News
Dias Carneiro bolsters tax and disputes with triple partner hire
Brazil’s Dias Carneiro Advogados has appointed three new partners to its tax and disputes departments by hiring from local outfits Vidigal Neto Advogados and Muriel Medici Franco Advogados.
Former Vidigal Neto partners Maurício Chapinoti, 46, and Rafael Balanin, 40, joined Dias Carneiro’s partnership along with ex-Muriel Medici partner Álvaro Brito Arantes, 40, on 1 June. Dias Carneiro now counts a total of 18 partners.
The two tax partners from Vidigal Neto brought one tax associate with them, while three disputes associates came along from Muriel Medici with litigator Arantes.
Chapinoti focuses on tax consulting and tax litigation matters, advising local and international clients in the finance, energy and real estates sectors, among others. He joined Vidigal Neto in 2019, after seven years as a partner at Latin Lawyer Elite firm TozziniFreire Advogados. Chapinoti has previously also served as a managing executive at the Brazilian office of global tax consultancy EY and as an associate at Latin Lawyer Elite firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados.
Newly minted partner Balanin advises on various aspects of tax and customs law. He has worked alongside fellow partner Chapinoti in several former roles. Like Chapinoti, Balanin joined Vidigal Neto in 2019 after a seven-year stint at TozziniFreire between 2012 and 2019. He was made partner there in 2018. Before that, he also spent 12 years as an associate at Pinheiro Neto.
Third new partner Arantes advises on civil and commercial litigation matters, focusing on complex cases in contractual disputes, often in relation to distribution and supply agreements, product liability cases and trademark issues. Arantes also covers credit recovery aspects of judicial restructuring and bankruptcy cases. He spent five years as a partner at Brazilian outfit Muriel Medici, a spin-off of the now-defunct Mattos Muriel Kestener Advogados, where Arantes worked for 10 years as a partner and associate. The litigator also counts in-house experience from US pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson.
Dias Carneiro’s managing partner Antonio Amendola says Chapinoti and Arantes are valuable additions to the firm. “We are thrilled to welcome such prominent lawyers in the Brazilian market, [and] we are excited about what the combination of their expertise with our teams will mean for our clients,” he remarks.
Muriel Medici’s founding partner Marcelo Muriel thanked Arantes for his years at his former firm, adding that “Álvaro is an extremely talented lawyer – I am sure he will do very well at the new firm and wish him and his team continued success.”
Latin Lawyer reached out to Vidigal Neto for comment but did not receive a response prior to publishing.
The recent hires come amid a period of continued expansion across several of Dias Carneiro’s departments. Last month, the firm strengthened its M&A group by elevating associate Pedro Malvezzi de Araújo to counsel, while it kicked off 2021 by promoting real estate counsel and department head Paulo Afonso Tavares to partner. That came several months after the corporate group saw the arrival of partner Paula Seabra from US outfit Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in May 2020.
“Our growth in the market is a direct result of the high quality and dedication of our professionals,” says Amendola, who adds that the firm is committed to creating new opportunities that reward exceptional legal talent and boost the career development of its employees.
The tax and disputes areas of the firm have continued to perform well recently, even amid the covid-19 pandemic, says Amendola. The crisis has triggered a spike in disputes cases arising from individuals or companies defaulting on contractual agreements due to pandemic restrictions. Meanwhile, an increasing number of clients made use of the additional spare time during the nationwide lockdown to investigate whether they are overpaying taxes – seeking the firm’s tax consultancy group, he says.
The tax department is likely to stay busy throughout the rest of 2021, with the Brazilian government planning to undertake a major overhaul of its tax system later this year, says Amendola. The new tax proposal is expected to be sent to congress over the next few months and proposes to split the country’s regulation into five chapters of separate congress bills aimed at simplifying Brazil’s notoriously complex tax regime.
The disputes team should also see continued demand from an uptick in restructuring work. A lot of companies that have remained afloat amid the pandemic so far are likely to file for judicial bankruptcy procedures once the true business impact of the crisis becomes clearer, says Amendola.
Born from the dissolution of its predecessor, Muriel Medici was founded in 2016 with an exclusive focus on litigation, arbitration and agribusiness matters. Meanwhile, Vidigal Neto is known for its advice in structuring investment and credit rights funds. It also offers legal services in tax, corporate and capital markets law.
