Brazil’s bar association wants law to embrace the country’s start-up spirit
The Brazilian Bar Association encourages innovation in Brazil’s legal community with their ‘Startup Law Committee’ and Global Legal Hackathon event in Belo Horizonte
Is the bar association in Brazil the most entrepreneurial association of its kind? Judging from the Minas Gerais chapter of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB/MG), you‘d be inclined to think so. The OAM/MG recently created a Startup Law Committee to encourage lawyers to embrace Brazil’s startup spirit — and it’s already made a lot of headway, including pushing for regulatory changes that would open more doors for Brazil’s startups, and hosting a Global Legal Hackathon event in Belo Horizonte, a city synonymous with technopreneurial.
In fact, participation in the Global Legal Hackathon event in Belo Horizonte has been so popular that organizers have created a waitlist for interested individuals. We spoke to Júlia Molinari, Secretary-General of the Startup Law Committee, about how legal entrepreneurs are pushing boundaries in Brazil and her hopes for the upcoming hackathon.
Can you tell me a little bit about how the Startup Law Committee came about and your role in it?
I am a lawyer and founding partner at Figueiredo & Molinari Advocacia Consultiva, in Belo Horizonte. We handle civil, commercial and corporate law matters for all types of business organizations, notably limited liability companies, joint-stock companies (whether publicly- or closely-held) and associations. As law and technology have gotten closer and closer together, our activities and interests have evolved in the same direction. Belo Horizonte has an extremely strong ecosystem and the city has become quite a reference in the startup, innovation and technology world. All that has led us to create in the Brazilian Bar Association — Minas Gerais Chapter (OAB/MG) a Startup Law Committee, of which I am Secretary-General, and it has definitely stimulated the debate on legal issues revolving around the theme.
What is the role of bar associations in helping drive legal tech forward?
Bar Associations have an institutional force that opens doors and enables a better dialogue with the Government, legislators, universities and such. This dialogue is paramount for the evolution of legal tech, since lawyers are one of the main players of the legal industry.
Brazil has been touted as one of the world’s most entrepreneurial countries, but some have lamented increased challenges facing start-ups, citing things like “antiquated labor laws and tax codes” and crumbling infrastructure. How do you (or organizations in general) innovate beyond these challenges and what changes can organizations like yours make in helping to level the playing field for people in the legal tech sector?
The Brazilian people are well-known for their creativity and good spirits. Even though we usually face worse entrepreneurial conditions in relation to other countries such as the above mentioned, we somehow still manage to beat the odds and go around them. By creating a Startup Law Committee in our Bar Association, we have innovated and gained strength, enabling us to pressure the establishment to update laws or jurisprudence, for example. If the innovation and startup ecosystem has become this successful with our terrible economic and political conditions, we can only imagine what awaits for us if we make them better. This is what keeps us going and we’re trying to make our part.
Why is Belo Horizonte — or your region more broadly — a prime location for a legal hackathon?
Economically speaking, Belo Horizonte is the 3rd most important city in Brazil, after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. BH has an extremely strong ecosystem and intense academic environment, which has made it become quite a reference in the startup, innovation and technology world. A legal hackathon here should attract the best thinkers, doers and practitioners and I am sure they will develop great solutions for improving the legal industry worldwide.
Are there particular issues in the legal sector you’d like to see tackled at the upcoming hackathon?
As a Brazilian Citizen, more than anything else I would like to see ideas and solutions that address the National Security issues we have been facing. The situation is way beyond critical point and I would be delighted to see something that great coming out of our hackathon.
What’s on the radar for the OAB/MG and the Startup Law Committee?
We are organizing several awesome events related to Law & Technology for this year of 2018 and already anticipating some for next year. For more information and updates, please follow us at LinkedIn and Facebook.
