Biography: Shipping & Maritime

Mr Mendes Vianna is a partner of Law Offices Carl Kincaid, a traditional Brazilian law firm established in Rio de Janeiro in 1932. He joined Law Offices Carl Kincaid in 1987 and became a partner in 1993. He has long-standing experience in litigation, with an emphasis on shipping, international trade and oil and gas matters.

Mr Mendes Vianna's litigation practice is mainly centred on shipping activities, including shipbuilding financing, naval mortgages, shipbuilding contracts, affreightment contracts, insurance, recovery claims, arrest of ships, particular and general average, oil pollution, salvage, acting on behalf of clients before the civil and federal courts, Admiralty Court, Port Captaincy and Antaq (Federal Agency for Inland and Ocean Navigation).

Mr Mendes Vianna holds a law degree from the Pontifí­cia Universidade Católica of Rio de Janeiro which he gained in 1990. He is a member of the state of Rio de Janeiro section of the Brazilian Bar Association and the coordinator professor of the maritime law postgraduate course at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, a well-respected business and economics university in Brazil.

He is the co-author of the Brazilian chapter of the Maritime Law Handbook (which provides a country-by-country overview of ship arrest, registration, mortgages and enforced sales of vessels) published by Kluwer Law International, and has published several articles during recent years.

Mr Mendes Vianna was elected the most admired lawyer in international trade transactions by Análise Advocatí­cia, one of the most well-known lawyer rankings in Latin America, and is highly rated in Chambers and Partners (2010 edition). He is also an active member of the shipping and transport committee of the International Bar Association.