Santos Neto Advogados

Managing Partner: Domicio dos Santos Neto

Senior Partners: Fernando Bilotti Ferreira, Vivian Bernardino, Henrique Munia e Erbolato, Frederico Favacho, Matheus Zilioti, Louise Bosschart, Bruno Salama and Nicolau Nardi.

Number of partners: 9 

Number of other lawyers: 35

Firm Overview:
Santos Neto Advogados (‘SNA’) was founded in 1992 and is dedicated mostly to the areas of corporate law, banking and finance, agribusiness, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, corporate finance, litigation, labour, tax and foreign trade, with a multidisciplinary and multicultural team.

Offices:
With offices in São Paulo, SNA offers a whole new concept of work called ‘lean full service’, where lawyers offer specialty services in two or three areas of law. This keeps teams lean and efficient, able to fully understand the client’s business need and able to build close and strong relationships.

Main Areas of Practice:  

Agribusiness:
Leading Brazilian law firm in agribusiness, advising banks, funds, tradings, insurers and industries in all matters related to the agribusiness chain. The firm was invited by the Ministry of Agriculture of Brazil to draft the new ‘Agro Law’, enacted in April 2020, due its vast experience and knowledge in this practice area.

Banking & Finance:
Advises clients from structuring and negotiation to documentation and closing of finance transactions, including the drafting of credit agreements, bank guarantees and security instruments. Advises on Brazilian Central Bank’s regulations, securitisations, financing by development banks and ECAs, project finance, aviation and shipping.

Capital Markets:
The firm delivers results in a wide range of matters involving debt securities’ capital raising and compliance issues, with participation in a significant volume of issuances throughout the years. It assists financial institutions, publicly-held and privatelyheld companies in the structuring of securitisation and other capital markets transactions across all industry sectors.

Corporate/M&A:
Assists clients in all matters of corporate law, including: determining and implementing the best corporate and tax structure for a business; formation of corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and joint ventures; drafting of articles of association, bylaws, minutes of meetings, shareholder agreements and other corporate instruments; assistance with routine corporate aspects; structuring of M&As, joint-ventures and strategic alliances, including the negotiation and drafting of all required agreements and due diligence reviews; representation before regulatory agencies such as the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission).

Labour:
The labour and employment team represents multinational and domestic companies in several economic sectors on strategic labour matters. The team act on a broad range of non-contentious and contentious matters. Their assistance includes both complex labour matters and routine queries related to human resources practices or general labour law aiming to assist the day-to-day operations of the client. In addition, the firm provides services related to administrative proceedings on course before the Labour Prosecutor Office (Ministério Público do Trabalho) and the Ministry of Labour (Ministério do Trabalho). The team provides services in all jurisdictions of their country.

Litigation:
Assists clients in litigation and arbitration proceedings, especially: conflict prevention and negotiation of settlements; representation of clients in lawsuits at all levels of the Brazilian Judiciary System, especially related to disputes on corporate law, commercial contracts, and banking law; enforcement of security interests. The firm works with correspondent law firms in several judicial districts nationwide.

Reorganisation & Bankruptcy:
Advises creditors and sellers of distressed assets in all legal matters regarding corporate restructurings, reorganisations, and bankruptcy, including: assessment of the debtor’s credit status and due diligence covering all its contractual obligations and contingent liabilities; development of a restructuring strategy; drafting of restructuring plans; client representation in judicial and extrajudicial reorganisations and bankruptcy proceedings; distressed M&A activity; and asset tracing.

Tax, Customs & International Trade Law:
Assists clients in all matters of tax and customs law, including tax and Social Security consultancy, international business tax consulting, judicial and administrative litigation, tax planning, assistance in structuring import and export operations vis-à-vis tax and customs aspects involved, and representation before Brazilian Federal Revenue Service and State and Municipal tax agencies.

International Work:
In most cases, the firm’s clients are international corporates or financial institutions doing business in Brazil. All the firm’s lawyers are international specialists with large experience in cross-selling transactions, and speak at least two languages.

Languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, German, Italian.

Clients:
International and local financial institutions, logistics, industries, agribusiness companies, airlines, IT companies, media and entertainment companies, and manufacturers and service companies.

Managing Partner: Domicio dos Santos Neto

Senior Partners: Fernando Bilotti Ferreira, Vivian Bernardino, Henrique Munia e Erbolato, Frederico Favacho, Matheus Zilioti, Louise Bosschart, Bruno Salama and Nicolau Nardi.

Number of partners: 9 

Number of other lawyers: 35