Hamilton Dias de Souza

Dias de Souza Advogados Associados

São Paulo www.dsa.com.br

hamilton.souza@dsa.com.br Tel: +55 11 3069 4279

Biography

Mr. Dias de Souza holds an LLB (1966) and an LLM in Economic and Financial Law (1978) from the University of São Paulo. He is member of several bodies, such as the Lawyers lnstitute of São Paulo, the Legal Council of Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo, the Advisory Board of the Brazilian lnstitute for Ethical Competition and the International Academy of Law and Economics. He is a founder and managing partner of Dias de Souza Advogados Associados.

I obtained my license in 1966 and have practiced law since 1967, having founded the firm in 1968. In these decades, we have been working on issues of national scope, which, in a certain way, reflect important chapters in the history of Brazil. Some of them gave rise to relevant precedents in the superior courts.

Perhaps our most emblematic cases are those related to the price control practiced by the Federal Government in the 1980s and 1990s, with active discussions until the present moment. One of these lawsuits generated the largest indemnification ever paid by the Union in the country’s history (R$ 18 billion).

Currently, the firm remains as a reference for major tax and public law discussions in the country. Our team is made up of talented professionals, most of whom were hired as interns during law school. All partners are our former interns.

What qualities make for a successful corporate tax lawyer?

A successful lawyer is someone studious, with a deep sense of justice and the ability to understand the facts and put himself in the other’s shoes. He does not act in meaningless causes, without a reasonable right to invoke, except for the ethical duty to provide technical defence in certain situations.

Also, he doesn’t work on a fee basis; he works for the cause. Fees are only the consequence of success, which, in turn, is the fruit of a good work.

How do you establish a detailed understanding of a client’s business to advise them effectively?

In the tax field, it is essential to understand the impact of the tax on the client’s activity. This applies both to the advisory and to the litigation, as it leads to the achievement of results compatible with the best interests of the client, which often go beyond the case records.

What are the most important trends that readers should be aware of in the Brazilian tax market?

Currently, it is necessary to closely monitor the evolution of jurisprudence, especially in the superior courts. It is not just a matter of knowing how to react to each oscillation in the management of cases. After all, in the last decade, precedents have equalled the positive law, in terms of its potential to generate theses and opportunities.

What is Dias de Souza Advogados Associados doing to stand out from its competitors in the market?

Our tradition is to combine strong academic credentials, professional expertise, good factual and economic understanding, in accordance with a strategic sense that puts the client first and that recognises the effect of our performance on and off the records. Hence the clientele that has followed us for so many years, despite the increasingly violent competition in our area.

You are a council member of the Lawyers Institute of São Paulo. What are the goals of this institute?

Contrary to what its name might suggest, the Lawyer’s Institute of São Paulo (IASP) is not a representative body for lawyers, as a professional category. Its members consider it the house of Brazilian jurists, as it is where the great names of national law meet, whether they are from the State of São Paulo or not. They are professors from the top law schools in the country, ministers and former ministers of the Federal Supreme Court, the Superior Court of Justice, etc., in addition to first and second instance magistrates and pioneer lawyers. The Institute exists to contribute to Brazilian institutions, to the development of our law and, finally, to the community.

You have enjoyed a very distinguished career so far. What would you like to achieve that you have not yet accomplished?

As the head of one of the main firms dedicated to public law in this country, I have been involved in our automation and artificial intelligence projects, which are of enormous importance to combine the expansion of activities with the human aspects of the practice of law that “machines” cannot perform: elaboration of theses, conception of procedural strategies, dealing with magistrates and public authorities, for example.

However, as a citizen, I have concerns about the health of Brazilian institutions. I hope to witness the approval of a tax reform that corrects the irrationalities of the system and that is not just a pretext for increasing taxes. I also believe in the improvement of jurisdictional activities, especially in the superior courts, as well as in the development of a “culture” of orderly and self-contained interaction among the powers of the Republic.

WWL says: Hamilton Dias de Souza receives notable accolades as “an excellent litigator” with “indepth expertise in tax controversy”.