Brazil and Latin America

Latin America is one of the most vibrant and rapidly-changing areas in ADR today. CPR is on the forefront of these exciting developments, as demonstrated by the examples below.

 

Brazil Initiative


The Brazil Initiative is a CPR project that CPR has been actively promoting since 2011. In this period, CPR has taken its work to Brazil to advance and extend our best-in-class arbitration and mediation practices to a global scale. In addition, CPR has undertaken multi-level initiatives to promote commercial mediation and other methods of conflict management in Brazil.

The goals of CPR’s Brazil Initiative project are:

  • to raise awareness and promote the use of mediation as an acceptable method for resolving business disputes;

  • to develop a skilled cadre of mediators in Brazil;

  • to expand CPR’s Panel of Neutrals in Brazil;

  • to educate the local community of in-house corporate counsels, business associations, private lawyers and judges on the benefits of Alternative Dispute Resolution methods.

 

CPR's Brazilian Advisory Board (BAB)


Made up of leading law firm and corporate members in Brazil, CPR’s BAB provides strategic direction to CPR’s activities in the region and works on a number of initiatives of interest to corporations and law firms in Brazil. The BAB develops resources, shares knowledge and best practices and networks with respect to dispute prevention and resolution.

The BAB recently published the Corporate Counsel Practical Guide for Arbitration in Brazil as well as the Brazil Mediation & ADR Guide, partcipated in the 2022 CPR Global Conference (an international conference presented by CPR's international advisory boards in Europe, Brazil and Canada, as well as CPR's Y-ADR Steering Committee), and organizes regular events throughout Brazil, such as a Corporate Counsel book launch event in November 2022 and Business Mediation and Dispute Management Congresses and CPR Latin America Conferences.

The BAB also supports the CPR International Mediation Competition, held annually in São Paulo, which attacts law students from around the world to compete in Brazil.

Recent Work in Brazil

 

  • CPR has conducted several conferences in Brazil:

               2019 CPR Latin America Conference in São Paulo on April 9, 2019

               VI Dispute Management Congress on April 23, 2018 in São Paulo

               Dispute Management Congress on May 19, 2017 in Curitiba

               Business Mediation Congress in May 2016 in Rio de Janeiro

               Congress in São Paulo in 2015

               Congress in Belo Horizonte in 2014

               Business Mediation Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 2013

 

  • CPR promoted a Business Mediators Training in São Paulo, in November 2013. A second training took place in São Paulo on April 26-28, 2015, and we held our 2016 workshop May 3-5 in Rio de Janeiro.

  • Development of a strong collaborative network, including several arbitral chambers and bar associations, and strong support of the Brazilian judiciary.

  • Creation and translation of key supporting material in Portuguese, including rules, protocols, training materials and success stories.

  • Co-organization of a Mediation Survey in Brazil, in association with local institutions. Like the CPR/Cornell 1997 study, this research will seek to establish a baseline of ADR use by Brazilian corporations and identify areas of potential growth.