Bio

Francisco Antunes Maciel Mussnich is a founding partner of BMA. He has unmatched experience in providing strategic advice in wide range of corporate matters and in highly complex M&A transactions. Chico is active in both national and international arbitrations, and provides strategic advice in hostile takeovers and corporate disputes. He has represented clients, all leaders in their sectors, in historic transactions in Brazil in recent decades. He acts as arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration for Sport – CAS and was the lead attorney for the Local Organizing Committee for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. In 2016, he was the only Brazilian among the 12 attorneys appointed as arbitrators to the CAS's ad hoc Division for the XXXI Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. He is also the only Brazilian appointed to serve as arbitrator at the XXXII Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo in 2021. In 2021, working with the Commission on Economic Development, Industry, Commerce and Services and other specialists, Chico helped to draft Law 14.195/2021, the "New Business Environment Law". He was particularly involved in the provisions dealing with multiple voting shares, resulting in an amendment to the Brazilian Corporations Law to expressly permit multiple voting share structures in Brazil. Chico was named one of the 15 most powerful lawyers in Brazil and is frequently recognized as a leading lawyer in the legal sector's top rankings and publications. Chico is frequently consulted by lawyers and law firms for his recognized expertise in highly intricate corporate transactions and disputes. He is the author of Cartas a um jovem advogado (Letters to a Young Lawyer) and O Insider Trading in Brazilian Law (Insider Trading in Brazilian Law). Chico has lectured in Corporate Law at the law school of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro – PUC/RJ since 1981, and at the law school of the Fundação Getúlio Vargas – FGV since 2005. He has been visiting professor at the Vanderbilt Law School since 2010, where he lectures in the International Mergers and Acquisitions course.