Luis Antonio Semeghini de Souza is a founding partner at Souza, Mello e Torres Advogados. He represents local and multinational corporations, banks and other financial entities, multilateral agencies, public entities, and other investors. He is one of the pioneers and a leading name in Brazilian infrastructure and banking and finance practice. He has advised clients in some of the most relevant financing transactions carried out in the country in structured operations, infrastructure projects, project finance, mergers and acquisitions, and debt capital markets as well as in the regulatory area and energy, logistics, oil and gas sectors. He has been involved in all stages of the structuring and financing many of Brazil’s relevant and complex energy and natural resources transactions.
In 2001, Luis Souza founded a leading law firm led by him for over 16 years which was consistently recognized as one of Brazil’s main law firms due to Luis Souza’s leadership skills, hard work, and reputation.
Luis Souza earned his law degree from Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and an LL.M. degree from the Notre Dame University Law School, England.
He is a member of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) in the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the São Paulo Lawyers Institute (IASP) and presided its Permanent Infrastructure Studies Committee up to 2018.
He has been the Legal Advisor of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) since 2008 and was responsible for structuring the Águas Brasil Program, a partnership initiative commenced in 2010 between WWF and the Banco do Brasil Foundation. He was also responsible for the tax and legal structuring of the fund for the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program (ARPA) that acquired resources of US$ 215,000 in 2014.
He is a member of Instituto Four, responsible for the ProLíder program that works towards developing young leaders to promote social transformation and development of the country.
Luis Souza is frequently an invited speaker at local and international professional seminars and participant in debates in his areas of expertise. He is many times interviewed by the country’s major financial newspapers to comment on a range of subjects and current events and is called upon to conduct workshops for journalists and clients.
He is ranked regularly by major local and global directories such as Chambers and Partners, Leaders League, Legal 500, and Who’s Who Legal as a leader in Brazil’s project finance field.
He has published articles and chapters in major local newspapers and specialized international publications and has collaborated in several published works.
