Delmanto Criminal Law Office Brazil
Delmanto Criminal Law Office, located in the city of São Paulo, was founded in 1935 by Dante Delmanto, a son of Italian immigrants who became the most famous criminal trial lawyer in Brazil, for decades. Since then, the firm has continued in the hands of his sons Celso (who passed on in 1989) and Roberto, and his grandsons Roberto, Jr and Fabio.
Roberto Delmanto, Jr
During almost 80 years of tradition, the firm has witnessed several changes in Brazilian society. From a political perspective, the firm has experienced two dictatorships: Getulio Vargas’ regime, from 1937 to 1945; and the military regime, from 1964 up to 1985, when democracy returned. The firm has existed through ups and downs in the economy. In the beginning, Brazil mainly exported commodities such as coffee beans and rubber. Later, the country was industrialised, bringing automotive and other industries. More recently, Brazil’s economy has experienced a boom, returning to the exportation of commodities, such as iron and soy beans. At the same time, the internal market has strengthened, from civil construction, oil exploitation, an increase of airplane companies etc. From a monetary perspective, Brazil has become an international creditor with a fairly strong currency. Brazil still has a huge social gap, however this has diminished in recent years. At the same time, in the last 15 years, the country experienced the impact of globalisation as several companies and banks, traditionally owned by Brazilian entrepreneurs, were bought by international investment funds and huge foreign companies. Following all this, Delmanto Criminal Law Office has managed to keep up both with tradition and innovation. Honouring the firm’s 80 years of law practice, it is fully conversant with international standards of compliance. The firm compares criminal law practice with heart surgery: the client must have eye to eye contact with their lawyer, developing trust and confidence with a specialist. The firm’s partners and associates are extremely specialised in criminal law practice, like artisans. To become an associate, a lawyer of the firm spends years in direct training with one of the partners. The partners Roberto Delmanto, Roberto Delmanto, Jr and Fabio Delmanto are co-authors of several books. The most notable of these is Commentaries on the Penal Code, which is currently in its 8th edition (Saraiva, 2010). In the last 25 years, the book has sold more than 500,000 copies among law students, judges, public prosecutors, lawyers and police authorities. It is common to see an edition of the book on a judge’s desk, an achievement which makes the firm very proud and more determined to maintain a high standard in every defence it makes.
Roberto Delmanto, Jr Partner Tel: +55 11 3887 6251 rdelmantojr@me.com www.delmanto.com
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While keeping up to date with the transformation of Brazilian society, the partners noticed a huge transformation regarding international companies which face white collar crime, ecological crime and tax crime charges. As a result, based on their expertise in those areas, obtained after years of practice in every Brazilian Court, the firm wrote a specific book in which the laws regarding those crime are discussed with updated jurisprudence: Special Criminal Laws Commented (2nd edition, Saraiva, 2014).