José Luis de Salles Freire

José Luis is a founding partner of TozziniFreire and Chairman of its Executive Committee. In addition to overseeing the firms Corporate practice, José Luis actively assists clients in his areas of expertise, including mergers and acquisitions, tax planning, and a wide range of issues affecting capital markets and publicly held corporations. With a deep knowledge of local and international contracts in general, he is frequently sought to help coordinate the most complex operations of national and international companies from many different economic sectors.

As an authority on corporate law and professional services management, he is frequently invited to write and lecture on relevant themes to the national economy and its relations to other countries, in Brazil and abroad.

José Luis is frequently recognized as a leading lawyer in international legal publications such as Chambers Global, Chambers Latin America, Legal 500, Latin Lawyer 250, PLC Which Lawyer?, Who's Who International, and IFLR 1000, among others. He is also recommended by Latin Lawyer Masters of M&A.

In 2008, he was awarded the Robert G. Storey International Award for Leadership from the Institute for International and Comparative Law of the Center for American and International Law.

In 2014, he was awarded by Chambers & Partners the Lifetime Achievement Award.

He received his MCJ from the New York University in 1976, studied at the academy of American and International Law, organized by the Center for American and International Law and received his postgraduate degree in Business Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas.