship. As Musa carefully points out, Trench Rossi can and does work with other foreign companies – the fact that the roots of his relationship with Baker McKenzie run so deep means that often the benefits of working with him outweigh those of other options.
Brazil, China and India all experienced liberalization processes at about the same time beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, although they differ in how and to what extent these markets were opened. There was, of course, another remarkable commonality: the legal profession in each country remained largely closed to foreign lawyers, as they were excluded from the practice of domestic law. What it means to practice law in each case may vary – and there are often debates in all countries to this effect – but some aspects, such as litigation, remain taboo for foreign lawyers. Even if a foreign law firm does not need a legal license, does it need to register in any form to open an office? (For example, Oliveira Lawyers has helped many foreign clients close cross-border transactions and transactions in Brazil. We also assist you with acquisitions, mergers, real estate, litigation and legal advice. Unlike law firms that attempt to handle cases throughout Latin America, our lawyers specialize exclusively in Brazilian law. Campos Mello and DLA Piper have an agreement that dates back to 2010. On its website, under the banner “Campos Mello Advogados”, it says “in collaboration with DLA Piper”. When searching for locations on the DLA Piper website, Campos Mello`s sites in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are listed as “cooperating companies” – the only two sites listed as such.
Also, as in the case of Tauil & Chequer, you can find the contact details of Brazilian lawyers (which only include a Campos Mello email address) directly on the DLA Piper website, without having to go to the Brazilian law firm`s website. If you go to Campos Mello`s website under “Global Reach,” the company gives DLA Piper`s global numbers (e.g., locations in over 40 countries and over 90 offices worldwide). Like Tauil & Chequer and Mayer Brown, both firms leverage each other`s respective external pillars to impress upon clients that they together provide legal services in Brazil and around the world. VPBG and Dentons have the most recent alliance of four pairs, announced in October 2017. Dentons is not explicitly mentioned on the VPBG website; However, as with Tauil & Chequer-Mayer Brown and Trench Rossi-Baker McKenzie (see below), the aesthetic design is virtually indistinguishable from the big company`s website – from the color palette to the organization of the websites. The likely effect of this coordination for the client is that everything feels like a seamless experience, whether you`re looking for legal services in Brazil or elsewhere. In other words, VPBG-Dentons presents itself as a unified brand. Dentons` website lists VPBG`s offices in Brasília and São Paulo as “our offices” and their lawyers as “our professionals” before highlighting the relationship with the Brazilian firm, noting that VPBG`s lawyers do not appear to have Dentons email addresses. In addition, VPBG presents Dentons` global network in the “About VPBG” section of its website. An obvious advantage of these exclusive relationships seems to be the ability to use all the capabilities of the partner company.
To obtain this “consultant” designation, foreign lawyers must go through a rigorous registration process with the OAB to consult on foreign law in Brazil. Your eligibility depends on: The great advantage of international legal advice specializing in the procedures of the country concerned is to ensure the proper application of the law in relation to the case and avoid wasting time and financial damage. D|Capuano has offices in Brazil and the United States, with professionals specializing in advising on transactions between the two countries. The third example where the international legal profession overlaps with the Brazilian legal market is the opening of international companies in Brazil. While Brazilian regulations prevent the lawyers of the officials of these law firms from practicing Brazilian law (see above), the law firms still put pins in the map. Of the foreign companies with operations in Brazil mentioned by Frederico de Almeida and Paulo André Nassar in the chart below, based on 2011 and 2013 data (see Figure 1), 20 continue to have offices in Brazil (including Norton Rose Fulbright, which has since acquired Chadbourne & Parke). They are not allowed to compete, but they are still competing. In fact, most foreign law firms work with Brazilian law, albeit indirectly. Some are obvious – even open. Others are a little more discreet, overseeing only part of the process and then approaching a Brazilian company to give an opinion. But they really did all the work.
Because not every job is necessarily a law firm. This is the work behind the notice. So they do all the work, bill by the hour and end up asking [a Brazilian company] for advice.