Cleary Gottlieb to Open Office in São Paulo

International law firm Cleary Gottlieb announced today that it plans to open an office in São Paulo, Brazil in 2011, subject to approval of Brazilian authorities. Partners Juan Giráldez and Francisco Cestero, who are currently based in New York and Rome, respectively, will relocate to São Paulo to head the office.

“Brazil is a significant part of our Latin America practice, which began over 50 years ago and includes more than 100 lawyers,” said Cleary Gottlieb managing partner Mark Walker. “Juan’s and Francisco’s local knowledge and broad legal expertise, combined with the resources of our Latin America practice and the entire firm, will enhance our ability to provide the best possible legal services to our clients who have interests in Brazil and throughout the region.”

The São Paulo office, which is expected to initially include approximately 10 lawyers in total, will offer Latin American clients access to the full range of services of Cleary Gottlieb’s offices, including expertise in international financing (capital markets, project finance and restructuring), cross-border mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, and corporate governance and litigation, as well as the firm’s global footprint. Lawyers in São Paulo will be integrated with the firm’s Latin America practice.

The firm has had a leading Brazil practice for more than 40 years. With approximately 20 lawyers focusing on transactions involving Brazil and more than 25 Portuguese speakers in the New York office alone, the practice is widely recognized for its depth and breadth of knowledge about local customs and practices and its longstanding relationships with local law firms.

Actively engaged in Latin America work for more than 50 years, Cleary Gottlieb’s commitment to and knowledge of the region is unparalleled. With more than 100 lawyers, over 30 of whom are partners or counsel, devoted to the practice, the firm has a broader and deeper talent base in this area than any other law firm.

About Cleary Gottlieb’s Latin America Practice

The firm’s Latin America practice has received a number of recent accolades, including “Latin American Corporate/M&A Firm of the Year” by Chambers Latin America and “Latin American Law Firm of the Past 20 Years” by LatinFinance (1988-2008). The firm was also named best international firm in all Latin America-wide categories for two consecutive years in LatinFinance’s Legal Services Survey (2008 and 2009), and is the only firm ever ranked in the top tier for Latin America corporate and financing by Chambers. Cleary Gottlieb is consistently ranked among the leading international firms in the region.

Other practice highlights include:

• Most extensive sovereign practice in the region.
• Counsel in the restructuring of more public and private sector Latin America debt than any other law firm.
• Counsel in more than $100 billion in closed M&A transactions involving Latin American companies since 2006.
• Counsel in more than $270 billion in capital markets offerings by Latin America issuers since 2002.
• Securities counsel to the three largest Latin American companies by market capitalization.
• Leading role in IPOs for Latin American issuers, including acting as counsel in more than 30 completed IPOs for Latin American companies since 2006.
• Counsel to more than 20 Latin American foreign private issuers in connection with their SEC reporting obligations.