About

Clovis Torres is the executive officer, general counsel and chairman of the board of directors at Vale, the largest mining company in Brazil. Torres is praised by one source for his ‘multitasking capabilities and the ability to lead a numerous contingent of in-house and external lawyers in times of crises’. Torres has spearheaded the reimagining of the reporting structure at Vale, transforming it into a more simple process that ensures greater efficiency, more delegation amongst regions and units, and a vast improvement in the department’s response rates. A considerable achievement considering the vast scope of the number of staff Torres oversees; he has 115 lawyers (legal and tax departments) worldwide and 263 other professionals reporting into him. The legal function has steadily become a strategic partner in all operating sectors of the organisation, and Torres believes that the legal department now has a ‘greater influence on new legislation that directly impacts the revenues of the company’. Examples of this are the settlement of the controlled foreign company tax litigation in Brazil and new controlled foreign company laws that have been successfully passed. Torres describes this as a major achievement for the legal and tax department, as this piece of tax litigation was valued at $28bn. The Vale business is also at risk of political and regulatory changes in Brazil, Indonesia and Guinea immediately and immensely affecting their businesses, which requires collaboration within the business, external bodies and outside law firms. Torres explains; ‘the challenge of running a large and internationally oriented legal department, with diversity of cultures and in different countries, would be impossible to face without partnering with great law firms throughout the world’. Outside of his company role, Torres is also the chairman of the board of the Brazilian Mining Institute (IBRAM), the union of the major mining companies operating in Brazil.