Finocchio & Ustra Sociedade de Advogados

Finocchio & Ustra Sociedade de Advogados started with the dream to fill a gap in the State of São Paulo’s market and build a full-service office that could compete with the most admired offices in Brazil.

Focused on developing effective and reliable legal solutions, highly qualified professionals, and working closely with clients, we gained our market share and currently have in our client portfolio national and international companies of all sizes, and from all business sectors.

We have made investment in corporate governance and in our management model; such as our participation in the Partners for Excellence Program (PAEX) of Fundação Dom Cabral, which is one of the best business schools in the world.

With our future and the sustainability of the firm in mind, in 2019 we launched our innovation platform: Future in Us (https://www.futurein.us/en/), as we believe in the rapid evolution of law. We also believe that the best way to get to know us is by understanding our ideology. Thus, we make every possible effort and initiative on a daily basis to incorporate this into our culture.

Our vision
To be a benchmark firm, sustainable and timeless, in an ever-changing corporate environment.

Our mission
To understand and improve our clients’ businesses, delivering results through strategic, innovative, reliable, and effective solutions.

Our purpose
To fulfill our mission in an ethical and synergetic environment, developing people with respect and transparency.

Our values
We believe in and are guided by our values:

• We are committed to excellence and result delivering;
• We act ethically with integrity and transparency;
• We value our clients and work to exceed expectations;
• We value promptness and responsiveness;
• We are assertive through clarity;
• We are passionate about what we do;
• We cherish team spirit, an easy-going, and inspiring work environment;
• Our team is our greatest asset.

Main areas of practice
Banking and finance: the team advises Brazilian and multinational companies, institutional investors and financial institutions concerning all aspects of the banking and stock market activities. We advise our clients on syndicated and structured loans, securitizations and project financing.

Civil litigation: provides advice and represents its clients in the negotiation and pre-litigation phase, in lawsuits and civil arbitration proceedings, presenting the best possible legal solutions for each case, through highly technical, effective, viable and tailored service and performance.

Preventively, it provides legal guidance based on the latest understanding of the courts, aimed at preventing or minimizing the impact of disputes. Lawsuits and arbitration proceedings are conducted in a strategic manner, acting before the Judiciary Branch and Arbitration Courts.

Corporate compliance: relies on multidisciplinary participation of professionals working in the most diverse areas of law such as administrative, regulatory, tax, criminal, corporate, labour, M & A and contract, in order to align specialized technical knowledge with good compliance practices, providing the client with a customized and integrated solution to prevent, detect and avoid violations of corporate regulations and laws .

Contract law: provides assistance to Brazilian and foreign companies through the preparation, review and negotiation of preliminary agreements, as well as in the various types of contracts, typical and atypical, provided for in Brazilian and international law.

Corporate/M&A: was consolidated as a benchmark in the assistance for shareholding operations, also by participating in several operations of national relevance.

The firm has experience in the most diverse matters of corporate law and business transactions. It is known for presenting innovative and complete individualized solutions for planning, negotiating and implementing complex M&A transactions, corporate reorganization and strategic planning involving all-sized domestic as well as international companies with agility, excellence, straightforwardness and transparency.

Corporate criminal law has been consolidated by excellence in its dynamic and contemporary performance related to the elaboration of its strategies in cases of high complexity and national repercussion. The performance of the highly specialized team with solid experience, added by the full service structure provides the client with customized and comprehensive legal solutions. The agility combined with personal servicing in emergency and fragile situations such as searches and seizures and prisons are also trademarks of the corporate criminal law team that provide assurance and comfort to the client in these sensitive phases.

Customs and international trade consultancy: offers to clients counseling in tax and customs matters with high performance, agility, compliance and reduction of operating costs. It has the assumptions of (i) ensuring compliance and (ii) increasing the efficiency of our clients’ Foreign Trade operations.

Environmental: advises clients with a focus on understanding the solution regarding the interpretation of the complex and sparse environmental legislation, but also in complying with the requirements of the environmental control agencies, aiming at the company’s good standing and seeking to assist it in the adoption of the best strategy oriented to the client’s business, with the lowest risk of accountability.

In the area of litigation, the office is prominent for the strategic analysis of our clients’ demands, whether they are in an administrative or judicial phase, and for a vision that is not limited to the legal perspective.

Family and succession planning: provides assistance to its clients in drafting public deeds, out-of-court settlements and consensual actions.

It provides guidance on the property regime, preparing prenuptial agreements and common-law marriage deeds, as well as on property division in divorces, common-law marriage dissolutions, and inventories.

Succession planning is customized to meet the expectations and specific needs of each client, with the preparation of wills and corporate structuring, in conjunction with the corporate area.

Intellectual property: provides legal assistance for the protection of trademarks, patents, industrial designs, scientific, literary, artistic works, computer programs etc in Brazil and abroad.

The team works with all administrative or litigation procedures and also in the drafting of contracts related to intellectual property rights, such as licensing, assignment, distribution, franchising and technology transfer contracts.

It offers intellectual property portfolio strategic management services to assist clients in the protection of intangible assets. It has a strong performance in the area of technological innovation.

Labour: was consolidated as a benchmark in legal advisory assistance and strategic conducting of judicial and administrative proceedings, including accidental regressive claims, and it also has strong participation in collective bargaining and legal audits.

The team advises domestic and foreign companies in all aspects involving human resources, with emphasis on the analysis of HR routines, payroll and occupational medicine and safety; correction of vulnerable procedures and guidance of safe methods that minimize the risk of contingencies in the labor sector. It also works in shareholding operations for the assessment of possible labor liabilities.

Real estate: acts in the evaluation of the risks involved in the real estate business concerning the analysis of eventual environmental liabilities and compliance with the requirements established by the New Forestry Code, as well as in the preparation of the most diverse agreements.

Regulatory law: the advisory sector develops important work to follow up and support the entire license obtaining process with the federal, state and municipal management bodies, as well as dealing with compliance issues. In the litigation sector, it operates with the definition and structuring of these in administrative proceedings and tax infraction notices carried through by the most diverse instrumentalities of the Direct and Indirect Public Administration.

Restructuring and insolvency: has consolidated in working with companies undergoing economic and financial crisis in cases of national relevance. It assists clients in corporate restructuring processes and renegotiation of large liabilities through the planning, preparation and conduct of court assisted and extrajudicial reorganization processes, as well as through disputes resolution (judicial litigation) of financial origin.

Tax consulting: works together with other areas of the firm for the seamless search to understand the client’s business with the goal of bringing customized and unique alternatives for the process of decision making by the companies’ officers.

The tax consulting team understands that only a strategic perspective allows an adequate understanding of the core and routine fiscal issues experienced by the companies, and that is precisely what it has been doing for clients in a wide range of business sectors.

Tax litigation: is prominent for its comprehensive servicing of clients’ needs, working with professionals of solid academic backgrounds and broad expertise.

The area is familiar with taxes in practice and capable not only of conducting the administrative and judicial proceedings, but also to assist clients even before they constitute the tax credit, ie, in the inspection procedures, thus avoiding the generation of liabilities or increasing the chances of success. Being familiar with clients’ businesses and carrying out the strategic conduct of their actual or potential litigations is of essence to accomplish effective results in the litigation sphere.

Tax planning: is essential to corporate strategy and is currently a key financial tool, in addition to being an ally of compliance and corporate governance.

The team works alongside corporate and environment teams and has the experience and knowledge necessary to deliver customized tax planning and international taxation projects to clients. The multidisciplinary approach involving finance, accounting and the participation of other areas of the office guarantees fundamental solutions. In addition to creating tax efficiency, the work developed by the team contributes to the management of clients’ businesses.