Areas of practice

Banking

VGQ develops solid and efficient strategies, and it will offer the most efficient solutions to clients at all times.

• Review of bank/financial agreements addressing loans and capital-raising through commercial banks and investment funds.

• Setup of guarantees and proceedings or execution of guaranties, retentions of ownership, secured fiduciary sale of personal and real properties, mortgage deeds, contracts of guarantee, collateral security, agricultural and industrial lien, credit rights, and other tools of guarantee.

• Negotiation and restructuring of bank loans, as well as in filing/defending lawsuits to increase rents/ perform instruments enforceable in court.

Civil

We provide services both in the civil area and litigation area as well as in preventive area, in the several ways of disputes, and we act before administrative authorities and regulatory agencies.  Our goal is to develop solid and efficient strategies, and it will offer the most efficient solutions to clients at all times. We have a wide relationship network in Brazil and abroad, and we are ready to operate in several locations.

Foreign Trade

Expertise in structuring import and export transactions. The firm operates before its Brazilian and foreign clients in establishing their businesses in Brazil or other markets.

• It practices in the preventive area and, if required, also in court or out-of-court litigation.

• VFGQ provides legal advisory services in tax planning, tax classification, customs valuation, origin rules, special customs regimes, import licensing, change in tariffs, among all the other services entailed in or resulting from import or export.

• It operates before Customs in customs authority procedures and other procedures that may be in charge of that agency.

• In the litigation scope, it practices before all administrative and judicial courts.

• Once the target markets have been defined, it implements all the stages involved in the commercial exploitation of the new market, and therefore the company will be qualified to transact in Brazil or abroad.

• Practice in anti-dumping investigation proceedings.

Compliance

Legal advisory services in identifying risks and curing any contingent liabilities.

• The multidisciplinary structure of the provided services in the compliance area has the purpose of helping clients to identify risks, avoid, forewarn, and cure any contingent liabilities.

• Adjustment of the company’s businesses to Brazilian laws, chiefly to Federal Law no. 12846/2013, as well as to anticorruption practices of foreign laws, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the United States and the UK Bribery Act.

• Development and implementation of businesses in accordance with rules and regulations of regulatory and inspecting authorities, according to clients’ corporate business.

• Drafting and development of programs aimed at corporate ethics, through the review and implementation of Compliance Programs, Internal Policies, and Corporate Governance.

Antitrust Law

Full legal counseling to Brazilian and international clients.

• It practices in the antitrust law area, advising its clients, both Brazilian and international ones, in structuring and implementing business practices that make relevant impacts on the market, such as, chiefly, transactions that involve mergers and acquisitions.

• Enforcement of its clients’ rights and interests in operations that investigate anticompetitive conducts, including regulated markets, and it will represent them before the Brazilian Antitrust Authority (CADE) and Regulatory Agencies.

Consumer

Enforcement of its clients’, suppliers’ and consumers’ rights and interests in precluding or solving court or out-of-court proceedings.

• Its practice aims at enforcing the rights and interests of its clients, suppliers, and consumers, both in providing guidelines of prevention practices, and resolving any proceedings that address the matter.

• The firm operates in the administrative scope, such as providing services when client is given notices about consumer claims filed with the Consumer Protection Office (Procon), the Consumer Claims Courts, the Public Prosecution Office and even the press, as well as in the judicial scope, such as filing lawsuits and drafting answers and appeals before the Small Civil Claims Courts, and Courts of General Jurisdiction.

• It advises its clients about advertisements, advertising campaigns, promotions, cultural bees, among other procedures that bind vendors.

Contracts

Full and multidisciplinary legal counseling on the drafting and negotiation of the most diverse types business contracts.

• Full and multidisciplinary advisory services in the drafting and negotiation of the most diverse types of business contracts, including those that involve foreign parties and international businesses.

• Support to and representation of clients at all stages of the negotiation process, advising clients on the drafting and revision of the contracts and providing full legal counseling services in the post-contract stage, such as contracts management, drafting amendments to contracts, and contract termination, in addition to operating in dispute resolutions resulting from contractual relations.

Real Estate

VFGQ carries out a discerning review of opportunities and risks, coming out with specific and pertinent legal solutions.

• It provides full legal advisory services in all kinds of transactions in the real estate sector, such as real estate lease, sale, acquisition, among other transactions, in all stages of the negotiation, and it will conduct a discerning review of opportunities and risks, coming out with specific and pertinent legal solutions.

• Advisory services in the regularization of properties and real estate developments in order to adjust them to zoning laws and regulatory environments inherent to the activities that will be conducted in them.

• It provides advisory services to its clients in the execution of security interests retained in real properties and the setup of legal structures that make capital-raising feasible from them.

The Brazilian General Data Protection Law

VFGQ counsels its clients on the several matters related to privacy, information security, and personal data protection.

The Brazilian General Data Protection Law establishes rules on collecting, storing, treating, and sharing personal information, and it establishes more protection and penalties in cases of failure to comply with it. We advise our clients on several matters in connection with those issues, including:

• Full diagnosis of all the company’s departments, sectors, and systems, by mapping and reviewing risks in connection with users’ and clients’ stored personal information.

• Advisory and litigation services in the development of procedures, internal protocols, and preventive measures in cases of incidents in connection with data privacy and protection.

• Drafting or reviewing terms of use of digital platforms and privacy policies for the treatment of personal information.

• Legal counsel on contracts that address the hiring of service providers that process or collect personal data at the company’s request, as well as the assignment, licensing, or any other method of personal data transmission.

• Development and implementation of programs in compliance with the Brazilian General Data Protection Law, as well as their revision from time to time, by taking into account all relevant aspects of the legislation.

M&A

A multidisciplinary team with a broad background, that is fully committed and ready to face the challenges of complex and sophisticated transactions.

Merger and acquisition transactions have demonstrated to be ever more complex and sophisticated, and they will involve critical and strategic issues.

This requires a multidisciplinary team with broad background, that is fully committed and ready to meet the challenges faced along the process. We provide services that include legal counseling in:

• Mergers and acquisitions;

• Joint ventures;

• Private Equity Investments;

• Corporate restructurings;

• Capital markets;

• Business contracts;

• Due diligences.

Estate planning

VGQ has a specialized group in several areas of Law, offering creative solutions to afford the best protection and longevity of assets.

The family estate, formed along its history, is an important matter for the well-being of current and future generations. In order to avoid conflicts of this nature and resolve them, we have a specialized team in several Law areas, such as Tax, Corporate, and Real Estate Law, that will provide the right answers to the best protection, preservation, and longevity of assets, focused on:

• Practice in counseling and litigation.

• Review of the situation of the estate, devising the best strategy for its protection, which will be the most efficient one from all legal aspects.

• Legal design for strengthening governance policies.

• Setup of family holdings.

• Corporate restructurings.

• Tax and regulatory aspects.

Regulatory

Legal background on regulated sectors, in the several areas of the industry, offering specialized legal services in a variety of issues.

We have broad experience in legal issues in regulated sectors, in the broad sectors of the industry, including electric power, transportation, construction, education, oil & gas, water and sewage, telecommunications, mining, among other sectors, and we provide legal assistance in the national and international scope, in several areas, such as:

• Development in infrastructure projects, taking into account all its stages.

• Court and out-of-court litigation.

• Government procurements.

• Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).

• Drafting administrative agreements.

• Review of administrative agreements.

Health

Expertise in different areas of practice in connection with the health segment, and we are ready to provide specialized and strategic legal advisory services.

• Mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.

• Practice before federal, state, and local health authorities, such as the Ministry of Health, the National Agency of Supplementary Health (ANS) and the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance (Anvisa).

• Advisory services in Compliance matters (FCPA, Codes of Ethics) .

• Legal counseling on the importation of machines, licensing agreements, and agreements on technology transfer and regulatory issues.

• Publicity and advertising.

• Consumer Rights.

• Customs regulation.

• Labor advisory services.

• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Inspections.

Corporate Law

Vast expertise in corporate advisory services to all kinds of companies, chiefly limited liability companies, corporations, and unincorporated associations.

• Business structuring in general.

• Organization and structuring of companies and unincorporated associations.

• Advisory services in drafting all kinds of corporate documents (minutes, contracts, articles of incorporation, settlements, members’ resolutions, powers-of-attorney, and other services) and recording those documents with the competent authority, such as the Registry of Commerce, the Federal Revenue Service, etc.

• Organizing and bringing up to date corporate registers and documents.

• Advisory Services in corporate matters.

• Advisory services in the registration of Foreign Investments in Brazil and Brazilians’ Investments abroad. Corporate restructuring: acquisitions of ownership interests and transfer of assets, amalgamations, mergers, and spin-offs.

• Due diligence.

• Joint ventures and strategic business alliances.

• Drafting of members’ agreements and shareholders’ agreements and advisory services in corporate dispute resolutions.

• Study of corporate estate planning and on the organization of patrimonial companies [sociedades patrimoniais], including holding companies.

• Development and/or revision of internal regulations, codes of conduct and/or ethics, code of compliance and anticorruption.

• Guidance on how to handle shareholders’ meetings, members’ meetings, management meetings and directors’ meetings, and representation of shareholders at meetings and shareholders’ or members’ meetings.

Labor Law

It operates in the Labor Law corrective, preventive, and strategic areas, taking proactive steps to keep clients updated about the best solutions at all times. It helps companies to modernize themselves, streamline their operation, and overcome legal complexity, without being exposed to unknown risks.

It advises its clients in relation to all aspects of the legislation, keeping them up-to-date with changes in labor laws and precedents that may affect employment relationships.

It operates before the Judiciary Power, the Ministry of Labor, the Labor Prosecution Office, and Unions, and it will represent its clients in all court or out-of-court instances.