Law firm Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett have postponed their plans to place an office in Sao Paulo. They have also cut back on the number of partners and associates they have in their Latin American office.
Last year, the US firm finalized its plans to place an office in Brazil so that they could focus on capital markets, project finance and M&A.
The date was set somewhere in September 2008. New York based partners Jaime Mercado and Todd Crider were set to initiate the startup. However, those plans have been delayed because of complications with the lease. The amount of associates they will have on the ground there has also decreased from five to three. The firm resides currently in a temp office space in Sao Paulo. The firm is denying that the economic downturn has anything to do with its change of plans.
Crider said,” Work is much slower everywhere but, to be honest, it has allowed me to find somewhere that is appropriate. We have been actively looking at premises for some months. There were some complications and in many cases the property just wasn’t right for us.”
Crider claims that the official Sao Paulo launch will still happen sometime later this year.
Sao Paulo is home to many US firms including Chadbourne & Parke, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Proskauer Rose.