Paula Galhardo is of counsel in Squire Patton Boggs' Corporate Practice Group and chair of the firm's Brazil Country Desk. Paula represents of a diverse range of businesses – from owner-managed groups to multinationals operating in the chemicals, energy, industrial and manufacturing sectors – in inbound and outbound international transactional matters involving Latin America, including mergers and acquisitions, international contracts, anticorruption compliance and investigations.
Paula spent the first years of her career as a business and transactional lawyer in Brazil before moving to the US in 2006. Dual qualified in New York and Brazil, Paula focuses her practice on advising US, Latin America, Europe and Asia clients on corporate transactions in numerous jurisdictions. Currently, Paula serves as regional counsel for a public chemical company in Latin America, which includes operations in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.
Paula also advises clients in anticorruption compliance in Latin America. She assists in the review and revision of anticorruption policies and procedures and advises Brazilian entities on FCPA compliance, including company practices, internal compliance programs, human resources concerns and remedial measures for improving compliance.
Paula serves as the Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section and Past-Chair of the International Law Section of the Houston Bar Association. She is also an active member of a number of bar and trade associations, including the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN), Institute for Energy Law (IEL), New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) and Brazil-Texas Chamber of Commerce (BRATECC).
Paula is admitted to practice in Brazil and New York. Portuguese is her first language, and she is fluent in both English and Spanish.
