Law firms - Community news

The Venezuelan law firm Torres Plaz & Araujo (TPA) has formed an association with the Mexican firm Corporación Mexicana de Asesores en Derecho SC (COMAD). It is the first time that firms based in the two countries have signed a bilateral agreement of this kind.

On January 21 Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão Advogados opened an office in Brasília, the federal capital. With its Rio and São Paulo offices, it now has a permanent presence in the country’s three major cities, following the example of a number of Brazil’s leading law firms.

The Rio de Janeiro office of Veirano e Advogados Associados has hired Antônio de Figueiredo Murta to act as of counsel liaising with Valdir Rocha, head of the firm’s intellectual property department. The appointment was announced at the end of January.

Tozzini, Freire, Teixeira e Silva Advogados has announced that the associates Cintia Vannucci Vaz Guimarães, Claudia Muniz Levasier, Giovanni Ettore Nanni, José Paulo Marzagão, and Vladimir Miranda Abreu have become partners of the firm.

The US firm Thacher Proffitt & Wood has successfully courted Eduardo Ramos-Gomez on his return to private practice from a three-year stint as Mexico’s ambassador to Singapore.

Brazilian newcomer Souza, Cescon Avedissian, Barrieu e Flesch - Advogados has opened an office in Rio de Janeiro just one year after the firm’s foundation.

The Mexican firm Bryan Gonzalez Vargas & Gonzalez Baz, SC has announced the appointment of new managing partners for both its Monterrey and Tijuana offices. Karla Landeros, the former head of the office in Tijuana, Baja California, has become the first managing partner of the Monterrey office. Corporate partner Judith Wilson is the new Tijuana managing partner. Both moves came into effect on January 15.

Argentine law firm Negri, Teijeiro & Incera has appointed US corporate attorney Laurence P Wiener as Of Counsel at the firm. Wiener, who is licensed to practice in California, has 15 years’ experience in corporate finance, M&A, general corporate advice, and debtor-creditor proceedings.

Allen & Overy has boosted its New York-based Latin American practice by appointing Jacques Cook as of counsel specialising in project finance and other work in Latin America.

Tozzini, Freire, Teixeira e Silva Advogados, one of the largest law firms in Latin America, has merged with the Ceará-based firm Mota e Advogados Associados SC - Fórum Advocacia Empresarial, which has offices in the cities of Fortaleza, Recife, Natal and João Pessoa in northeastern Brazil. The merged firm will operate under the name Tozzini, Freire, Teixeira e Silva Advogados.

Partners Luis A Cervantes Muñiz and the younger Alejandro Sainz Orantes have left Jáuregui, Navarrete, Nader y Rojas, SC - one of Mexico’s most ambitious and fast-growing law firms - and set up their own firm Cervantes, Aguilar Alvarez, Sainz y Verduzco. This follows the departure last year of partner Jorge Cervantes.

Baker & McKenzie has opened an office in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, one of the country's leading industrial and commercial centres. The Porto Alegre office is the firm’s fourth in Brazil, and the second new Baker & McKenzie office to open in Latin America within the last two years.

Pérez Alati, Grondona, Benites, Arntsen & Martínez de Hoz (h) is to join forces with the trademark and patent agency Alonso, Pardo & Asociados to boost its trademark, patent and intellectual property practice.

González Calvillo y Forastieri has entered into a strategic alliance with the Mexican Investment Board with a view to assisting Mexican and Chinese investors and traders with projects in both countries.

Law No. 10,303, enacted on October 31, introduced changes not only to Brazilian Corporations Law but also to Law No. 6,385 of December 15, 1976, which regulates the Brazilian Stock and Exchange Commission (the CVM) and the Stock Market.