Greenberg Traurig office. Photo: J. Albert Diaz

Carlton Fields partner and former board member Giovanni Biscardi has brought his Brazilian corporate practice to Greenberg Traurig, where he joins as a shareholder based in New York and as a foreign legal consultant in Miami. 

Biscardi practiced law for nearly two decades in Brazil. He spent almost eight years at prestigious Brazilian firm Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice, where he eventually rose to managing partner of the firm's Rio de Janeiro office.

Giovanni Biscardi

While in Brazil, Biscardi advised companies based in the U.S. and elsewhere on mining acquisitions, logistics and other traditionally state-owned enterprises in the country's privatization wave in the early 2000′s. In 2010, for example, Biscardi and Machado Meyer represented Brazilian state-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) in its $70 billion public offering.

In 2015, Biscardi joined Carlton Fields as a shareholder. There, he primarily worked with wealthy Brazilian families looking to invest in the U.S. amid a contracting Brazilian economy. He jumped to Greenberg Traurig because of its greater global presence, he said. Neither firm has a Brazilian office. He is licensed to practice law in New York and Brazil and is a Certified Foreign Legal Consultant in Florida.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has made it a mandate of his administration to deregulate the Brazilian economy and attract more investment. So far, the results for the overall economy have been mixed, but Biscardi has seen his work shift outbound, where he says Greenberg is stronger.

"Our focus here is to be there on the ground helping U.S. or foreign investors," Biscardi said, adding that he will spend the majority of his time in Brazil. "Anytime there is a foreign component we want to be involved."

Greenberg has about 25 attorneys with Brazilian experience—10 of whom speak fluent Portuguese and 15 who are comfortable in the language, according to Biscardi. He especially praised shareholder Ross Kaufman and of counsel Arnaldo Rego Jr., who joined Greenberg from Carlton Fields in September of last year.

After losing several partners to Morrison Foerster last year, Greenberg has quickly replenished its Latin America practice, adding several attorneys over the past year and absorbing Mexico City firm Orozco Waters in November.

A spokesman for Carlton Fields said of Biscardi's departure, "We wish him luck in his new endeavor."

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