Things are hotting up in Brazil for global elite firms. But overcoming the strict local Bar rules is proving tricky, writes Miguel Cortez.

The Brazilian legal market has been thriving in recent years. An impressive wave of major transactions has been making the headlines, such as the staggering $6bn acquisition of Grupo Ipiranga by a consortium including Braskem, Petrobras and Ultrapar. Major Brazilian corporations are also buying abroad, as seen in last year’s all-cash $17.6bn bid for nickel miner Inco, by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce. Unsurprisingly, then, international law firms are becoming increasingly interested in Brazil. But the Brazilian Bar Association, far from rolling out the red carpet, has been making some international firms feel less than welcome.

In the past two years, Linklaters found out the hard way just how tough the market is, when the Federal Council of the Brazilian Bar Association ordered an investigation into the legitimacy of the firm’s association with local law firm Lefosse Advogados. The investigation – carried out by the Law Firms Commission of the Brazilian Bar’s São Paulo division – produced a damning report in February last year. It was issued by one of the Commission’s members, Carlos Matteucci, and the Commission was in the process of voting on its proposed measures when a settlement was agreed with Linklaters.

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