Team size: 20 

Major legal advisors: Demarest, Lobo de Rizzo, Balera Advogados and Simões Pires 

Jurisdictions your role covers: Brazil 

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Over the past year, our legal team has been leading a large-scale strategic initiative focused on the active management and reduction of the Company’s labor contingencies. This project goes beyond the traditional reactive litigation model and has been structured as a comprehensive transformation of how we approach labor risk. We have implemented a data-driven segmentation of our case portfolio, enabling prioritization based on financial exposure, procedural stage, and probability of loss. This has allowed for more efficient resource allocation and the development of tailored strategies for each group of cases.

A key pillar of the initiative is the acceleration of settlements at strategic stages of litigation, supported by clear governance, rigorous budget control, and ongoing alignment with internal stakeholders such as Finance and Operations. This approach has been contributing to reduced legal uncertainty and increased predictability in cash flow and provisioning. In parallel, we are strengthening our internal control and reporting mechanisms, enhancing visibility at senior management and board levels. We also continue to work closely with external counsel to ensure consistency in legal arguments and negotiation strategies across the country. As a partial result, the initiative is already contributing to the reduction of labor exposure and to improved efficiency in legal spend, while positioning the legal function as a strategic business partner with a direct impact on the Company’s financial and operational performance.

What new pressures are you facing from the business as expectations for legal to act as a strategic partner continue to grow?

As expectations for legal to act as a strategic partner continue to evolve, one of our main challenges is to further embed the legal function into the business, moving beyond a traditional advisory role. Today, legal is expected to act proactively and strategically, contributing to decision-making, anticipating risks, and helping drive business outcomes — not only protecting the Company, but enabling it to operate more efficiently and sustainably.

This requires a shift in mindset, with a stronger focus on understanding the business, prioritizing based on impact, and delivering practical, solution-oriented guidance. It also demands closer integration with areas such as Finance and Operations, ensuring that legal strategies are aligned with broader corporate objectives. Ultimately, the challenge is not only to provide legal support, but to consistently generate value, positioning the legal team as a true business partner.

What strategies has your legal team adopted to manage disputes and mitigate risks in Brazil’s dynamic business environment?

Our legal team has adopted a more proactive and financially driven approach to managing disputes and mitigating risks in Brazil’s dynamic business environment. Rather than relying solely on a traditional reactive litigation model, we focus on early identification and segmentation of risks, allowing us to prioritize matters based on financial exposure, probability of loss, and business impact. This enables more strategic decision-making and efficient allocation of resources.

A key element of our approach is the integration of legal strategy with financial discipline. We work closely with Finance and Operations to ensure that dispute management is aligned with budget constraints, cash flow considerations, and provisioning strategies. This includes actively pursuing settlements in cases where it is economically rational, while maintaining a consistent and robust legal position. In parallel, we emphasize governance and data visibility, strengthening internal controls and reporting to support better decision-making at both management and board levels. Overall, our strategy is to position dispute management not only as a risk mitigation function, but as a lever to enhance predictability, control costs, and support the Company’s broader business objectives.”