Leila Alves

Practice Areas

Our expertise is recognized by clients and other publications by both advisory and contentious work.

Advisory:

Our labour practice is known for sophisticated advisory to multinational companies on structuring and reviewing labour policies and contracts, including, but not limited to:

• Compensation schemes and benefit plans;

• Adapting international policies and contracts to local law;

• Termination of employment agreements (including massive termination and internal investigations to support terminations for cause;

• Employee’s relocation and transfers;

• Special covenants with key employees;

• Internal policies and codes of conduct;

• Data protection laws applied to human resources procedures;

• Outsourcing, temporary work and other alternative sources of manpower;

• Compliance with occupational health and safety laws;

• Prevention of liabilities related to agents and other independent contractors.

The focus on international advisory comes from Partner Leila Alves’ studies of European Labour Laws, completed in Portugal, where she is also licensed and practiced for many years, and from our eclectic experience with multinational clients, in addition to partnership with international firms and membership with global alliance MSI (www.msiglobal.org ).

Our experience also includes negotiations with workers’ unions, as we have participated in many sectorial negotiations as lawyers for the Employers’ Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Sindusfarma.

Litigation:

DDSA defends companies in sophisticated litigation such as collective claims by unions, class actions by the Public Attorney’s Office for Labour Affairs, claims by white-collar employees, and other sensitive suits.

Another recognised quality of our group is its knowledge in other areas of practice that are necessary and relevant to resolve labour issues, such as corporate, aviation and tax. This quality comes from its experience in pairing with other teams to find the best multidisciplinary solutions to clients. Opportunities include due diligences, aircrafts operations and inspections by Federal Revenues Office on payroll taxes. Due to its long relationship with clients, the team is often invited to provide in-company training to managers and compliance professionals.

Recent training from group members includes Data Protection Laws by Data Privacy Br Institute and Negotiation Techniques by FGV.

Our experience with aeronauts laws is also a distinction, allowed by DDSA’s tier 1 aviation practice.

Career

Leila, who is a founding partner at DDSA, holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC/SP). She also holds the title of Postgraduate in Labor Law and Social Security from the Institute of Labor Law of the University of Law of Lisbon and Specialist in Negotiation Techniques from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation – FGV/SP and Data Privacy.

Leila has been a member of the Brazilian Bar Association, São Paulo section since 2000, and of the Portuguese Bar Association, Lisbon section since 2003.

Leila Pigozzi Alves has also assumed the vice-presidency of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the entity is to promote business between the two countries.

Clients

Our clients are from many different industries so our practice is very eclectic, going from food industry and transport & logistics local and multinational companies, through specialized services, augmented identity, public concessions, insurance and reinsurance, technology and start-ups, as well as family office and financial institutions.

Languages Spoken

Portuguese and English