Greenberg Traurig has launched a new office in São Paulo, Brazil, as it moves to deepen ties in Latin America.  

The new office – the Miami-founded firm’s second in Latin America after Mexico City – will provide US law advice to clients seeking to do business in Brazil, as well as Brazilian clients looking to expand in the US and globally. 

“The Brazil office is a natural progression of the work that our Latin America practice has been doing here for decades,” said Yosbel Ibarra, co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig’s Miami office, who is leading the firm’s São Paulo expansion with Antonio Peña, co-chair of the firm’s Latin America practice. “We understand how to do business in Brazil and how to leverage that knowledge to facilitate transactions both in the country and across the globe."

Greenberg Traurig’s Latin America practice has more than 120 lawyers, including around 20 working on Brazil-related matters. The Brazil practice supports inbound and outbound cross-border transactions, including M&A, real estate, tax and venture capital.  

Alongside Ibarra and Peña, who practise across corporate transactions, the firm’s website lists the São Paulo team as including shareholders Angelika Hunnefeld and Arnaldo Rego, who specialise in commercial litigation and cross-border transactions respectively, alongside two of counsel. All of the team members are listed as being based in the US as well as São Paulo, primarily in Miami, which is a hub for wealthy Brazilians.  

“The opening of our São Paulo office comes in response to an increased demand from our clients and the local firms we work with,” Peña said. “We have been advising clients on deals linked to Latin America for more than five decades, and Brazil is at the core of our strategic growth plans.”

In the past Greenberg Traurig has worked with international clients including MasterCard and developer Related Group on their Brazil expansion efforts. In 2021 it also advised Navent, an online real estate marketplace in Latin America, in its acquisition by Brazil-based PropTech unicorn QuintoAndar. 

Lawyers in the firm’s Brazil practice act as foreign legal consultants under US law and do not practise Brazilian law, per local regulation. For Brazilian law matters Greenberg Traurig maintains relationships with local law firms, many of which include alumni of its international associate programme.

The firm’s chief executive officer, Brian Duffy, and executive chairman, Richard Rosenbaum, said the new office “positions the firm to continue helping our clients do business in the largest market in Latin America”.

“Our Brazil practice team draws on attorneys on the ground in São Paulo and is supported by the full capabilities of our Latin America practice. Clients today want one unified, global firm that offers one-stop shopping to meet their full range of legal needs,” they added. 

A number of international law firms have offices in São Paulo, including DLA Piper, which opened a foreign legal consultancy in the city in May. 

Last September CMS also signed a cooperation agreement with São Paulo-based independent firm Focaccia, Amaral e Lamonica Advogados to expand its coverage in Latin America.