Carlos Ragazzo
São Paulo-based firm Mattos Filho Veiga Filho Marrey Jr. e Quiroga Advogados has made an addition to its partnership, hiring the former General Superintendent of Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense.
Carlos Ragazzo will bolster the firm’s antitrust practice from a base of operations in Rio de Janeiro.
He was the first General Superintendent - a position established by the 2012 Brazilian competition law - of the country's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), from May 2012 to May 2014, and he served as a Commissioner of CADE from 2008 to 2012. Eduardo Frade Rodrigues took over from Ragazzo in June 2014 and is now acting general superintendent of CADE. Between 2003 and 2008, Ragazzo served as head of the anti-cartel unit at the Secretariat for Economic Monitoring of the Ministry of Finance (SEAE). He is also an adjunct professor of antitrust law at the Escola de Direito da Fundacão Getulio Vargas in Rio.
Ragazzo said that after ten years in the government, he was ready to enter private practice.
“I spent over a decade in the government,” he said. “I started at CADE as an investigator and I left as the head of the agency. I did everything I would have liked to do during my time in the government, especially after I led the implementation of emerging competition law. That was when I saw myself at the end of a cycle. Around that time, and after some time evaluating my options, I made a decision to go into private practice.”
He said that his experience at various government agencies equips him well for Mattos Filho.
“My public sector perspective brings a different view to the firm’s private practice, and I expect to assist large Rio-based clients,” Ragazzo commented. “I also have had extensive international exposure and experience throughout the years, and I have learned to work efficiently with people with different backgrounds and cultures. Therefore, I intend to develop Mattos Filho's international client base and to help advising clients, not only with regard to cartels but also in mergers and unilateral conduct.”
Ragazzo received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, a Master’s of Laws degree and a S.J.D. degree from Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, and an LL.M degree from the New York School of Law, New York University. He was recently a visiting scholar at Berkeley School of Law. He is licensed to practice Law in New York as well as Rio.
