Tortoro, Madureira & Ragazzi Advogados

The firm: Founded in 2012, Tortoro, Madureira & Ragazzi Advogados is a mid-sized renowned Brazilian business law firm, focused on developing tailored solutions for nationwide companies operating in strategic sectors of the economy. With a team of 300 professionals, the firm's performance stands out for its partners' personal handling of cases and their high technical qualifications and deep level of specialisation. All of them are experienced before the regional and superior courts in the execution of orders and oral hearings.

Main areas of practice

• Administrative, public and regulatory law
• Arbitration and mediation
• Banking and finance
• Civil litigation
• Constitutional law
• Consumer law
• Contracts
• Corporate law
• Credit recovery, bankruptcy and court-supervised reorganization
• Electricity
• Estate planning family law and succession law
• Insurance and reinsurance
• Labour and employment
• Real estate
• Tax

Industries

• Agribusiness
• Automotive
• Civil construction and real estate development
• Communication
• E-commerce
• Education
• Electricity
• Financial institutions
• Food
• Glass
• Insurance and reinsurance
• Oil and gas
• Retail
• Technology
• Tyres

Labour and employment:  With significant expertise in litigation, the firm's services include technical work focused on the analysis of labour contingencies and liabilities, staff restructuring and employee allocation, closing branches or company dissolution, outsourcing services and structuring compensation (salary and benefits). The firm also participates in the application and development of benefit plans in various modalities such as stock options, bonuses and profit sharing, changes in employment contracts, transfers of employees at national and international level and collective bargaining.

The labour and employment litigation team represents clients’ interests under the Labour Court System in individual and collective labour claims, and civil deeds in the public interest. The attorneys’ experience in the administrative scope covers defence in preparatory procedures and public civil inquiries promoted by the Labour Prosecution Office, in notices of violation drafted by the Regional Superintendence of Labour and Employment, and in following up on inspections, notices of interdictions and more.

The firm is often involved in the defence of its clients in lawsuits filed by former employees who held senior positions or involving large risks to the image as moral and sexual harassment.

Civil litigation: The civil litigation team represents almost half of the firm with 115 dedicated attorneys. The whole team is specialised in judicial and administrative procedures on behalf of international and local household names, like consumer protection agencies such as Procon (Consumer Protection Bureau) and other regulatory bodies.

The firm's mantra is 'partner's involvement from minute one and deep industry specialisation with our deep bench'. Such approach became fruitful over the years, placing Tortoro as the go-to law firm for complex litigation.

The firm has a strong presence in the financial and banking sector, representing the main players, who together account for 80% of the credit market and have trillions of reais in value of assets under management. In addition, the firm has a relevant presence in the Brazilian electricity sector, which is one of the largest interconnected systems in the world and which will receive more than R$450bn in investments in the next ten years. With an office in Brasilia, the firm has considerable experience in proceedings pending before the highest courts of Brazil.

Credit recovery: Representing the interests of creditors such as financial institutions, investment funds and industries, the firm acts proactively in locating debtors’ assets by identifying procedures of attempted asset protection, as well as fraudulent conveyance and fraud upon the execution of judgment. The firm files court-supervised and out-of-court reorganisation proceedings in favour of creditors, identifying first priority claims and proper filing of proof of claim, attending meetings, taking part in committees, reviews, objections to claim and negotiation of agreements in reorganisation plans.

Credit recovery, labour and litigation top clients:

• Agribusiness: Louis Dreyfuss
• Banking and finance: Santander, Itaú, Banco Safra, Banco Pan, CSF Bank, Bradesco, Banco Sofisa, J&f Investimentos S.A., Nu Pagamentos S/A (NuBank), Creditas Soluções Financeiras LTDA and PicPay
• Retail: Carrefour and Magazine Luiza
• Food and beverage: Unilever, Camil, Arcor and LBR – Lácteos Brasil S.A
• Energy: Câmara de Comercialização de Energia Elétrica (CCEE), Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico (ONS), Neo Energy, Elektro, CPFL Energia and MSG Transmissão
• Gas: IBG
• Insurance: Zurich Santander
• Tyres: Pirelli and Promition
• Third sector: Ayrton Senna Institute.

Recent highlight deals:

• The firm advised the Electric Energy Trading Chamber (CCEE) in defining the strategy to face the judicialisation of default in the Free Market for electric energy, which reached the sum of almost R$ 8bn in 2020
• The firm advised Banco Safra in the development of a defence strategy to face lawsuits involving the questioning of loan agreements, due to the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic
• The firm advised Banco Santander regarding an action against the Federal Government seeking the annulment of three labour infraction notices that resulted in the imposition of a millionaire fine, in addition to the recognition of the employment relationship of 629 outsourced employees with the bank