Elliott Hodgkin
22 April 2025

Erlan Valverde

Brazilian Recommended firm IW Melcheds Advogados has made its first lateral hire since launching as a merged entity last year, adding firepower to its tax offering by hiring a partner from Elite outfit TozziniFreire Advogados.

Erlan Valverde joined the firm on 16 April, bringing the partner count to 12.

“We’ve been looking for professionals who share our vision: to deliver technical excellence with personalised service. Erlan’s arrival strengthens our purpose and expands our capacity to handle highly specialised matters,” says Ricardo Inglez de Souza, one of IW Melcheds’ founders.

Valverde specialises in tax advisory, counting experience with numerous local and foreign companies. He also brings
expertise in wealth structuring and succession planning.

Valverde worked at TozziniFreire for seven years, making partner there in 2019. He spent seven years before that in the tax department of EY, both in São Paulo and New York. Earlier in his career, the lawyer gained experience as an associate at Martins, Franco e Teixeira Sociedade de Advogados, Neves & Battendieri Advogados and Braga & Garbelotti Consultores e Advogados.

A spokesperson for TozziniFreire thanked Valverde for his time at the firm and wished him “success in his future projects.”

Brazil’s upcoming tax reform and efforts to align with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development standards have made tax one of the most sought-after areas of expertise for local firms. Latin Lawyer data has found that, while partner hires in Brazil last year declined overall compared with the previous year, recruiting in tax groups increased.

Latin Lawyer reported 17 partner hires in this practice area in Brazil throughout 2024, notably higher than 11 recorded in 2023 and 13 in 2022.

Partner hires in this area have continued this year, with at least three so far. They include a tax partner from KPMG who joined Elite firm Cescon, Barrieu, Flesch & Barreto Advogados in February.

Read Latin Lawyer’s full analysis of partner hires in 2024 here.

Brazilian firms have also bolstered their tax groups through organic growth. Following a review of 2024 year-end promotions, Latin Lawyer found that tax emerged as the largest area of expansion through homegrown talent in the South American country, with 17 appointments to the senior rank taking place in that practice in the most recent end-of-year promotions season.

IW Melcheds opened last September following the merger of Melcheds Advogados and Inglez Werneck. The two outfits decided to join forces to as a full-service offering that combines Inglez Werneck’s expertise in compliance, entertainment, IP and data protection with Melcheds’ M&A, labour and tax prowess. Earlier this year, the firm helped Brazilian açaí brand Oakberry enter a joint venture with Portugal’s Fortitude Capital to expand its existing operations in Europe.

TozziniFreire is one of the most prominent law firms in the Brazilian legal industry, thanks to its wide range of highly regarded transactional and non-transactional areas. The firm strengthened its M&A, capital markets, labour and tax groups last December by elevating five lawyers to the senior rank. It has also expanded the partnerships through lateral hires in its real estate and energy and infrastructure departments last year. In March, however, a banking and finance partner moved to Demarest Advogados, which also ranks as Elite in the Latin Lawyer 250.

Elliott Hodgkin