Partner
Francisco Antunes Maciel Müssnich (Chico Müssnich)
Chico Müssnich 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.
Languages
- Portuguese
- English
- French
- German
OAB
- OAB/RJ nº 28.717
Practice areas
Professional experience
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.
Education
Ph.D. – Goethe Universität Frankfurt, dissertation on dual class shares (in progress).
LL.M. in Regulatory Law – Fundação Getulio Vargas – FGV (2015).
LL.M. – Harvard Law School – United States (1979).
LL.B. – Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro – PUC-Rio (1976).
Associations
Chico Müssnich is a member of the Securities Law Committee of the International Bar Association and a member of the Editorial Board of M&A Lawyer.
Chico is a member of the Board of the Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra – OSB. He is a member of the Brazilian bar association (OAB) in the states of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and the Federal District, and of the Institute of Brazilian Attorneys - IAB.
In 2022, he was elected as a board member of Inhotim, the world's largest open-air museum. Chico is also a board member of CEBRI – Centro Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (Brazilian Center for International Relations).
In 2013, he was a member of the Brazilian Senate's Special External Commission, chaired by Justice Luis Felipe Salomão, which was formed to draw up the Arbitration and Mediation Bill. The bill, which became Law 13.129, reformed the Brazilian Arbitration Law in 2015.
Recognitions
Chico is frequently recognized as a leading lawyer in his areas of practice by major legal publications as Chambers Brazil, Chambers Global, Latin Lawyer, Lexology Index, Legal 500, IFLR 1000, Expert Guides, Análise Advocacia and Acritas (part of Thomson Reuters) – in which he was recognized as an Acritas Star.
PUBLICAÇÕES DO PROFISSIONAL
Publicações
"Cartas a um jovem advogado". 2 ed. Rio de Janeiro: Sextante, 2019. 144 pp.
"O Insider Trading no Direito Brasileiro". 1 ed. Rio de Janeiro: Saraiva, 2017. 175 pp.
"Ação de responsabilidade por usurpação de oportunidade comercial". In: Flávio Luiz Yarshell; Guilherme Setoguti J. Pereira. (Org.). Co-author: SAVI, S. Processo Societário. 1ed. São Paulo: Quartier Latin, 2018, v. 3, pp. 185-202.
"Limites à atuação do Conselho Fiscal". In: Alberto Venâncio Filho; Carlos Augusto da Silveira; Luiz Alberto Colonna Rosman. (Org.). Lei das S.A. em seus 40 anos. 1 ed. Rio de Janeiro: Forense, 2017, v. 1, pp. 157-175.
"Cláusula compromissória estatutária e a vinculação dos administradores". In: Carlos Alberto Carmona; Selma Ferreira Lemes; Pedro Batista Martins (Org.). 20 Anos da Lei de Arbitragem. 1ed. São Paulo: Atlas, 2017, v. 1, pp. 847-870.
"Arbitrabilidade subjetiva no Direito Societário e Direito de Recesso". In: Leonardo de Campos Melo; Renato Resende. (Org.). A reforma da arbitragem. Co-author: PERES, F. H. 1ed. Rio de Janeiro: Forense, 2016, v., pp. 673-696.
"Análise prática e considerações sobre a realidade e a aplicação das medidas de proteção à tomada hostil de controle nos estatutos sociais das companhias abertas brasileiras ("Brazilian Pills")". In: Alexandre Couto Silva. (Org.). Direito societário: estudos sobre a Lei de sociedades por ações. 1ed. São Paulo: Saraiva, 2013, pp. 253-278.
"Eleição em separado de membros do conselho de Administração (Exegese do art.141, § 5º, da Lei 6.404/1976)". In: Marcelo Vieira Von Adamek (Org.). Temas de Direito Societário e Empresarial contemporâneos. 1ed. São Paulo: Malheiros, 2011, pp. 356-372.
"Reflexões sobre o direito de recesso na lei das sociedades por ações. In: Jorge Lobo (Org.). Reforma da Lei das sociedades anônimas: inovações e questões controvertidas da Lei n. 10.303, de 31.10.2001. 1ed. Rio de Janeiro: Forense, 2002, pp. 285-306.
"A utilização desleal de informações privilegiadas - "insider trading" - no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos". Revista de Direito Mercantil Industrial, Econômico e Financeiro. v. 34, pp. 31-51, 1979.