Team size: 60

Major legal advisors: White & Case, Davis Polk, Hoggan Lovels, Pinheiro Neto, Nantes Mello, Tozzini Freire and Urbano Vitalino

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

Led Azul’s Chapter 11 restructuring process, coordinating legal, fleet, finance, and operational workstreams to achieve court approval and rapid, value-maximizing emergence, including >US$2bn debt reduction, new equity capital raise (~US$950mn), and comprehensive fleet contracts restructuring. Completion and settlement of an exchange offer of senior secured notes Capital raise through the issuance of senior secured second-out notes using the airline’s frequent flyer program as collateral.

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

The role of legal has evolved from risk control to value creation. Today, the business expects legal to operate with the same speed and commercial mindset as any core function, particularly in a capital-intensive and operationally complex industry like aviation. This creates pressure to deliver solutions that are not only legally sound, but also efficient, scalable, and aligned with business objectives.

We are increasingly involved at the front end of strategic decisions: structuring transactions, supporting fleet and financing initiatives, and enabling innovative solutions under tight timelines. In response, we have focused on simplifying processes, increasing efficiency, and embedding legal within the business. The priority is to act as a true strategic partner, bringing creativity, pragmatism, and execution discipline to unlock value, rather than simply mitigate risk.

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

Given the scale and complexity of litigation in Brazil, our approach is grounded in technology, data, and business integration. We are leveraging AI and advanced analytics to map litigation trends, predict outcomes, and optimize decision-making especially in high-volume disputes. This allows us to prioritize cases, refine settlement strategies, and allocate resources with greater precision.

At the same time, we have strengthened integration with key business areas to address risks at their source. By aligning legal with operations, customer experience, and flight operations teams, we are able to improve execution and reduce the drivers of disputes.

Finally, we are shifting from a reactive to a preventive model using data-driven insights and early-warning indicators to anticipate issues and feed continuous improvements back into the business. This combination of AI, predictive analytics, and deep operational alignment enables us to manage risk at scale while supporting more efficient and resilient business performance.