Ivo Waisberg

Thomaz Bastos, Waisberg, Kurzweil Advogados

São Paulo www.twk.com.br

ivo@twk.com.br Tel: +55 11 3552-5000

Biography

Bachelor, master, doctor and full professor in law from PUC/SP; master in trade regulation from New York University. Professor in commercial law at PUC/SP. Lawyer, partner of Thomaz Bastos, Waisberg, Kurzweil Advogados. Besides 25 years’ experience in restructuring, corporate, project finance, banking and arbitration issues, Ivo Waisberg acts frequently as arbitrator in arbitration disputes and has authored numerous books and papers on legal issues.

What do you enjoy most about practising restructuring and insolvency law?

The challenge. To help a company and the whole environment around it is greatly rewarding. It is a complex task which requires multidisciplinary knowledge, strategical thinking, and emotional intelligence.

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

First step is to understand the real problem. That demands understanding the business, the flow, as well as financial and economy issues. After that comes the legal issues, which involves pinpointing liabilities, financial assets, and legal and contractual rules of the specific case. Then we can think of the available legal tools and a strategy to establish a negotiation plan.

Which sectors have received the largest restructuring wake-up call from the global coronavirus pandemic, and how are they addressing the issues created?

At first, I think it was the retail market. It was largely affected by the general business lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic. Many of them had to be permanently closed. Those which had some cash on hand or were able to adapt to a smaller cash flow could resist the worst moments and got back to business. Others adapted well to e-commerce, and in some situations even thrived after all.

How can clients effectively address withdrawal of covidrelated government support across different jurisdictions?

I guess the help offered by governments (in Brazil it was not so effective) as well as a certain good will shown by financial creditors helped several companies to survive. But now we’re experiencing the post-crisis period, which led many companies to restructure, since they suffered a lot and now there isn’t much help from the governments or flexibility from the financial system. From the judicial restructuring point of view, I assume an increase in the number of cases will be seen in 2022.

How can clients most effectively explore transformations to their business to strengthen them, and what role do restructuring specialists have to play in this?

Every crisis presents an opportunity. Some businesses take more advantage of the situation, others not so much. In order to make over or take the opportunity, the operational turnaround specialist is of great help in providing a different angle on markets and processes. The legal expert will create leverage and a good strategy, and supply the tools necessary for implementation.

What further steps can the legal profession take to improve diverse talent hiring and retention?

I do not believe in any kind of magic to that effect. Hiring well is knowing how to choose and have a clear profile for recruitment, having as criteria: character and technical quality. Retention depends on recognising the merit of the development with good financial compensation.

What do you believe is the highlight of your career so far?

I consider the start of Thomaz Bastos, Waisberg, Kurzweil Advogados. Having created with my partners an office which is acknowledged as one of the best in our field, both in restructuring and litigation, and whose name brings good reputation and dignity is, undoubtedly, the greatest achievement in a career as a lawyer.

What do you wish to achieve in your practice that you haven’t done so already?

Honestly, I have achieved more than I expected. Looking 25 years back to the beginning of my career I would not expect to have come this far. I had the chance to advise on the biggest cases in Brazil and some in the world in my area, to teach at an important university, to create a wellrespected specialised office and cooperate with the insolvency system reform by participating in the writing of Law 14.112/20. If I can keep this going like this, it will be a perfect achievement.

Peers and clients say: “One of the best lawyers with regards to advising debtors and/or plaintiffs in judicial reorganisation proceedings” “Ivo is very intelligent and incredibly well respected” “He is a standout name in the market”