Pinheiro Neto Advogados

For almost 80 years, the firm translates the Brazilian legal environment for the benefit of local and foreign clients. With clients in almost 80 countries, the firm has grown organically, and developed a distinctive, tight-knit culture, with a low associate-to-partner ratio. Its unique, democratic governance structure promotes transparency and consensus-building among the partners.

Pinheiro Neto Advogados was the first Brazilian law firm to be certified as carbon neutral; the first Brazilian law firm to join the country’s largest social investors in the Group of Outreach Institutions, Foundations and Companies (GIFE); and the first Brazilian law firm to be recognised by the state of São Paulo diversity accreditation body (Selo Paulista da Diversidade). The firm’s pioneering pro bono programme has compensated professionals for their involvement in social causes since 2009.

The firm advises and represents both local and international clients in a broad range of sectors, including automotive, banking and financial services, construction and materials, energy and natural resources, environment and waste management, health care, oil and gas, real estate, and technology. The firm has correspondents throughout Brazil, and has developed close and solid working relationships with first-tier law firms around the world.

Chevening and Pinheiro Neto

The UK and Pinheiro Neto have a historical link dating back to World War 2. In 1940, José Martins Pinheiro Neto arrived in the UK to work as Brazilian correspondent for the BBC. During his time in UK, he wrote for O Estado de São Paulo, signing as ‘P.Xisto’. He returned to Brazil and founded a small law firm that was to become the foremost law firm in Brazil in 1942. As the firm increased in size, it opened offices in Brasilia in 1974 and London in 1978, in association with J. Anthony Clare. Today the firm has 950 employees and 6,000 clients. In 1987, in recognition of his service to UK-Brazil relations, JM Pinheiro Neto was made a Knight of the British Empire by HM the Queen. He died in 2005.

Pinheiro Neto has been an active player in the development of Brazil, participating in the 1980s in renegotiating Brazil’s sovereign debt; in privatisations of state companies in the 1990s, and supporting Aracruz’s NYSE launch as the first Brazilian firm to be quoted on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2009, the law firm created a Commission for Female Lawyers (Comissão da Mulher Advogada) in order to encourage recognition of women in the profession. In 2013, it received the Americas Women in Business Law award for the best female mentoring programme in Latin America.

Of the almost 1,900 Brazilian Chevening Alumni, 181 have studied Law and 16 work or have worked for Pinheiro Neto. 

Who do Pinheiro Neto support?

Prioritizing diversity, Pinheiro Neto supports candidates from across the country who wish to study some area of law. Read more on the Pinheiro Neto website.