This department is responsible for a wide range of issues related to federal, state or municipal Tax Law.  This may concern natural person or legal entities comprising - in consulting and litigation capacity - tributes, taxes and contributions in general. It develops, more specifically, the following activities:

- Tax advisory services;

- Legal advice to corporate staff with regards to tax issues;

- Examination of individual and companies tax situation with the objective of identifying, regularizing and preventing present or future pending matters;

- Analysis and planning of the most suitable and less costly ways - with respect to legal and tax issues – related to operation development, structuring and restructuring, societies and organizations in general;

- Verification of the Tax Law legality and constitutionality in general, defining measures and procedures to confront it;

- Assistance with estate safety and estate responsibility, for individuals and companies;

- Inheritance planning for individuals and companies in face of their tax costs;

- Tax defenses in general, in the administrative and judicial spheres, encompassing   impugnations and appeals to notifications, distrainments and executions, debt annulment lawsuits, declaratory lawsuits, writs of mandamus and other legal measures, including in preventive character, against tax requirements in general;

- Sponsorship of proceedings of judicial and administrative lawsuits regarding refund and compensation of overpaid taxes.

Area responsible for issues inherent to company organizational-legal structure as well as partners’ and shareholders’ interests, comprising service rendering relating to:

- Establishment, transformation and re-structuring of corporate groupings, including analysis and elaboration of division, fusion, merger, Sales of Goods and acquisition of society assets in all its legal aspects;

- Legal advice to the formalization of corporate acts in general, participating in assemblies and administrative meetings to represent and defend the clients` interest;

- Formation and operation of business consortiums for the achievement of joint undertakings;

- Corporate succession, formation of holdings and other forms of asset structuring;

- Corporate issues and conflicts in general.

This department advises business organizations regarding identification and management of environmental legal risks, acting together with the environment, financing and client operation departments, aiming at an economically sustainable and environmentally correct business management. It also assists clients to define strategies in order to meet the environmental regulatory requirements and liability prevention, for such, participating in the project design, execution and operation. The department also acts in the consulting and litigation spheres. Among its fields of competence the following can be highlighted:

 - Follow-up of project development and operation of business enterprises likely to produce environmental impact, offering advice  regarding the risks, materials used, procedures adopted and waste material produced by the clients` companies activity;

 -  Advice on obtaining documentation as well as consultation, orientation and follow-up of negotiations with the environmental protection administrative sectors, with the objective of regularizing the clients situation in this area;

- Preparation of administrative defenses and appeals in cases of notifications for environmental law violation;

- Assessment, orientation and follow-up in the management of environmental liabilities;

- Legal action in law suits for environmental damage liability, both in the civil or criminal matter.

This department advises companies regarding the regulatory norms compliance applicable to the exploration of mineral resources, aiming essentially at the mining law management, the regular operation of the activities, highlighting the environmental impacts, and at the liability prevention.  Its scope includes:

- Consultancy on Mining Law issues with regards to planning and carrying out research as well as the use of mineral resources;

- Consultancy on the management of the rights and obligations derived from mining titles (research permits, licenses, extraction ordinance, mine manifest, among others);

- Assistance for obtaining documents, formulation of legal consultations and negotiations with mining regulatory entities;

- Elaboration of defenses and appeals in administrative notifications due to mining law breach;

- Legal action in general in processes involving mining issues.

This area is in charge of Public Law issues not included under the umbrella of the Tax Consultancy and Dispute Department, especially those pertinent to the relationship between the clients and  the Federal, State and Municipal Governments, the following being its responsibility:

- Legal advice for clients participation in bidding procedures in general, including concessions, with analysis of public notices, examination of documents in order to verify the fulfillment of qualification requirements, and administrative proceedings follow-up, covering challenges, defense and appeals;

-  Orientation for an adequate direct administrative contract application through exemption or unenforceability of public bids, aiming at the fulfillment of legal requirements for the correct formalization of contracts;

-  Orientation for the enforcement of administrative contracts with the intent of avoiding conflicts and solve problems that might come up during the term of the contract, including Government default, delay in rendering services and third party hiring;

- Assistance in the relationship between public services agencies (power, telecommunications) and their respective regulatory agencies;

- Consultancy and judicial and administrative participation in real estate expropriations;

- Judicial action in all areas, including defense of clients in lawsuits regarding their relationship with the Government, such as popular lawsuits and public civil suits with the purpose of annulling administrative contracts and assign responsibilities.

This sector accounts for consultancy services as well as judicial and extra-judicial assistance in the Civil Law scope, which encompasses a wide range of issues and activities, among which the following can be highlighted:

- Assistance in litigations concerning copy rights, and consultancy for their protection, including on the Internet;

- Preventive advice in consumer relations, contracts analysis and development, and  verification of procedures for their compliance with consumer protection laws;

-  Legal action in consumer’s law suits both individual and collective;

- Follow-up and advice on contract disputes;

- Civil foundations and associations incorporation;

- Civil liability for unlawful acts, for compensation of moral and/or material damage;

- Elaboration and analysis of civil contracts in general, such as sale and purchase, lease, assignment of rights, donation, writing of contractual amendments and changes;

- Real estate law – assistance in real estate purchase and sale, rental, developments, condominiums, analysis of contracts and documents related to real estate operations, public deeds drafting;

- Legal action to lawsuits where ownership, estate and its use limits, such as adverse possession, possessory claims, maintenance and repossession, demolition and boundaries are at stake. 

Through this department SPADER, GUTJAHR, CLEMES Law Firm assists in issues concerning Commercial Law in general, developing the following activities:

- Legal advice on litigation matters regarding intellectual property involving violation to trade names, patents and industrial property, as well as consultancy for its protection;

- Analysis and elaboration of contracts and corporate transactions such as leasing, franchising and merchandise purchase and sales;

- Representation before competitors’ defense and legal entities in lawsuits concerning unfair competition;

- Guidance on issuance of debt securities and the negotiations involved, as well as legal action in cases of collection of values;

- Proof of claims in legal reorganization and bankruptcy processes.

This department complements the work led by the lawyers, helping them by forwarding and following the procedures regarding documents and lawsuits at government offices and entities, such as Receita Federal (Internal Revenue), INSS (Social Security), Junta Comercial (Board of Trade), Fazendas Estadual and Municipal (State and Municipal Treasury), and environmental entities.

Sector in charge of service rendering and lawsuit monitoring for offices in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul State as well as in other states, through legal empowerment in ongoing lawsuits at the State Judicial System (Porto Alegre and greater Porto Alegre District Court, and the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul) and the Federal Judicial System (Circunscrição Judiciária de Porto Alegre and 4th Region Federal Regional Court), and the elaboration of monthly reports for helping the lawyers’ work in charge of the clients’ defense in those lawsuits.