About

‘I believe finding and keeping the best talent, and maintaining a high performance team is the biggest challenge any head of internal counsel might face’, comments Leandro Telles, head of legal for investment banking at Itaú BBA, the corporate investment arm of Brazil’s Itaú Unibanco group. Regarded as ‘having an in-depth knowledge of Brazilian finance matters, particularly the capital markets’, insiders also note his ‘great M&A expertise’ and ‘refreshing practicality in his daily dealings’. Driven by ‘the daily challenges of counselling’ what he calls ‘the most active and innovative investment bank in Brazil, and one of the leading investment banks in Latin America’, he is a great believer in the importance of developing an in-house team of ‘consistency and quality’, one that is ‘able to consistently deliver not only a high quality of service to our clients (both internal and external), but that also goes well beyond the “gatekeeper” role commonly associated with internal legal teams, effectively acting as dealmakers capable of creating and implementing highly sophisticated, and often ground-breaking, legal structures for corporate deals’. One counterpart, who has worked on numerous capital markets transactions with him over the last decade, notes: ‘we are direct competitors yet he is always open to trying to work together to find a mutually beneficial outcome for both our banks. He’s extremely professional and his knowledge of the Brazilian legal system, particularly in the area of finance, is unparalleled’.