About

Larissa Zagustin is general counsel for the Americas cluster at Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), owner of some of the world’s best-known entertainment brands including Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. Admitted to practice in Venezuela, Florida, and the UK, Zagustin has had the type of life that lends itself to cross-border legal work. She was born in Caracas, Venezuela and spent a large part of her childhood in Vienna, Austria. After returning to Venezuela to study law, she began her career at Venezuelan firm Bentat, Hoet & Pelaesz (now Hoet, Pelaez, Castillo & Duque) and subsequently moved to Miami to take a second law degree. Via an internship, she joined Viacom’s in-house team fulltime in 2003. Her early years with the company saw her work on a number of Latin America-facing matters, including advising MTV Networks in the region (before taking on full global responsibility for the channel), but she was also frequently engaged in hugely important deals elsewhere, including leading Viacom’s 2007 joint venture with Indian company Network 18. In 2014 she was promoted to general counsel for the Americas cluster, which includes Canada, US Hispanic and Latin America, leading teams of lawyers based in Miami, Buenos Aires, and São Paulo to help continue Viacom’s expansion outside the US. For example, in 2016 she led on Viacom’s $345m acquisition of Argentine TV Network Telefe.