Paulo Brandao

Born in Sao Luís, a scenic Brazilian colonial city, Paulo craved since his childhood to move to the so-called Old World. As a child, he loved listening to flamenco and fado rhythms. And he used to say that one day he would live in Spain. Still not sure of his career path, at the age of 16 he began to study Law at the Universidade Federal do Maranhão. However, he never gave up the idea of moving from there to the Old World. Thus, immediately after completing his law studies, Paulo traveled to Würzburg (Germany), where he enrolled at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität. In that city, he began studying Sociology, combined with History of Law and Romance languages. Besides his academic activities at the University, Paulo worked as a translator/interpreter “ad hoc” for refugees from African and Latin American countries at the Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge, for Portuguese immigrants before the Sozialgericht Würzburg, as well as for Portuguese speaking people before the Landesgericht Würzburg and Landesgericht Kitzingen. During his stay in Germany, Paulo also taught Portuguese to foreigners at the Volkshochschule.

After almost 11 years in Germany, he returned to Brazil in 1995. Even though initially he did not really want to work as a lawyer, due to his impressive language skills he was hired by one of the most important Intellectual Property law firms in Latin America. There, he gained much of his professional experience. Since then, Paulo has been focusing on this area, conducting trademark searches, writing agreements and all kinds of motions to the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office, as well as advising Brazilian and foreign clients, either to combat possible violations of their rights or to avoid future conflicts with their competitors.

Because of his rather diplomatic nature, Paulo often tends to look for amicable solutions to his clients’ problems, not only as a means to avoid unnecessary costs, but also to save time, especially bearing in mind the backlog at Brazilian courts and tribunals. Now, true, in spite of his rather conciliatory character, Paulo has a substantial experience in litigation: sometimes amicable settlements are not possible or simply disadvantageous to the client. At his latest workplace in Brazil, Paulo was the Head of the Litigation Department.

Further to his office duties activities, Paulo has also participated in many international conferences such as the INTA, and he enjoys the communication with foreign clients and associates, whenever possible in their own language: Paulo speaks Spanish, English, German, Italian, French and Portuguese, his native language. In order to acquire more knowledge and understanding on current global issues, Paulo also attended various modules of international relations at the Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro.

To sum it up: Paulo holds the view that the most important part of work is to assist the clients in a quick and customized fashion, being available for them whenever they need him. Working is a pleasure, not a pain.

In his spare time, in addition to sports such as athletics, cycling and hiking, Paulo also likes photography, drawing and painting.