Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas is one of the first lawyers entirely devoted to environmental law in Brazil, and has more than 20 years of experience in the field. He is also considered to be among the best attorneys in civil environmental litigation, particularly defending companies in class actions and citizen actions, before all courts of the country, including the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) and the Supreme Court (STF). He also practises in criminal environmental law cases.

Marcelo has a strong track record in environmental law consulting, linked to various sectors of the economy such as infrastructure, oil and gas, shipbuilding, real estate, urbanization, energy, mining, cellulose, biodiversity and genetic resources, etc. He has also extensive experience in advising environmental licensing of greenfield projects, environmental management and due diligence, as well as evaluation and management of environmental risks. His goal, and that of his firm, is to promote legal certainty to investments and projects from an environmental point of view, in order to prevent, as far as possible, environmental legal situations becoming court cases. Additionally, he negotiates with non-governmental organizations, public administration and state and federal public prosecutors. Both he and his firm have been engaged in pro bono works related to environmental protection matters. His firm is a member of the Cyrus R Vance Center for International Justice (NYC Bar Association).

Marcelo has received an LLM and an SJD in diffuse and collective rights, both from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. He has been a visiting scholar of the environmental law program at Pace University School of Law (White Plains/NY) and a scholar in residence at Delaware Law School (Wilmington/DE).

He also has a post-doctorate in environmental law, transnationality and sustainability from the University of the Itajaí Valley (UNIVALI). He is a well-known environmental law professor in Brazil, teaching and convening courses in various universities throughout the country (PUC-SP, PUC-RIO, UNISINOS, CESUSC, etc). This year he formally became a visiting professor at the University of Alicante, in Spain, where he has been lecturing since 2012.

He is also a well-recognised lecturer in Brazil and abroad (including Europe and the United States). His teaching experience includes classes for public prosecutors, judges and public and private attorneys.

Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas is author, organiser and coordinator, among other roles, of the following books: Ação Civil Pública e Meio Ambiente (“Public Civil Action and the Environmental”), Tutela de Urgência nas Lides Ambientais (“Environmental Law Injunctions”), Direito Ambiental Simplificado (“Summary of Environmental Law”), O Direito Ambiental na Atualidade (“Environmental Law in Actuality”), Aspectos Processuais do Direito Ambiental (“Procedural Aspects of Environmental Law”), Direito e Transnacionalização (“Law and Transnationality”), Legislação Brasileira de Direito Ambiental (“Brazilian Environmental Law Statutes”), Água Sustentabilidade e Direito: Brasil – Espanha (“Water, Sustainability and Law: Brazil – Spain”) and Direito Ambiental de Conflitos (“Conflicts in Environmental Law”).  He has also written more than 70 articles published in books and journals in Brazil and abroad.

A former chair of the environmental law committee of the Brazilian Bar Association, Santa Catarina section, for two mandates (2007-2009 and 2010-2012), he has been a member of the commission on environmental law of the Brazilian Lawyers Institute (IAB), since 2010. In this same year, Marcelo became a member of the prestigious board of the Boticario Group Foundation for Nature Protection.

Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas is the founder and senior partner of the boutique law firm Buzaglo Dantas Advogados, which focuses wholly on environmental law, with clients all over the country and abroad.

WWL says: Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas is a highly regarded figure in the market who is recognised for his superb environment practice and expertise in civil litigation.