Trench Rossi Watanabe

Antitrust, International Trade

Partner

Paulo Casagrande joined the Firm in early 2020 as the partner in charge of the Antitrust & Competition group. Mr. Casagrande has 20 years of professional experience, both in the private and the public sectors.

At the federal government, he was the first ever Head of the Bid Rigging Unit at the Secretariat of Economic Law of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice (SDE), the agency then in charge of investigating cartels before the reorganization of the Brazilian Competition Defense System in 2012. During his stint at the government, he conducted several investigations together with other enforcement agencies, and also represented the Secretariat at the meetings of the Competition Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris (France).

While in the private bar, Paulo was a partner at leading international and Brazilian Law firms, and has a deep knowledge of several industries and a broad business vision. He has been especially active in the representation of clients before CADE (the Brazilian antitrust agency) in complex merger reviews and investigations of alleged anticompetitive practices. Paulo also accumulates extensive experience in assisting infrastructure and tech companies active in dynamic digital markets.

English, Portuguese and German

Paulo Casagrande has been recognized for his work in Antitrust & Competition by the main legal directories. According to Chambers and Partners, he is “an energetic” and “excellent antitrust lawyer,” who “deals with delicate matters in an efficient way and knows what he is talking about”. By its turn, he is recommended by Who’s Who Legal – Competition as a leading antitrust attorney in Brazil, based on feedback by peers and clients that he “is very able, diligent, easy-going, and extremely well prepared”; “Paulo is doing a brilliant work in building his competition practice. I would definitely recommend him.” Moreover, Legal 500 reports that Casagrande “is a star in competition law; besides his technical knowledge, he is very hands on and committed to the client’s matters”. Finally, Casagrande is also acknowledged by other specialized publications, such as Leaders League, Latin Lawyer 250 and Análise Advocacia. 

Academic Background

Paulo Casagrande graduated from the University of São Paulo Law School, the same institution from which he obtained a Doctorate (PhD) degree in Economics and Finance Law. He also holds a double LL.M degree (European Master in Law and Economics – EMLE) from the Universities of Manchester (UK) and Hamburg (Germany), supported by a full scholarship from the European Commission (Erasmus Mundus programme).

He is a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods (Bonn, Germany) and at Fordham Law School (New York, USA).