Commitment to Brazil Benefits Steel Hector & Davis.

RIO DE JANEIRO--Despite the turbulent economic period that Brazil has been facing in recent months--or maybe because of it--Eduardo Colle Moreira Lima and Michael R. Royster say business for their 18-month-old law firm, an associated office of South Florida's Steel Hector & Davis LLP, is mushrooming.

Moreira Lima & Royster Advogados, with offices in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, is part of a growing Steel Hector & Davis network that includes Caracas, London, Santo Domingo and Florida (Miami, West Palm Beach, Tallahassee, Naples and Key West). Under Brazilian law, only a Brazilian-licensed attorney can practice in Brazil--so Steel Hector & Davis invited veteran local practitioners Moreira Lima and Royster to become senior partners, opening the affiliated law office in Brazil in their own names.

Since beginning operations in December 1997, Royster reports that the firm has grown from six to II attorneys, all of them fluent in English and Portuguese and all familiar with both U.S. and Brazilian law. 'Most of the Brazilian attorneys have or will soon have LLM degrees and can become members of the bar in both countries" he says.

Moreira Lima reports that the company has already outgrown its original office space and is planning on expanding into adjacent quarters in both Rio and Sao Paulo.

"We've been able to grow, contrary to the trend of the economy," he says, attributing it in part to the fact that the firm offers the equivalent legal services in Brazil that a client would obtain from a U.S. law office.

"The idea of providing clients here with the same services they are used to back in the U.S. has proven to be a good strategy for us," Moreira Lima says. "Since all of our attorneys have practical experience in both the U.S. and Brazil, it is easy for us to understand the concerns of the stateside client's own law team."

The increased business in the middle of the economic crisis of the last six months has been somewhat of a surprise to the two attorneys.

Royster says, "There's still a lot of activity in the field of joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions, and this generates lots of legal work for us."

Adds Moreira Lima, "While the privatization activity has subsided, we've seen work grow in other areas. For instance, here in Rio, the oil business is booming and we have many clients in this sector."

Royster, an American, heads up the Sao Paulo office while Moreira Lima, a Brazilian, is the partner in charge of Rio de Janeiro. "Our client list in both offices is similar," says Royster. "It's a mix of international firms doing business in Brazil and Brazilian corporations that have international interests."

The affiliation with Steel Hector & Davis permits Moreira Lima & Royster Advogados to offer a range of services outside of Brazil to its clients. Foremost is research into U.S. law and the ability to refer work to firm attorneys in the U.S. and other countries where the firm has offices or is represented.

The world is getting smaller in all senses, and it is important that companies with international business interests have access to the same type of legal structure and services, notes Moreira Lima. "Doing business today in Brazil is not much different than doing business in the U.S. This holds true as well for legal work, which is so necessary to the implementation of business transactions."

Royster says that a goal of the firm is to build up its client list of Brazilian corporations. "With our integrated service approach, we can do legal work equally well for our clients in the U.S. and Brazil. As more Brazilian companies expand into the global arena, we'll be able to help them."

The work mix has changed somewhat over the past year, Royster reports. The Moreira Lima & Royster office is now receiving more requests from its international and Brazilian clients for mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, project finance consulting and advice on securities issues, he says.

Both men are bullish on Brazil and expect the economy to recover faster than many analysts have predicted. "The Brazilian economy has been able to face the crisis," says Moreira Lima. "We've certainly seen no slowdown as far as our own business is concerned," adds Royster.