Latin Lawyer
28/10/2019
L.O. Baptista Advogados founding partner, Luiz Olavo Baptista – who is credited as one of the pioneers of arbitration in Brazil – has died aged 81.
Olavo Baptista passed away on 18 October in hospital in São Paulo after suffering complications from pneumonia.
Former colleagues and friends from L O Baptista have flocked to pay homage to the man remembered for his charismatic personality and contagious attitude to life. “He taught me to always see life with great curiosity and experience it with love, good humour and respect for others,” says partner Mauricio Almeida Prado. “The values to which he committed his life are the foundations of [L O Baptista’s] culture; now that he is not here anymore, we will fight even stronger than ever for these to be upheld.”
“He unfortunately left us too soon, but he has left a legacy of ethics and multidisciplinary legal thinking which is definitely how I’d best describe his vision for his legal career,” notes Adriane Nakagawa Baptista, Baptista’s wife. She is director of think-tank Atelier Jurídico, which she and Olavo Baptista founded four years before his death. “He used to say that being ethical is the smartest thing people can do. Besides his intelligence, I would say his generosity, modesty and calm temperament are what I admired the most about him.”
His decision to found L O Baptista in 1963 was a bold move, prompted by a time when Brazil was opening up to international trade and investment. “Luiz acknowledged the need for specialised legal services in this area and decided to guide his law firm in this direction,” says Almeida Prado, adding that he was one of the first lawyers to practise arbitration in Brazil after spending time studying and working in France. “At the time the concept of arbitration was more developed in Europe, but a total novelty here in Brazil.”
Olavo Baptista served as an arbitrator at a number of arbitration institutions, including the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada and the Chamber of Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. He held both positions since 1990. From 1999 he was also an arbitrator at the International Chamber of Commerce, serving at all three institutions right up until his death.
Olavo Baptista was also a member of the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration between 1996 and 2002; in 1998 he was designated as Special Representative for Brazil in a fact-finding and mediation mission related to trade issues between Brazil and Canada. “Luiz was not keen on massive litigations for the sake of the fight… it was the interplay between the intellectual challenge of arbitration and the ‘human-related’ factors which interested him the most,” adds Nakagawa Baptista. “He was a multidisciplinary problem solver, who could switch reading materials – he used to read a lot – from books on philosophy to psychology to poetry, in order to find the missing link that would leave his peers in awe.”
He practised law for over 50 years both as a lawyer and an arbitrator at L O Baptista, where he focused on advising national and international companies developing their businesses in Brazil and abroad.
As leader of L O Baptista, colleagues note how his commitment to the continuous development of all lawyers will never be forgotten. “One of Luiz’s habits was to send memos and articles to interns at the firm – he wanted to challenge them to make sure they could identify flaws that experienced lawyers had not been able to,” adds Almeida Prado. “Luiz cared very much about cultivating a collaborative and friendly atmosphere; he strongly believed the firm should help all lawyers accomplish their personal goals and dreams.”
Baptista had a reputation for standing up for the morals and values he believed in, no matter the context; he even managed to receive an apology from a US arbitration judge on behalf of the US when he refused to accept the aggressive behaviour of one litigator who cross-examined him. “As soon as he had the chance to speak, Luiz politely questioned the judge over whether such [aggressive] behaviour was a cultural feature in the US or if it was just the lawyer,” recalls Almeida Prado. “The judge immediately apologised on behalf of all Americans and ordered the lawyer to have more manners at court.”
Baptista’s later years were occupied by the second project he founded in 2015 after leaving L O Baptista: São Paulo-based legal think-tank Atelier Jurídico, which specialises in international trade, private law and dispute resolution. Through events, research, publications and teaching opportunities, Atelier Jurídico promotes debate and learning for lawyers through academic activities to help better their careers.
Born in 1938, Baptista graduated in 1963 from Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo with a Law and Social Sciences Degree. He went on to graduate in 1981 from the Université Panthéon Assas with a PhD in International Law. He was professor at the University of São Paulo for over 30 years.
The true extent of how many lives he touched might never be fully known. “At his funeral I learned from dozens and dozens of people who he directly helped – from those he defended in difficult circumstances, like during the military dictatorship of the 1960s, or students he helped in times of need… Luiz never really brought any of this up; he was so modest and truly one of a kind,” says Nakagawa Baptista. “Family, friends, colleagues, clients and students will sorely miss him.”
Luiz Olavo Baptista is survived by his wife, children and granddaughter.
Disponível em: latinlawyer.com/article/1210099/luiz-olavo-baptista-24-july-1938-%E2%80%93-18-october-2019
