How We Engage — Brazil Local Counsel Engagement Model for Foreign Firms
Bilingual, US-licensed Brazil-side counsel for foreign law firms, in-house teams, family offices and professional advisors who need a defined, USD-billed, English-by-default engagement with a Brazilian law firm.
If you have read this far, you are likely a partner at a US, UK, UAE or other international law firm — or general counsel, trustee, or family-office executive — with a Brazilian matter you cannot handle from your desk. You need a Brazilian local counsel firm that delivers in the way US and UK firms expect: a clean engagement letter on partner-signed letterhead, conflict checks that work the way your firm’s conflict system expects, English-language deliverables, USD invoicing, and senior-level coverage that does not require you to translate across two professional cultures.
This page describes exactly how we engage. The mechanics — not the marketing. By the end you will know what the first call looks like, what we will and will not share before a conflict check, how we scope and price the work, what an engagement letter from Oliveira Lawyers contains, how billing and disbursements are handled, how privilege and confidentiality interact between Brazilian and US/UK law, and how to start.
If our model fits, the first step is a 20–30 minute conflict-clearance call.
Content reviewed by Luciano Oliveira, LL.M., attorney licensed in Brazil, Texas and California. OAB/SP 38257. Last updated: May 2026.
Who this engagement model is for
We act as Brazil local counsel and Brazilian co-counsel for four primary audiences.
Foreign law firms. Litigation, transactional, private client, white-collar, immigration, intellectual property, real estate. Whether you are leading the engagement and need a Brazilian seat-of-arbitration counsel, a Brazil-side litigator for a parallel proceeding, an estate lawyer who needs probate handled in São Paulo, or a corporate partner who needs a Brazilian local counsel opinion on enforceability — the engagement structure described here is built for you. Our most active jurisdictions of origin are the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and Portugal.
In-house counsel at multinationals. When a Brazilian subsidiary, joint venture, distributor, vendor or counterparty creates an issue, you need a Brazilian outside counsel that will report to you, not around you. We staff at the senior level, communicate in English by default, and respect the cadence and approval workflow your legal function already runs.
Trustees, fiduciaries, and family offices. When a trust, foundation or wealth structure has Brazilian-situs assets — real estate, company shares, bank accounts, inherited interests — Brazil-side counsel is required for administration, sale, succession, residency, and tax-residency coordination. We coordinate with US, UK and Swiss trust counsel and the family’s tax advisors. The advisor relationship is protected.
Insurance carriers and reinsurers. Coverage analysis, fronting, subrogation, defense panel work in Brazil. We accept panel placement and follow client guidelines.
We are not a generalist firm. Foreign-firm and advisor work is one of five practices we built the firm around — alongside cross-border tax, real estate, private wealth, and arbitration. The engagement model described on this page supports all of them.
Step 1 — The conflict-clearance call
Twenty to thirty minutes. By video or phone. No fee. No engagement letter.
The call establishes three things: (a) whether we are conflicted; (b) whether the matter fits the practice; and (c) whether you and we are a fit professionally. None of this requires sensitive disclosures. The information we need at this stage is limited:
• Names of the parties and their ultimate beneficial owners, to the extent you can share them.
• Jurisdictions involved (Brazil-side and foreign-side).
• The shape of the issue — one or two sentences is enough.
• Any deadline or trigger date.
• Whether other Brazilian firms have been involved.
What we do not need on this call: privileged communications, settlement positions, internal valuations, the full document set, or your client’s identity if you are not yet authorized to disclose it. A descriptive identifier — “a US technology company with a Brazilian subsidiary in São Paulo,” “a UK-resident heir of a Brazilian estate in Rio” — is sufficient to run our conflict check.
If you require a non-disclosure agreement before the call, we will sign yours or send ours within 24 hours. Most foreign-counsel calls happen without one, on the protected-communications basis of standard professional courtesy between counsel.
After the call you receive a short written confirmation — usually within 24 to 48 hours — stating whether the conflict check has cleared and whether we propose to proceed to scoping.
Step 2 — The scoping memo
The scoping memo is a two- to four-page written deliverable in English that defines the Brazilian-side workstream. It is the document you put in front of your client when you propose retaining Brazilian counsel.
A typical scoping memo contains:
• The legal question or transactional scope being addressed.
• The Brazilian law analysis required, identified by area (procedural, substantive, tax, regulatory).
• The documents and information we need from you to proceed.
• The proposed deliverables (legal opinion, court filing, registry filing, redline, memorandum, status report).
• The Brazilian counterparty, court, registry or regulator involved, if known.
• A timeline, in business days, milestone-anchored.
• A fixed fee or fee estimate, in USD, with assumptions identified.
• Disbursement estimates (sworn translation, apostille, court costs, registry fees, expert fees).
• The named partner who will lead the engagement and the lead associate.
• Conflict-clearance confirmation and any waivers required.
Most matters can be scoped within five to ten business days from receipt of the underlying documents. Some — particularly emergency injunctive matters, perishable evidence in disputes, or matters with imminent statutory deadlines — are scoped same-day.
There is no fee for the scoping memo on engagements that proceed. For matters that do not proceed, we do not invoice the scoping work; the time is absorbed into our cost of business development.
Step 3 — The engagement letter
Our engagement letter is in English, signed by a named partner on Oliveira Lawyers letterhead. It will look familiar to anyone who reads US, UK or international firm engagement letters. Key terms:
Scope of engagement. Identifies the matter precisely, the Brazilian law areas covered, the deliverables, and what is expressly outside scope.
Fee structure. We offer four billing structures. The right one is selected matter-by-matter and identified in the engagement letter.
- Fixed fee: Defined-scope opinions, declarations, single registry filings, probate filings, contract review. Strongly preferred where scope is identifiable. Disbursements always separate.
- Capped fee Matters: where scope is mostly defined with uncertainty around one variable. Cap stated in USD; revisions only by mutual written agreement.
- Hourly with monthly cap: Ongoing litigation, arbitration, complex investigations. Senior partner, associate and paralegal rates disclosed. Monthly cap protects budgeting.
- Success-linked component: Collections, large enforcement matters, recovery actions. Ethical limits under OAB rules respected; never a pure contingency for defense litigation.
Currency. Invoices are issued in USD by default and can be paid by wire transfer in USD to our US-side operating account. Where required (Brazilian tax purposes, certain regulated industries), we invoice in BRL via our Brazilian operating entity. Either way the foreign client sees a single USD invoice.
Disbursements. Itemized monthly. Pass-through at cost: court filing fees, registry fees, sworn translation, apostille and consular legalization, expert and forensic accountant fees, process-service costs, travel where pre-approved.
Termination. Either party may terminate on written notice. Work in progress is billed at the point of termination on the agreed structure.
Conflict waivers. Any required waivers are disclosed and obtained before engagement, not after.
Governing law. Brazilian law for the substance of the engagement; New York law available on request where the foreign firm requires it for collateral purposes (e.g., assignment, retainer credit).
How we run the conflict check
Brazilian law firms operate under the Estatuto da Advocacia e da OAB (Law 8.906/1994) and the Código de Ética e Disciplina of the Brazilian Bar (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil, OAB). Our conflict-check protocol is built to match the expectations of US and UK Model Rules-trained firms while satisfying OAB ethics.
Our process:
1. Same-day intake of party names and ultimate-beneficial-owner identifiers into our conflicts database.
2. Two-tier check. First-tier check against our matter list across all six offices; second-tier check against named individuals in the engagement.
3. Adverse-party screening. We confirm we are not currently representing, and have not in the prior 24 months represented, the adverse party or its affiliates in a matter substantially related to yours.
4. Information-barrier review. Where prior representation does not preclude engagement but does create a screen requirement, we identify the affected lawyers and confirm the screen is operative.
5. Written clearance. You receive written confirmation that the conflict check has cleared (or a written disclosure if a waiver is required) before any substantive work begins.
If your firm’s conflict system requires a separate conflict waiver letter from the Brazilian firm, we will provide one in your preferred format.
Confidentiality and attorney-client privilege
Brazilian attorney-client privilege — sigilo profissional — is one of the strongest professional protections in Brazilian law. It is protected by the Federal Constitution (article 5, XIV), the Estatuto da Advocacia (article 7, II), and the Penal Code (article 154). Brazilian lawyers cannot be compelled to disclose client communications, and Brazilian courts and authorities cannot lawfully demand attorney work product in most circumstances.
For foreign-counsel engagements there are two practical questions.
First, does Brazilian privilege protect communications between Brazilian counsel and the foreign firm or its client? Yes. The protection extends to all communications made for the purpose of legal representation, regardless of the nationality of the lawyer or the client.
Second, will US, UK or other foreign courts treat Oliveira Lawyers’ work as privileged under their own law? Where the engagement is structured as Brazilian local counsel reporting to lead foreign counsel, the work product is typically protected under the foreign jurisdiction’s privilege framework (attorney-client privilege and, in the US, work-product doctrine under FRCP 26(b)(3)). We are familiar with the structural elements US and UK courts look for, and we memorialize the engagement accordingly in our engagement letter.
We accept and use document-management protocols compatible with major foreign-firm systems, including secure file-sharing platforms, encrypted email, and matter-specific data rooms.
Communication, status reporting and deliverables
One senior partner. One workplan. One invoice. Every engagement has a named partner who is the single point of contact. The named partner attends every milestone meeting, signs every deliverable, and is reachable by phone or email during US business hours.
Time zones. São Paulo is GMT-3 (one hour ahead of New York for half the year, same hour for the other half). London is GMT (three hours from São Paulo). Dubai is GMT+4 (seven hours from São Paulo). We staff calls during your business hours.
Cadence. Litigation and arbitration matters report monthly by default with milestone updates as triggered. Transactional matters report weekly or by milestone, as you prefer. Probate, registry and regulatory matters report at each substantive step.
Deliverables. All written work product is delivered in English by default. Portuguese versions are produced on request. Where Brazilian court filings or registry submissions are required in Portuguese, you receive the Portuguese filing plus an English summary.
Document handling. We accept your firm’s document-management protocols. Where you prefer to use your own data room or matter platform, we coordinate; where you prefer ours, we provide it. Standard filenaming and Bates conventions are honored on request.
Languages, jurisdictions, and bar credentials
Our partners draft, negotiate, and argue in English and Portuguese. Spanish is available across the team. Engagement letters, opinions, memoranda, redlines, and status reports are produced in English unless you specify otherwise.
Our credentials relevant to foreign-firm engagement include:
• Brazilian Bar (OAB) admission for all attorneys; Luciano Oliveira admitted OAB/SP 38257.
• US bar admission in Texas (State Bar of Texas) and California (State Bar of California) — Luciano Oliveira.
• Portuguese bar contact and collaboration with Lisbon-side counsel (Caiado Guerreiro, Finpartner) for Portuguese law matters.
• Offices in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Florianópolis, Lisbon, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
• 22 years since the foreign-client practice was founded in 2004.
The US bar admissions specifically matter for foreign counsel because they allow us to issue engagement letters, conduct conflict checks, and structure billing in a way that matches what US-firm partners expect — without requiring a translation layer.
Practice areas we cover as Brazilian local counsel
We act as Brazilian local counsel across five primary practice areas, each described in detail on its own page under the Local Counsel parent.
Cross-border litigation, arbitration and enforcement. Counsel and co-counsel in proceedings seated in Brazil, foreign-judgment and arbitral-award recognition before the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ), parallel proceedings, evidence-gathering under the Hague Evidence Convention.
Private client, probate and estate administration referrals. Brazilian probate (inventário judicial and extrajudicial), estate administration, foreign-heir representation, succession planning coordinated with US and UK trust counsel.
Due diligence, records retrieval and risk reports. Corporate and individual due diligence, court-records searches across federal and state systems, property-registry verification, OFAC and sanctions overlays, integrity reviews.
Brazilian law legal opinions and expert declarations. Closing opinions for transactional matters, freestanding opinions for arbitration submissions, expert declarations for foreign litigation (US-style declarations on Brazilian law), regulatory opinions.
Real estate and investor entry. Brazilian property acquisitions, family-office holdings, Golden Visa qualifying investments, real-estate due diligence and registry work for foreign buyers.
Each practice area is led by a named partner. We do not subcontract foreign-counsel work to junior teams.
What we do not do
A premium engagement model requires clear boundaries. We are not a US tax practice and do not provide US tax advice. We are not investment advisors and do not manage assets. We are not a fiduciary or trustee. We do not act as lead counsel in jurisdictions where we are not admitted. We do not handle Brazilian criminal defense outside our existing white-collar referral relationships. We do not take pure contingency in defense litigation (Brazilian ethics rules restrict this for defense work, and we do not propose structures that do not survive ethical review).
Where your matter requires services we do not provide, we work alongside your existing advisors — or, where a new relationship is needed, we can introduce you to ones we trust and work with regularly.
How to engage Oliveira Lawyers as Brazil local counsel
You can start the engagement in any of three ways.
1. Send a conflict-clearance request. Email the names of parties, jurisdictions, and a one-paragraph description of the matter to [email protected]. We respond with a conflict result and a proposed call time within one business day.
2. Schedule a call directly. Use the booking link below to schedule a 20-minute conflict-clearance call with Luciano Oliveira.
3. Send a request for scoping. If you already know your firm can engage us and want to skip directly to scoping, email the underlying documents (engagement letter from your firm, pleadings, deeds, contracts, prior correspondence) under cover of a privileged-and-confidential note. We will return a scoping memo within five to ten business days.
For RFP-style or panel-placement processes, we accept your firm’s standard request format. Email [email protected] for a response.
Frequently asked questions
How quickly can you start a new matter?
We can clear conflicts within one business day for most matters. For matters where the scope is already known, we can deliver an engagement letter within 48 hours of conflict clearance and begin substantive work the same day. Emergency matters — including injunctive relief, perishable evidence, and statutory deadlines — are handled the same day.
Do you accept contingency or success-based engagements?
For collections, enforcement, and recovery matters we offer success-linked fee components. For defense litigation, Brazilian ethics rules under the Código de Ética da OAB restrict pure contingency, and we do not propose structures that would not survive ethics review.
Can you appear in Brazilian courts for our client?
Yes. All our attorneys are OAB-admitted and may appear before any federal or state court in Brazil, the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ), and the Supreme Federal Court (STF). Where appearance is required in a court outside our home OAB section, we use established correspondent counsel under our supervision.
What is the difference between Oliveira Lawyers and a Big Law Brazilian firm?
The largest Brazilian firms are excellent for capital-markets, M&A and institutional banking work. They are typically less cost-competitive for matters in our practice areas, and partner-level English-language attention is harder to secure on mid-sized matters. We are built for the mid-market and HNW segments — partner-level engagement on every matter, English-first, USD-billed, no leverage games.
Do you bill in USD?
Yes, by default. Invoices issue from our US-side operating account in USD, payable by wire transfer. Where Brazilian tax or regulatory reasons require BRL invoicing, we issue from our Brazilian operating entity in BRL while reporting to the foreign firm in USD. We do not pass currency-conversion risk to the foreign client.
How do you handle electronic discovery and document review for foreign matters?
We accept document productions in standard e-discovery formats (Relativity exports, Concordance, native PDF). Where your matter involves Brazilian-resident documents subject to the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD, Brazil’s GDPR-equivalent), we handle the LGPD-side compliance — including cross-border transfer mechanisms, data-subject notice, and minimization.
Can you act as expert witness on Brazilian law?
Yes. Luciano Oliveira and senior partners have provided expert declarations in US federal court, US state court, English High Court, and ICC and CAM-CCBC arbitration. Fee structures for expert declarations are typically fixed-fee for the declaration plus hourly for cross-examination preparation and testimony.
What is your typical client size?
We work with foreign firms of all sizes — from Magic Circle and AmLaw 50 firms to boutiques and solo practitioners. Our family-office clients range from single-family offices of $50 million to MFOs managing several billion. There is no minimum engagement size; small, well-scoped matters are welcome and routinely accepted.
Are you ethically permitted to receive referrals from US or UK lawyers?
Yes. Brazilian ethics rules permit referrals and joint engagements with foreign counsel under proper disclosure. Where referral compensation is appropriate, we comply with both Brazilian OAB rules and the referring firm’s home-jurisdiction rules, including Model Rule 1.5(e) in US referring jurisdictions.
Can you sign a joint engagement letter with our firm?
Yes. We frequently sign joint engagement letters with foreign firms where the client is jointly represented. The joint engagement letter form is straightforward, and we can use either firm’s template.
Speak with a partner
For a confidential conflict-clearance call or to request a scoping memo:
+1 (214) 432-8100
+55-21-2018-1225
• Schedule a call directly
• Submit a matter for scoping
• Send a request for proposal (RFP) or panel-placement inquiry
We are your Brazilian local counsel firm — run by lawyers who built the practice for exactly this kind of engagement.