Founded in 2006 as a result of a merger of three firms formed in the 1990s, Fialho Salles Advogados is a law firm focused on providing intelligent legal solutions to Brazilian and foreign clients, particularly with respect to legal matters that require substantial expertise and multidisciplinary knowledge. From its offices in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, the firm advises clients in several industries.
The firm’s philosophy is to always properly understand the business of each client, so that its lawyers can offer and implement the most effective legal solutions.
Our professionals have graduated from renowned universities in Brazil and abroad and have solid academic backgrounds not only in their areas of legal expertise, but also in complementary fields of knowledge, such as accountancy, economics, business administration and international relations.
Main areas of practice
Fialho Salles has a broad range of practice areas, which enables the firm to assist clients in any business sectors in Brazil. The firm’s teams work in collaboration to provide comprehensive advice and efficient solutions, as appropriate for the business needs of each client.
The firm’s main areas of expertise are as follows:
- antitrust and competition;
- capital markets;
- compliance and anti-corruption;
- commercial and financial transactions;
- corporate law (M&A and joint ventures);
- dispute resolution (litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution);
- infrastructure and projects;
- intellectual property (transactions, prosecution and litigation);
- international trade;
- public law (administrative law, public procurement and public–private partnerships);
- private equity;
- regulatory; and
- taxation (tax planning, consultancy and litigation).
International work
The firm has substantial experience advising both national and foreign clients on matters involving all the above areas of practice under Brazilian law, including domestic and cross-border transactions. Many of the firm’s members have legal training and professional experience in leading global law firms in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries, with which the firm has developed important strategic relationships.
IP expertise
With a lean structure, the firm’s IP, technology and innovation team offers comprehensive, high-quality, specialised advice on the protection of intangible assets of all kinds (including trademarks), and efficient support in corporate transactions.
The firm takes a fast, cost-efficient, business-oriented approach that distinguishes its services from those available in the Brazilian market. The firm focuses on tailored solutions that make business sense, as opposed to standardised, bureaucratic approaches that sometimes characterise IP services, especially in the area of prosecution.
The firm has a remarkably successful track record in IP disputes, both in court and in administrative opposition and revocation procedures. That includes complex cases involving major market players, such as Petrobras (trademark and trade-dress dispute), adidas (trademark infringement dispute), Universal Music (copyright dispute regarding alleged unauthorised use of renowned Brazilian songs in marketing parodies), PST (dispute involving proprietary slogan and trademarks of vehicle security devices) and Portugal’s Vinho Verde wine producers (in a dispute in the European Union where the firm represented leading cachaça producer Vale Verde, which resulted in a global settlement that allowed coexistence of trademarks).
The IP team has strong academic credentials, with legal training and professional experience in leading global law firms, as well as academic experience in renowned European universities (eg, LSE, Cambridge, the Institut für Rechtsinformatik, the Leibniz-Universität Hannover) and international organisations, in particular the World Trade Organisation and WIPO.
The firm combines its expertise in all IP issues with knowledge and experience in other areas of law, such as taxation, regulatory and, in particular, international trade law. That has enabled the firm to obtain important mandates, such as advising the Brazilian government on the IP aspects of international trade negotiations between Mercosur and other countries. The firm also regularly represents the Confederation of the National Industry, including on mandates to develop proposals to improve IP protection policies and legislation in Brazil.
Languages
English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese
Clients
The firm has a very diversified portfolio of clients, ranging from large listed companies to mid-market players and start-ups, in virtually all sectors of the economy, including agriculture, automotive, banking, biotechnology, engineering and construction, energy, health services, media and marketing, mining, nanotechnology, oil and gas, private equity, retail, sanitation, software, steel and logistics.