Davis Polk today announced that in 2011 it will open an office in São Paulo, Brazil, subject to the approval of Brazilian authorities. Davis Polk partners Manuel Garciadiaz and Maurice Blanco – both already established as leading U.S. lawyers in Brazil – will lead the São Paulo office.

Actively representing clients in Brazil for nearly half a century, Davis Polk has advised on many of the largest and groundbreaking international securities offerings, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments and project financings involving Brazilian companies.

“Davis Polk has long been a leader among U.S. law firms in Latin America generally, and in Brazil in particular. Having a permanent, physical presence in such a strategically important region will only enhance the position we have already achieved as the ‘go-to’ international firm for the most sophisticated and complex transactions in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America,” said John R. Ettinger, Managing Partner of Davis Polk. “Both Manuel and Maurice have extensive transactional experience in the region, and we are excited to expand our reach and business opportunities there.”

“Davis Polk has handled many of the most prominent, transformational deals to come out of Brazil,” Mr. Garciadiaz said. “We are excited to build on the momentum we have achieved over the past several years with a fully staffed office in this key economic region and to be available on-the-ground for our clients in Brazil in order to work more closely with them on their most critical transactions.”

The São Paulo office will offer clients access to the unsurpassed breadth and excellence across Davis Polk’s practices, focusing on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, capital markets, and structured and project financing.

In addition to corporate partners Manuel Garciadiaz and Maurice Blanco in São Paulo, the team will include partners from other Davis Polk offices, including corporate partners Andrés Gil, Michael Willisch and Nicholas Kronfeld as well as M&A partners John Amorosi, Michael Davis, Diane Kerr and Paul Kingsley, and credit and project finance partner Waide Warner, all of whom are active members of the firm’s Brazil practice.

About Davis Polk. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is a global law firm. For over 160 years, its lawyers have advised industry-leading companies and global financial institutions on their most challenging legal and business matters. Davis Polk ranks among the world’s preeminent law firms across the entire range of its practice, which spans such areas as capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, credit, litigation, private equity, tax, investment management, insolvency and restructuring, executive compensation, intellectual property, real estate and trusts and estates. The firm has more than 750 lawyers in offices in New York, Menlo Park, CA, Washington DC, London, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo. Davis Polk operates in Hong Kong as Davis Polk & Wardwell, Hong Kong Solicitors, an affiliate of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.