Paul Hastings’ Leading Latin America Practice Welcomes Preeminent M&A/Capital Markets Team in São Paulo

August 08, 2019

São Paulo—Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, announced today that preeminent mergers and acquisitions partner Jonathan Kellner will be joining, and prominent capital markets partner David Flechner has joined, the firm, along with several members of their team. They will be based in São Paulo, where Kellner will also serve as the chair of the office. They add further momentum to Paul Hastings’ strong flow of corporate partner additions across the firm’s global platform. The team, which includes of counsel Andrea Campos and associates Thomas Ayres, Diana Balassiano, Filipe Lima and others to come, join from Shearman & Sterling, where Kellner was head of that firm’s São Paulo office.

“We are committed to expanding our leading global transactional practice with the addition of outstanding partners like Jon and David,” said Seth Zachary, chairman of Paul Hastings. “Fielding a strong team on the ground in São Paulo is an important component in our cross-border strategy as we help clients act on opportunities for growth in Brazil and across this diverse, dynamic region.”

“Over the past decade Paul Hastings cemented its position as a go-to firm in Latin America,” said Bob Kartheiser, a partner in the Latin American practice and chair of the firm’s Global Project Finance practice. “With Jon, David and their team on board, we add key transactional bandwidth in São Paulo and bolster our ability to project throughout the Southern Cone.”
“This team’s arrival to Paul Hastings’ outstanding global platform will enable us to provide even greater value to our clients,” said Michael Fitzgerald, head of the Latin American practice at Paul Hastings. “We look forward to numerous opportunities to collaborate with our new colleagues and build on our transactional and investigation strengths in Latin America.”

Kellner focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, capital markets, bank finance and investment funds for U.S. and Latin America corporations and financial institutions. Fluent in Portuguese and Spanish, he has experience working on transactions in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Paraguay.

Flechner represents financial institutions and corporate issuers across a wide range of sectors, primarily in Latin America, in debt and equity securities offerings and liability management transactions, both on an SEC-registered and exempt basis. He also has extensive experience advising leading Latin American companies and sovereign governments on SEC reporting obligations, U.S. stock exchange rules and corporate governance matters.

Kellner and Flechner’s arrival will add further momentum to the firm’s growth streak across its global practices, including the 2019 additions of Capital Markets and Leveraged Finance partner Frank Lopez and Derivatives partner Joyce Xu in New York; Private Equity partners Ed Harris and Leanne Moezi and M&A partner Steven Bryan in London; Private Equity partner Alex Kaufman and M&A partners Bill Choe and Jason Rabbitt-Tomita in Palo Alto; Tax partner Bruno Leroy in Paris; and Private Equity partner Adam Brown and Investigations and White Collar Defense partners Jonathan Drimmer, Matt Herrington and Tom Best in Washington, D.C.

The addition of Kellner complements the firm’s Latin America practice, which includes preeminent Corporate Finance, Energy and Infrastructure, and M&A teams. Most recently, the Latin America practice has been recognized for achieving outstanding client successes in the M&A Deal of the Year and the Structured Finance Deal of the Year, both by LatinFinance.

At Paul Hastings, our purpose is clear—to help our clients and people navigate new paths to growth. With a strong presence throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., Paul Hastings is recognized as one of the world’s most innovative global law firms.