Q & A with Patricia Barcellos Madeira
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Q&A
Q & A with Patricia Barcellos Madeira
An attorney with Terciotti Andrade Gomes Donato Advogados in Brazil, Patricia Barcellos Madeira has 20 years of experience in corporate law, assisting national and international investors in Brazil. She has a strong practice in mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and corporate law. Barcellos Madeira lived in the U.S. for 4 years, where she became a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois and deepened her studies in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) consulting.
Fluent in English and Italian, she graduated from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, specialized in business administration at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, and earned her master’s degree in tax law from the University of São Paulo. She also attended courses at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, and obtained an M&A Consultant certification from the DePaul University Alliance for Merger and Acquisition Advisors (AM & AA) in Chicago.
Q: Before becoming an attorney, what was your first job?
A: During law school, I tutored middle and high school students in subjects such as Portuguese, History, Geography, and English.
Q: What motivated you to pursue a legal career?
A: The possibility of mediating and helping persons and companies settling their issues was my main motivator.
Q: Who was your chief mentor and how did he or she influence your career?
A: My mentor during my master degree in tax law at the University of Sao Paulo, Professor Alcides Jorge Costa, with whom I also worked some cases, set the example of the kind of lawyer I wanted to be, especially with regard to trustworthiness.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
A: It was something Professor Alcides used to say: “If you don´t start a task, you will never finish it.”
Q: What is one thing you would like to learn to do?
A: Playing the guitar. I tried several times and I love it, but it is something I would really need to put efforts into, because it does not come naturally to me, unfortunately.
Q: What is your proudest career achievement?
A: In 2012, I assisted an Italian company in achieving an important settlement with a Brazilian company. If we had not been able to settle, the cascade of events could have led to the Italian company’s bankruptcy.
Q: What other career path might you have chosen?
A: Psychology. Actually, it is not that I might have chosen, but rather one I will pursue once I retire from being a lawyer.
Q: What is your most treasured material possession?
A: My cottage in the mountains, maybe… But… come to think of it… I do not actually treasure any material possession per se… I treasure the time I spend with my family in my cottage in the mountains.
With a love of the water, Patricia Barcellos Madeira is pictured in a reflective mood after “sailing for three days from Recife (a coastal city) to this very beautiful island called Fernando de Noronha, northeast of Brazil.”
Patricia Barcellos Madeira
Q: What is your happiest childhood memory?
A: Going to the beach with my grandparents and my older sister every vacation.
Q: What is your favorite movie and book?
A: Books: “Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas” – a novel, by Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer; and “The Good Earth,” by Pearl S. Buck (born in Hillsboro, West Virginia; raised in Xangai, China).
Movie: All I can think now is the recent movie “Yesterday,” director Danny Boyle and writer Richard Curtis.
Q: What is the most awe-inspiring place you have visited?
A: O Lavandário (Lavender fields) in Cunha, São Paulo/State of São Paulo, Brazil.
The lavender fields of O Lavandário are a captivating sight for visitors.
Q: What are your favorite leisure time pursuits?
A: Reading, sailing, and watching movies.
Q: What is your favorite famous or inspirational quote?
A: “Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think” attributed to Budha Sidarta Gautama.
Q: Who is on your guest list for the ideal dinner party?
A: My husband and daughters.
Q: Name the top three items on your bucket list?
A: Visiting Machu Pichu, Peru. Sailing from Brazil to Portugal. Riding a bike through El Camino del Santiago (Saint James Way).