Regarding clients’
Regarding clients’ business profiles, I understand the most distinguished difference refers to the decision-making processes. In Brazil, decisions tend to be more consensus-driven and directly influenced by relationships and personal connections, whereas in Northern Europe or the USA, decisions tend to be more based on objective criteria and hierarchical structures. Another clear difference relies on risk tolerance: Brazilian companies tend to adopt more bold practices rather than American and European companies, even though the former are much more familiar with the country’s business, political and legal cultures. As a generalization, Brazilian companies would be closer to Italian, Spanish or Portuguese corporation’s business style and more distant to “Anglo-Saxon” companies’ way of business. How has the pandemic affected your business As seen in other regions, Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted business in Brazil. Daily reports released by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted LATAM as one of the most affected areas, responsible for roughly 20 per cent of the worldwide rates’ death. Brazil accounted 50 per cent of confirmed cases and mortality in the region and was the 3rd most affected country globally. Among the most distinguished disruptions, Brazil had to deal with a relevant GDP contraction (~10%) affecting internal consumer demand and high unemployment rates, mainly between low and medium-size job positions (70% of the total workforce). Businesses were also required to implement rigid health and safety protocols to protect employees and customers from the spread of the virus. This included measures such as temp-erature checks, mask mandates, increased sanitation procedures, and physical distancing requirements. Telecommuting work schemes player a decisive role in this period and reorganized the country’s work system. Brazil's business environment was still navigating challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, conditions were gradually improving as vaccination efforts expanded and economic activities resumed. The country’s economy was in the process of recovering: while tGDP growth had rebounded from the sharp contraction experienced during the height of the crisis, recovery was uneven across sectors, with some industries still facing challenges. Are there any big projects for your customers (maybe new tools, app, etc.) where you can give us a sneak preview? We have been massively investing on AI and tech solutions lately, such as AIpowered platforms and tools to enhance legal research, document review, and case analysis based on natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to analyze large volumes of legal documents, identify relevant case law, and extract key legal and business insights. convinus.com 30
your job was a colour - what colour would it be? If I think it would be a blue and red colours’ blend, reflecting my passion, eagerness and action-oriented conduct to best assist clients and provide them with multiple alternatives for business enabling in Brazil while also reflecting a serenity and strategic approach when analyzing their legal demands. Who would you like to swap a day within your professional life? I think it would be fantastic to swap a day with Tim Cook (Apple CEO) to have immersive and in-depth innovation and leadership experiences, learning about relevant sustainability initiatives, long-term vision and customer-centric approach. What has been the biggest AHA moment in your role? It is when I can step aside of a common and predictable legal mindset and are able to put myself in the client’s shoes, thinking as a businessman, being aware of the operation’s complexity and its sustainability challenges. Legal education still tends to form technicians but corporate assistance and advisory increasingly demands a business partner outlook. Where do you get the best ideas? The best one usually arises when discussing a case or an issue with people of different background and professional experience. Multi-disciplinary discussions involving finance, HR, accounting, and tech colleagues render an “outside of the box” overview of facts that I, as a legal practitioner, usually cannot cover fully. I really appreciate professional interaction as a way to be a better lawyer and citizen. What advice would you give to your 25-year-old ME from today's perspective? Invest significantly in multiple and diverse training, enhance your soft skills constantly, never stop pursuing your dreams, even when you doubt yourself and eat healthier. What are you looking forward to in the next 12 months? Governments and private sector remain increasing the ESG agenda, companies can implement and develop significant DE&I practices, assuring more gender, race, age, sexuality, and social diversity as a way of reaching high equality standards and that the world can get rid of insane war and nonsense conflicts recently sparked. André, thank you so much for this interview and I look forward to read your article! convinus.com 31
Expat policy 
LinkedIn
Youtube
Instagram
Email