Felsberg Advogados, a full-service law firm with over 50 years of history, has a new partner: Ricardo Higashitani. A specialist in Financial Law, he will join the Banking and Capital Markets teams, two areas that stand out for their complexity and sophistication. The teams are led by founding partner Graça Pedretti.
With an LL.B. from the University of São Paulo, a postgraduate degree in Financial and Capital Markets Law from Ibmec and an LL.M. from King's College London, Higashitani has worked at leading law firms both in Brazil and abroad, including Linklaters LLP in London and New York. Over the past ten years, he has been involved in cases of credit operations, issuances of securities, structuring of investment funds and banking regulation.
“The long trajectory of Felsberg Advogados, based on competence and empathy, has made the firm one of the most admired in Brazil”, says Higashitani. “Its expertise in Restructuring and Insolvency is unparalleled. I am honored to add a focus on financial operations for companies in distress”.
The timing is appropriate. The Brazilian Bankruptcy Law was reformed this year, bringing Brazilian rules in line with the international scenario. There is also the expectation, because of the new legislation, that the distressed investing market will grow, attracting new players and encouraging new capital injections.
“Over the last few years, we have expanded our operations in order to meet the high level of complexity that currently dominates the business environment, including in the legal arena”, says Thomas Felsberg, founding partner of the firm.
Within this philosophy, Felsberg Advogados invested in strengthening the areas of Data Protection, Infrastructure, White-Collar Crime, Intellectual Property and Compliance. "And as economic difficulties dominate the moment, we have other investments underway in strategic areas, not just to reinforce the sectors in which we already shine, but also to eventually attract new partners to grow our team", adds Felsberg.