
GABRIELA ASSMAR
Senior Fellow – Brazil
Gabriela Assmar is a full-time mediator with over twenty years of experience and a recognized pioneer in the development of the mediation market in Brazil.
About Gabriela Assmar
Gabriela Assmar is a full-time mediator with over twenty years of experience and a recognized pioneer in the development of the mediation market in Brazil. She has mediated over several hundred disputes involving a wide variety of issues, including: commercial, corporate, multi-stakeholder (social and environmental), family, criminal and community conflicts within the Rio de Janeiro court system and in private practice.
Ms. Assmar lectures and teaches mediation at numerous institutions in Brazil, such as the State University in Rio de Janeiro, the Federal University in Rio de Janeiro, Fundação Getúlio Vargas, the Bar Association School of Law and at in-company trainings. She is a mediation instructor for the National Council of Justice and one of the founders of the mediation commission of the Rio de Janeiro State Bar. She also served as co-author of the Brazilian Mediation Law (Law 13.140/2015).
Ms. Assmar has further promoted mediation in Brazil through conflict resolution programs for children in schools located in the most violent areas of Rio de Janeiro. She served as founder and executive director of the Brazilian Center for Partners for Democratic Change International (Parceiros Brasil – Centro de Processos Colaborativos) and founded the private mediation services provider ProAcordo – Mediação de Conflitos Empresariais.
Litigation Practice
Gabriela Assmar began her career as a transactional lawyer, both as in-house and as outside counsel. She has been head of legal departments, public affairs director, and ombudsman at multinationals, responsible for multidisciplinary teams designing business strategies in telecommunications, investment banking, insurance, and industrial sectors.
Ms. Assmar’s litigation practice covered commercial, real estate, tax, contract, and civil law across domains, such as:
- Commercial contracts, including international contracts
- Property and Intellectual Property disputes
- Tax planning and the consequential need to seek redefinitions of tax levies
- Urban status characterization and its impacts on the viability of real estate developments
- Insurance law
- Consumer protection
- Environmental protection and public interest litigations
Mediation Practice
Gabriela Assmar has been a full-time mediator since 2007. She is a senior mediator at the Rio de Janeiro State Court and one of the few mediators for commercial disputes at the Court. In private practice, she serves as a mediator, mediation/negotiation trainer, coach (in conflict situations), and systems designer. Her diverse mediation experience includes cases in the areas of:
- Property – real estate, joint ventures, including intellectual property
- Contracts – commercial contracts, sub-contracts, vendor disputes, franchising
- Family disputes- family business disputes, family partition, wills, and other settlements
- School conflicts – bullying
- Matrimonial – divorce, child custody, and division of assets
- Commercial – founder disputes, liabilities, partnerships, cross border commercial disputes, consumer disputes, contract remodeling for tax planning purposes, risk allocation
- Insurance coverage
- Corporate disputes – shareholder issues, management internal disputes
- Labor/management disputes – harassment allegations
- Company/community (multi-stakeholders) – social and environmental impact management
- Post consumption duties among competitors