Eleonora Coelho

Eleonora Coelho Advogados

São Paulo www.eleonoracoelho.com.br

eleonora@eleonoracoelho.com.br Tel: +55 11 3080 7110

Biography

Eleonora Coelho is the founding partner of Eleonora Coelho Advogados. She has a Master’s degree from Paris II – Panthéon Assas and has 20 years of experience in arbitration and ADRs. Eleonora is also president of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the BrazilCanada Chamber of Commerce (CAM-CCBC). She was former vice president of the Brazilian Arbitration Committee and was part of the Jurists’ Commission designated to update the Brazilian Arbitration Act.

My career has always been based upon hard work, study and dedication. I started as a legal intern and then as a lawyer in one of the leading law firms in Latin America where I learned to practise law with excellence. In my early years, I went to France for a post-graduation course in arbitration and adequate dispute resolution methods, which was a very new and incipient area in Brazil. Then I ended up working at a medium-size law firm where I had the opportunity to work on the first major Brazilian arbitration case. From there, I started to dedicate myself to academic and professional activities on that matter and in 2015 I opened my own law firm. I was vice president of the Brazilian Arbitration Committee (CBAr) and now I am the president of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce (CAM-CCBC), the main arbitral institution in Brazil.

What did you find most challenging about entering the arbitration field?

It was challenging to work in arbitration, because the Brazilian Arbitration Act enacted in 1996 faced constitutionality challenges and it was unknown whether arbitration would thrive or not. Only in 2001, when the Federal Supreme Court declared its constitutionality, arbitration began to develop. Thus, the biggest challenge was to fight for arbitration to be not only known but also accepted in Brazil.

It is reported that there is a new generation of arbitrators emerging who are increasingly specialised. How does increased specialisation benefit the arbitration market and what are the potential pitfalls?

Indeed, there is a generation of extremely prepared and specialised young people emerging, which is a great asset for all who work in and benefit from arbitration. I cannot see any pitfalls, because for a young person to become a specialist in arbitration, he/she must have a very broad education that includes studying substantive and procedural arbitration laws, languages and having international experience. In sum, we have the honour and privilege of having an exceptionally well-trained generation working with us today!

Many arbitral awards are starting to end up back in court for enforcement proceedings. Does arbitration have an enforcement issue, and how could this be addressed if so?

There is no scientific data that could lead us to the conclusion that there is an increase of arbitration cases that are ending up in state courts. Therefore, there is no way to conclude that there would be any enforcement issues. In any case, institutions and players are always engaged in the improvement of arbitration and in the adoption of good practices. The Brazilian Arbitration Committee for instance is currently working on a toolkit on arbitral award writing, which may bring guidelines for newcomers.

What green arbitration trends are currently prevalent in the market?

The global arbitration community is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and launched in 2021 the Greener Arbitration Protocol. The CAM-CCBC is the representative of the initiative in Brazil, through its secretary general. The objective is to minimise the impact of the arbitral proceedings on the environment and involves several players in the arbitration community around the world: arbitration centres, arbitrators, law firms, hearing venues, funders, legal journalists, legal technology providers, among others.

The protocol, conceived by Lucy Greenwood to reduce the carbon footprint linked to the segment, focuses on three areas: adoption of clean forms of energy, reduction of long-distance travel and reduction of waste - in this last pillar, an example of action is to eliminate hard copy, which was mostly achieved by the CAM-CCBC in 2020-2021.

To what extent is arbitration meeting the challenges of improving diversity?

Since the launch of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge in 2015, the arbitral community has become more aware of the issue of gender diversity and has improved in that sense. Many institutions have signed the pledge and have adopted the pledge’s guidelines of having at least 30 percent women on the roster of arbitrators. CAM-CCBC for example had only 14 percent women arbitrators in its roster and currently has 33 percent. Also, the institution does not hold, sponsor or support events or activities that do not have at least 30 percent women as speakers. However, much still needs to be done, especially regarding racial and ethnic diversity.

What role do you see third-party funding playing in arbitration moving forward?

I believe that third party funding enables parties in financial and economic difficulties to commence arbitrations in the best possible manner, which means having the best assistance, the best lawyers, legal opinions, etc. In other words, it provides adequate access to justice in many cases.

What makes Eleonora Coelho Advogados stand out from its competitors in the market?

Eleonora Coelho Advogados is a boutique law firm that has a highly experienced and qualified team of lawyers who devote themselves to cases with very special and distinctive depth and attention. Furthermore, our practice is guided by ethics, diversity and extremely personalised service.

WWL says: Eleonora Coelho stands out as an “outstanding arbitrator” who “conducts proceedings diligently and efficiently” thanks to her “broad knowledge of different sectors of the industry”.