Adriana Dantas > Lefosse Advogados > Sao Paulo, Brazil > Lawyer Profile

Lefosse Advogados
RUA TABAPUÃ, 1227
14TH FLOOR
SÃO PAULO SP 04533-014
Brazil

Work Department

Compliance, Investigations and White-Collar

Position

Partner

Career

Adriana Dantas is the head partner for Compliance, Investigations and White-Collar . She has more than 20 years of experience in Compliance, Internal Investigations (with a focus on multi-jurisdictional investigations), International Trade, and Administrative Misconduct Law. Currently, she is the chairwoman of the Sanctions Committee of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), an international administrative court of appeals for cases involving corruption, fraud, and/or formation of a cartel in projects financed by the Bank in Latin America. She is the first woman to hold such an office.

She advises national and multinational clients on matters including administrative defenses, negotiation of leniency agreements, internal investigations, crisis management, designing, implementing, and monitoring integrity and compliance programs. For International Trade matters, she has extensive experience in conducting commercial defense actions in Brazil and abroad, as well as defending cases before the World Trade Organization.

Additionally to her work in Brazil, she has also worked as a lawyer at King & Spalding LLP in Washington, DC from 2006 to 2011, in Geneva from 2001 to 2003, and in London in 2001. She is an independent supervisor appointed by the Federal Prosecution Office in the context of a leniency agreement entered into by a publicly held company, in the aftermath of Operação Lava-Jato (Operation Car Wash).

She holds a Ph.D. in International Economic Law from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) Law School, a Master’s degree from the University of London, King’s College, and a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Universidade de Brasília (UnB). She is the chairwoman of the Compliance Subcommittee of the International Bar Association (IBA).

Adriana Dantas has also been recognized nationally and internationally for her work in: Compliance, Investigations, Government Enforcement, and International Trade practice. Among the international legal directories, its main recognitions were by Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, Leaders League, Who’s Who Legal, and GIR. She is also nationally recognized through the seal Análise Advocacia.

Lawyer Rankings

Brazil > White-collar crime and investigations

Lefosse Advogados fields a specialised compliance, investigations and white-collar crime practice, launched in 2019, with ‘extensive experience in complex cases‘ and investigations concerning allegations of fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and environmental crime. The group demonstrates particularly strong capabilities in preventive matters and crisis management, and also excels in the negotiation of plea bargain agreements with the Brazilian authorities. Following her tenure on the Petrobras Integrity Board Committee, the ‘exceptionalAdriana Dantas, who has a wealth of experience in compliance and internal investigations, joined in August 2022 with a group of associates, as a result of the incorporation of her former firm Adriana Dantas Advogados. The team was further strengthened by the addition of corporate criminal law expert Marcelo Ribeiro in January 2023, who was previously at the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office; he is skilled in multi-jurisdictional investigations and proceedings related to corruption, money laundering, economic and tax crime. Juliana Daniel is especially active in government enforcement actions and internal investigations. Associates Astrid Lima Rocha and Marina Nicolosi are other names to note for compliance and white-collar crime mandates.

Brazil > Compliance

(Leading individuals)

Adriana Dantas – Lefosse Advogados

Specialised and business-orientatedLefosse Advogados combines expertise in compliance, white-collar crime, competition and antitrust matters to provide a multi-faceted service to companies from a variety of industries. The firm’s compliance capabilities were bolstered by the arrival of renowned expert Adriana Dantas in August 2022, who joined from her own boutique firm; internal investigations, crisis management and the design, implementation, and monitoring of compliance programmes are among her key legal specialisms. The practice was further strengthened by the addition of Marcelo Ribeiro from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2023, ‘who is also extremely qualified and active in the market‘. The recent expansion of the compliance department has allowed for an increased intake of matters, such as independent monitorships, representations before the World Bank sanctioning system, and administrative sanctioning procedures before the CGU. Drawing on the firm’s strong profile in the M&A market, the group is also a well-regarded choice for integrity due diligences in the context of corporate transactions. This is a key area of focus for senior associate Astrid Lima Rocha. Another key partner in the team is Juliana Daniel, who advises on internal investigations and the structuring of corporate ethics programmes.