Azevedo Sette Advogados has hired a real estate lawyer from Machado Meyer Advogados, in anticipation of the sector picking up in 2018.
Bruno Costa, 37, joined the firm on 22 January, taking its partner count to 34. Costa has more than 10 years of experience in real estate from both in-house and private practice, including five years as an associate at Machado Meyer. He now heads Azevedo Sette’s real estate team in Belo Horizonte, pairing up with real estate partner Leonardo Moreira Costa de Souza in São Paulo.
Costa works closely with partners across several practice areas. Capital markets partner Luis Ricardo Miraglia says that the real estate sector shows signs of picking up in 2018 after three years of serious recession. He adds that several other practices, such as core practice areas including corporate and M&A and mining, will benefit from a strong real estate team.
Costa is originally from Belo Horizonte, but had relocated to São Paulo, and explains that moving back to Belo Horizonte was one reason he joined Azevedo Sette. “While discussing my move to Azevedo Sette we realised that the local market needed a specialised team to deal with real estate matters,” he says. Corporate partner Luis Azevedo Sette confirms that the Belo Horizonte office was in need of a real estate partner. Costa is assisted on real estate matters by litigation partners João Capanema Barbosa Filho, Leonardo Farinha Goulart and Marcos Augusto Leonardo Ribeiro.
A spokesperson for Machado Meyer confirms that Costa left the firm on good terms and wished him great success in the future. One of Brazil’s largest law firms, Machado Meyer has strong corporate and finance practices, part of a very broad service offering that includes important practices in tax, environment and real estate. Maria Flavia Seabra leads the firm’s real estate practice and specialises in property acquisitions, leasings and real estate sector investments. The firm has 53 partners, according to Latin Lawyer 250.
Azevedo Sette Advogados started as a mining-focused firm in Brazil’s most important mining state, Minas Gerais, in 1967. Since then it has expanded beyond its base. In 2016 it merged with São Paulo firm Barretto Ferreira e Brancher (BKBG) and incorporated telecoms partners Ricardo Barretto and Paulo Brancher. Azevedo Sette says that the firm expanded its telecoms practice last year under the leadership of Barretto and Brancher and has seen a lot of interest both from existing and new local and international clients.
Costa is not Azevedo Sette Advogados’ sole new partner in January. The firm promoted tax lawyer Clarissa Cerqueira Viana Pereira to partner on 1 January.
https://latinlawyer.com/article/1153471/azevedo-sette-bets-on-real-estate-with-machado-meyer-hire