Giovana Leites

Giovana is an associate in the Arbitration team of Tauil & Chequer Advogados in association with Mayer Brown, based in the São Paulo office. She has more than seven years of experience representing Brazilian and foreign clients in complex international arbitrations, having worked in London, England, for over five years. Her experience includes proceedings administered by leading arbitral institutions, including the ICC and the LCIA, seated in the Americas and Europe and conducted in Portuguese and English. Giovana advises clients in high-value disputes across a range of sectors, including oil and gas, infrastructure and corporate transactions.

Giovana’s current and recent relevant cases include the representation of:

• Representing a major Brazilian oil and gas company in an LCIA arbitration, seated in London and conducted in English, commenced by a U.S. investor, in a dispute concerning the exercise of a right of first refusal for the acquisition of an interest in an offshore oil field, based on a Joint Operating Agreement modeled on the AIEN model form.
• Representing a Chinese conglomerate in an ICC arbitration conducted in English, in Miami, against a French businessman and his investment vehicles, in a dispute concerning the conversion of debentures, corporate governance and breaches of a shareholders’ agreement relating to one of Brazil’s most significant luxury real estate and hotel projects, valued at approximately BRL 3 billion.
• Representing the bankruptcy estate of one of Brazil’s largest construction and oil and gas companies in an LCIA arbitration seated in London and conducted in English against a Brazilian state-owned oil and gas company, in a dispute valued at more than USD 2.4 billion, arising from the termination of contracts governed by the laws of England and Wales relating to deepwater drilling for oil exploration in Brazil and involving allegations of corruption and breach of contract.
• Representing a Brazilian infrastructure group in an arbitration against a French multinational arising from a share purchase agreement relating to the sale of an interest in a Peruvian toll road concessionaire, with claims valued at USD 2.2 billion, involving alleged breaches of representations and warranties and overlapping with three parallel arbitrations, including two arbitrations seated in Paris and one ICSID arbitration.

• Hague Academy of International Law, Course on Private International Law
• Universidade Positivo, LLB
• Instituto de Direito das Empresas e do Trabalho da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Coimbra, Course on Corporate Law and Corporate Governance in the European Union

• Brazil

• Anglais
• Portugais