Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas is one of the first lawyers entirely devoted to environmental law in Brazil, and has almost 25 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 and the Supreme Court. 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, urbanisation, energy, mining, cellulose, biodiversity and genetic resources, and others. He has also extensive experience in advising on environmental licensing of greenfield projects, environmental management and due diligence, as well as in the evaluation and management of environmental risks. His goal, and that of his firm, is to offer legal certainty for 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 organisations, 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.
Marcelo has received an LLM and an SJD in diffuse and collective rights from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. In 2012, he was a visiting scholar of the environmental law programme at Pace University School of Law (White Plains, New York); and in 2015, a scholar-in-residence at Widener University Delaware Law School.
He has a postdoctorate in environmental law, transnationality and sustainability from the University of Itajaí (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). In 2017 he formally became a visiting professor at the University of Alicante, in Spain, where he has been lecturing since 2012. In 2018, he took on the same position at Widener University Delaware Law School.
He is also a well-recognised lecturer in Brazil and abroad. His teaching experience includes classes for public prosecutors, judges and public and private attorneys.
Marcelo is author, organiser and editor of almost 30 books, including the following: Ação Civil Pública e Meio Ambiente (“Public Civil Action and the Environment”), Tutela de Urgência nas Lides Ambientais (“Environmental Law Injunctions”), Direito Ambiental Simplificado (“Environmental Law Summary”), O Direito Ambiental na Atualidade (“Current Environmental Law”), 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”), Direito Ambiental de Conflitos (“Conflicts in Environmental Law”) and O Novo em Direito Ambiental (“Updates in Environmental Law”). He has also written around 80 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 since 2010.
WWL says: Marcelo Buzaglo Dantas is a favourite among respondents who praise his defence work in class actions. He offers more than two decades of experience handling environment-related matters.
This biography is an extract from Who's Who Legal: Brazil which can be purchased from our Shop.
