About Us
How we work
We are a multidisciplinary firm, working attentively and in tune with the new challenges posed by an ever-changing and dynamic world. Our team is formed by experienced professionals, who are not only technically savvy, but who are also committed to constant learning and improvement.
Throughout our journey so far, we have learned that the practice of law must be close to the client and tailor-made, so as to create long-term relationships. We work with domestic and foreign clients, in several different industries, always acting efficiently, hands-on and transparently because we believe that simplifying processes optimizes costs, increases efficiency and improves results. Our goal is to work for the success of our clients.
Awards & Recognition
Ours is a success case, with lasting relationships with our clients, which has made us earn the recognition of the most reputable rankings and national and international publications in the legal industry.
VALUES, ETHICS AND PRIVACY
- EFFICIENCY
- INTEGRITY
- TRANSPARENCY
- CONFIDENCE
- COMMITMENT
- PARTNERSHIP
- CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT
- COMPETENCE
CÓDIGO DE ÉTICA E CONDUTA
BRZ Advogados
I. INTRODUCTION
All partners, associates and interns of BRZ Advogados are subjected to the rules and guidelines pertaining to the profession and to the Code of Ethics and Discipline of the Brazilian Bar Association - Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (“OAB”), as per the terms of Federal Law nº 8906/1994 and further acts and decisions of OAB’s Federal and Sectional Councils, including Edict nº 02/2015, that sanctioned OAB’s Code of Ethics and Discipline.
For that reason, BRZ Advogados’ staff is under the unassailable and indisputable commitment to the honor and dignity inherent to the profession, always acting with technical independence, decorum, loyalty and good faith. BRZ Advogados’ commitment to ethics and integrity in the rendering of its legal services has led us to elaborate our own code of ethics and conduct under which, in addition to OAB’s Code of Ethics and Discipline, aims to rule over the relations of our staff of attorneys, interns and employees/collaborators, not just among each other, but also when it comes to dealing with clients, public authorities, suppliers, competitors and society as a whole.
This BRZ Advogados’ Code of Ethics and Conduct declares its submission to the best principles ethical values and of corporate morality, observing all applicable norms, including that which regards the practice of harmful acts against public administration, domestic or foreign, introduced into Brazilian legislature by Law nº 12846/2013 (the “Anti-corruption Law”) and regulated by Decree nº 8420/2015.
Compliance with this Code of Ethics and Conduct is a personal and exclusive responsibility of each one of the members of BRZ Advogados.
BRZ Advogados encourages all and any proactive action, whether it be in the pinpointing of improvement possibilities or in the communication of any violations. The goal of this Code of Ethics and Conduct is to engage all of the members of BRZ Advogados in the activities of corporate lawyering and in the permanent commitment to professional ethics and social responsibility.
II. POLICIES
II.1 Transparent Management
BRZ Advogados’ interests must be above personal interests. All of the members of BRZ Advogados must collaborate on the rendering of precise information, in order facilitate the verification of facts and the adoption of accurate and transparent decisions. Communications must feature a proper, professional and irreproachable language, either in writing or in speaking.
BRZ Advogados maintains: (a) proper internal oversight; (b) accounting ledgers and records that register and report adequately, correctly, accurately and exactly all of its transactions; and (c) complies perfectly with the applicable laws of such activities.
II.2 Commitment to Fight Against Corruption
BRZ Advogados shall not tolerate corruption, no matter the reason or manner, or even jurisdiction. All of the members of BRZ Advogados are hereby forbidden from offering any undue advantages, to whomever it may be, specially to public employees and servants, ex-litigants in any lawsuits and/or assisting attorneys, companies’ representatives and/or officers, directly or by means of a middle-man, that might be construed as a legal violation, even if this is all done in the belief that the member is acting with best interests of BRZ Advogados, its clients and/or collaborators in mind.
Attorneys, interns and employees/collaborators shall comply with Brazil’s anti-corruption rules and regulations, including, but not limited to, the Anti-Corruption Law and its rulings, as well as any remaining norms and regulations regarding the prevention and oversight of corruption, bribery and money laundering.
II.3 Third-Party Hires
Third-party hires for the rendering of services to BRZ Advogados must be done carefully, always caring for the reputation and image of BRZ Advogados. Third-party hires should always be informed about the principles of BRZ Advogados, this Code of Ethics and Conduct and discarding those that are compatible with them.
When hiring third-parties, as well as in any other contracts, a specific clause must be included to demand compliance with the principles of ethics and conduct by third-parties, with an express mention to the forbiddance of corruption acts, as well as any harmful act against the public administration, in accordance with the Anti-Corruption Law.
Partners, attorneys, interns, employees/collaborators of BRZ Advogados agree to not make, authorize, promise, nor offer to make, direct or indirectly, any payments or transfers of monies, gifts, promises or anything of value or undue advantage to political parties, candidates for office, public agents or anyone in relation to these persons.
II.4 Work Environment
No offensive behavior among the Firm’s members is tolerated, nor any discrimination because of gender, ethnicity, color, national origin, creed or sexual orientation. BRGC values the diversity and plurality of conducts and ideas, as long as they respect the parameters set above
I.5 Protection of Confidential Information
Confidential information, to what pertains to this Code of Ethics and Conduct, is all of that is not subjected to public release, having been generated by BRGC or obtained by our clients and third-parties in strict confidentiality.
All confidential information must be protected, with the assumption that all communications between attorneys and clients are treated as confidential. All members of BRGC must agree to uphold the confidentiality, even after their professional relationship with the Firm is over.
The file with the confidential information must be kept in a place of full electronic security. The transfer of any files to third parties containing confidential information using electronic mail must be preceded by the client’s authorization.
Professional secrecy breaks only in the face of exceptional circumstances that constitute just cause, such as cases wherein there is a great threat to one’s rights, life and honor or that involves self-defense.
II.6 Acceptance of Monies
All and any monies accepted by any member of the staff of BRZ Advogados must be forwarded to the financial department, so that a receipt shall be issued and, as it pertains to lawyer’s fees, for invoicing.
When it comes to court costs, accounts must be rendered in a detailed fashion, immediately after its expenditure. It must also be noted that any incompatible expenses shall be the responsibility of the one who generated it.
II.7 Fees
Proposed fees must necessarily be corroborated by one of the partners of BRZ Advogados, preferably the one whose expertise has any bearing on the job undertaken.
This is a mandatory tenet, obeying the aforementioned criteria of transparency in what regards to monies accepted. The proposed fee must follow the general pricing standards, observing the complexity of the subject, the hourly rate fees table, the value of the matter in controversy, the economic benefit sought in case of success and the operational cost for BRZ Advogados. Contracts must preferably be standardized. Any alternative for a different manner of receiving fees must be submitted to the partners.
II.8 Attorneys and Public Officer
Attorneys, partners or associates, that also hold public office are hereby forbidden from acting on lawsuits wherein the ex-litigant is the public department to which said attorney is allotted. It is said attorney’s responsibility to declare his impediment, when that is the case. In this case, the partner and/or associate shall take no part in the fees generated by these lawsuits.
II.9 Communication of Relationship or Kinship
Partners, attorneys, interns and employees/collaborators must inform BRZ Advogados about the existence of any family relationship among their spouses, companions or direct or collateral kin, by blood or affinity, up to the third degree, and any political party, political party’s employee or candidate for office that might have or is expected to have reasonable influence over the object or performance of their duties described in the contract or any other public servant that holds office in the Legislative, Executive, Judiciary Branch or that works for or in behalf of a public agency, public company or international public organization, agreeing to immediately notify BRZ Advogados about any relationships that might arise during the effect of the contract, in which case they shall immediately take all necessary and/or demanded measures to ascertain that said relationship does not create any conflict of interests or any violation to the precepts contained in the Anti-Corruption Law.
III. FORBIDDEN CONDUCTS
III.1 Donation of Gifts and Presents
Partners, attorneys, interns and employees/collaborators of the Firm are strictly and vehemently forbidden to offer or receive gifts, presents, hospitalities, monies or benefits of any kind to (from) clients, public or private ones, current or potential suppliers, and public agents in general, defined as anyone in charge or exercising functions in agencies or entities of the Public Administration, either domestic or overseas, direct or indirectly, in all levels. Any donation of gifts or presents shall be institutional, always low in value and that are coherent with the receiver’s policies.
III.2 Undue Advantages and Behavior with Clients
Partners, attorneys, interns and employees/collaborator are vehemently forbidden to take any undue advantage of the institutional relationship of BRZ Advogados with its clients or behave as if abusing power, to be verbally aggressive, to make false statements or condone unfair commercial practices. Staff members shall not use BRZ Advogados’ name for their own or anyone’s benefit when dealing with BRZ Advogados’ clients, private or members of the Public Administration, domestic or foreign, direct or indirectly, in all levels of the Federation.
Partners, attorneys, interns and employees/collaborators of BRZ Advogados are strictly and vehemently forbidden to offer or receive gifts, presents, hospitalities, monies or benefits of any kind to (from) clients, public or private ones, current or potential suppliers, and public agents in general, defined as anyone in charge or exercising functions in agencies or entities of the Public Administration, either domestic or overseas, direct or indirectly, in all levels. Any donation of gifts or presents shall be institutional, always low in value and that are coherent with the receiver’s policies.
Partners, attorneys, interns and employees/collaborator are vehemently forbidden to take any undue advantage of the Firm’s institutional relationship with its clients or behave as if abusing power, to be verbally aggressive, to make false statements or condone unfair commercial practices. Staff members shall not use BRGC’s name for their own or anyone’s benefit when dealing with the Firm’s clients, private or members of the Public Administration, domestic or foreign, direct or indirectly, in all levels of the Federation.
IV. MISCELLANEOUS
IV.1 All attorneys, interns and employees, in the moment they are hired, are to receive a copy of this Code of Ethics and Conduct and sign their acknowledgment of its contents.
IV.2 This Code of Ethics and Conduct goes in effect on the date it is released to BRZ Advogados’ attorneys, interns, employees/collaborators.
PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION POLICY
PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION POLICY
We at Barbosa, Raimundo, Gontijo, Camara e Zanotta Advogados (“BRZ Advogados”, “Firm” or “we”) understand that it is essential that we bring awareness of our processing of the personal data belonging to the users of our website, to our clients, be they natural persons or legal entities, and to the representatives, partners or any other person associated with said legal entities (“Data Holder”, “Holder” or “you”).
BRZ Advogados is committed to respecting privacy and to following our duty of transparency, thus leading us to create this privacy policy (“Privacy and Data Protection Policy”) so as to allow you to have a clear understanding and to be properly informed about how BRZ Advogados processes your personal data. If you would like to have more information regarding the way we process personal data, please contact the person in charge of date in our Firm atbernardo.pedrete@brzadvogados.com.br.
Who is the data controller?
BRZ Advogados will be the controller of your personal data in the context of the attorney-client/potential client relationship. For the purposes of the applicable legislation, the controller is responsible for the decisions relating to the processing of personal data.
What data is processed?
To the extent permitted by applicable law, BRZ Advogados may process personal data as described below:
- Identification, qualification and contact details: full name; address; date of birth; nationality; identification document(s) data (such as ID, tax ID, driver’s license, BAR number, whatever the case), e-mail address; telephone number;
- Academic and professional data: company for whom you work; occupation; job title; educational background.
In rendering our legal services, taking into account the support we provide to clients in the most diverse fields and practices of law, BRZ Advogados may have access to and process a wide array of personal data belonging to you or even personal data belonging to third parties in any one given case (e.g., the other party of a lawsuit), depending on the object or reason of said action. Some examples of personal data that BRZ Advogados may come to process in providing its services are:
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- Registration information: Name, tax ID (CPF), ID, address, and telephone number;
- Financial information: wages; transaction history; credit; sales; assets; debt certificates; loans;
- Family information: family structure; relationships;
- Information contained in proceedings: date of birth, nationality, place of birth, age, marital status, country, address, driver’s license, electoral card, military draft information, occupation, educational background, languages spoken, professional registration, tax information (PIS/PASEP, CTPS, NIS, NIT, IEC).
The personal data mentioned above are only processed in certain cases and when necessary to achieve the purposes mentioned in this Privacy and Data Protection Policy, especially for the provision of legal services.
BRZ Advogados may collect this information in several ways. This personal data may be collected directly from the Data Holder, they may be obtained from an associate of the Data Holder (for example, the company with whom you associate yourself), or that may be accessed from public sources. Regardless of the source of the data, our processing of it shall be governed by this Privacy and Data Protection Policy and you may contact us at bernardo.pedrete@brzadvogados.com.br.
Which purposes do we take into consideration when processing your data?
In general, we process your personal data for customer service and for the provision of legal services in an both in counsel and litigation, including but not limited to:
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- Drafting of, reviewing or negotiating contracts;
- Performance of or participation in legal due diligences so as to verify whether a company is compliant with the Brazilian legislation and risk analysis;
- Management of investigations, indictments, administrative procedures, administrative, judicial or arbitration proceedings, which includes measures such as reviewing and drawing up motions, following up on the proceedings, among others;
- Analysis of new products, structures, cases or any situations presented by the client in order to draw up a response to queries, memoranda and legal opinions;
- Drafting of mandatory documents pursuant to the Brazilian legislation;
- Liaison in the relationship of the client with government authorities and bodies;
- Holding training seminars;
- Holding meetings, video conferences or telephone conferences for the discussion of general issues;
- Obtaining the necessary licenses, authorizations and permits;
- Assistance in the participation in tender or invitations to bid;
- Coordination of mergers and acquisitions, of capital markets and financial markets, of investments in companies in general.
We may also process your personal data for the purposes of formalizing the contract with BRZ Advogados, for billing and invoicing if you as a client are a natural person or the representative of a legal entity. In addition, we may process your personal data to maintain our relationship with you by means of:
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- Sending institutional communications, memos or newsletters with topics of your interest and invitation to events;
- Organization of events, including the management of subscribers, save the date communications, reminders and thanks. To ensure your easier access and comfort in the event, BRZ Advogados may ask if you are disabled or restricted in mobility;
- Conducting client satisfaction surveys and asking for feedback on our services and initiatives.
From time to time, BRZ Advogados may refer your personal data so that domestic and global legal publications contact you so that you may evaluate and reference our services to such publications, as well as to companies specialized in legal rankings.
With whom can we share the data?
BRZ Advogados may share your personal data with:
- Software providers, cloud hosting services and other information technology services for the purposes of managing your relationship with our office, registration, documentation and other measures;
- Collaborators, experts, legal opinion givers, associated firms (both domestic or otherwise), auditors, accountants, translators and financial institutions so as to assist in the provision of legal services pursuant to the client’s requirements;
- Domestic or global legal publications;
- Regulatory bodies and other authorities, such as, but not limited to, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE – Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica), the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA – Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária), the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM – Comissão de Valores Mobiliários) and the National Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP – Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis).
International data transfer
Depending on the requirements, if necessary BRZ Advogados may transfer your personal data to service providers located abroad, including cloud service providers. Furthermore, BRZ Advogados may share your personal data with associated firms worldwide.
When your personal data is transferred to a location outside Brazil by BRZ Advogados, the Firm shall take the appropriate measures to ensure the adequate protection of your personal data in accordance with the requirements of the applicable data protection legislation, including with the execution of the appropriate data transfer contracts with third parties regarding your personal data, where necessary.
For how long can this data be retained?
Data are kept or stored:
- for as long as law requires;
- until the end of the processing of personal data, as mentioned below;
- for as long as necessary to preserve the legitimate interest of BRZ Advogados, as the case may be;
- for as long as necessary to safeguard the regular exercise of the rights of BRZ Advogados in judicial, administrative or arbitration proceedings. Therefore, we will process your data, for example, during the applicable statute of limitation periods or for as long as necessary for compliance with legal or regulatory obligations.
Processing of personal data shall end in the following cases:
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- when the purpose for which personal data collected from the Data Holder is achieved and/or the personal data collected is no longer necessary or relevant so as to attain such purpose;
- when the Data Holder is in their right to request the termination of such processing and the deletion of their personal data and so proceeds; and/or
- when there is a legal order to do so.
In these termination cases of the processing of personal data, except in the events established by applicable law or by this Privacy and Data Protection Policy, personal data shall be deleted.
Rights of the Holder
You have the following rights to your data:
- confirmation of processing;
- access;
- correction of incomplete, inaccurate or outdated data;
- anonymization, blocking or disposal;
- portability;
- disposal;
- information on its sharing;
- information on the possibility of not giving consent and the consequences of doing so;
- revocation of your consent, in case we have so requested from you; and
- right to petition the National Data Protection Agency (ANPD – Agência Nacional de Proteção de Dados). There are circumstances that may restrict the exercise of certain rights under law, such as, for example, when the disclosure of such information may reveal any trade secret of BRZ Advogados or due to the fulfillment of any legal/regulatory obligation or to allow for the defense of BRZ Advogados in any judicial, administrative or arbitration proceeding.
The Holder may exercise such rights by contacting the firm’s data officer at bernardo.pedrete@brzadvogados.com.br.
Data protection and security
We are committed to the security of your personal data and take reasonable precautions to uphold said protection. BRZ Advogados employs security systems and technical, physical and managerial procedures widely adopted by the market to protect your data.
Cookies and emails
Our website only uses cookies as are strictly necessary, those that are essential to allow you to browse the site and use its features. These are temporary cookies that last only for as long as your browser is open and are used for technical purposes, especially to enable you to better browse our site. Without these cookies, your browsing on our website may be significantly affected. When you close your browser, our cookies disappear automatically.
By using our site, you acknowledge the use of cookies in the conditions described herein. There should be a pop-up in the bottom corner of the page alerting you about the use of this tool on your first visit to our site. Even though this notice will not pop up on subsequent visits, you may manage the use of cookies on our website. If you do not agree to the use of these cookies, you may disable them at any time by adjusting your browser settings. Browsers are different, so please refer to your browser settings menu for instructions on how to change your cookie preferences. If you choose not to receive cookies, our sites may not function properly and some features may become unavailable.
We reserve the right to send e-mails to our clients, partners and third parties who have in any way relations with the Firm, with the aim to provide information that we believe is of interest to you, however, you may, at any time, request to unsubscribe from these newsletters.
We hereby alert all clients that we will never send electronic messages requesting confirmation of personal information by e-mail. For this reason, we are not responsible for any fraudulent electronic communications that collect your personal data (phishing). Regarding emails received, we recommend that you check the content of any email before visiting any internet address or clicking on any link. Be wary of emails whose subject and sender are suspicious or whose content feels strange, messages that have grammar mistakes or even faulty photographs and logos.
After your first visit to our website, we may change the cookies we use. In any event, this policy will always allow you to know what is being collected and to what end while making sure you have the right to deactivate cookies. Therefore, given the possibility that this policy may be reviewed and changed, we recommend that you access it from time to time.
Third party websites
As a feature of our website, we may provide links to other websites. BRZ is not responsible for these websites and their content, it also does not share, subscribe, monitor, validate or accept how such websites or content storage tools collect, process and transfer your personal data.
We recommend that you refer to the respective privacy policies of such websites to properly educate yourself about their processing of your personal data.
Privacy and Data Protection Policy Update
We reserve the right to change this Privacy and Data Protection Policy at any time by posting the updated version on this page. This Data Protection and Privacy Policy is effective on October 1st, 2021.
