Miranda Alliance, L.L.C.

In today's increasingly global world, working across various different jurisdictions is becoming an unavoidable reality for any sizeable law firm to meet clients' international expansion demands. Some firms seek to resolve this need by choosing a lawyer or a firm in a different jurisdiction to work with on a case-by-case basis. Others go a step further and form "best friends" or non-exclusive association relationships with lawyers and firms from other jurisdictions. Larger international firms go even further and acquire local practices or set up their own offices. We believe in alliances. Not all types of alliances, though. We believe in an alliance that respects and preserves the independence and autonomy of the lawyers and firms from different jurisdictions in which every lawyer shares the same values of the highest professionalism, excellence, knowledge, dedication, honesty and service to the client. Our concept of alliance involves the long term sharing of people, knowledge and information, where lawyers are able to work together with a single purpose no matter what separates them. In our concept of alliance, geographical distance, languages and even cultural differences are just small obstacles easy to overcome whenever the same fundamental values are shared by everyone. Unsurprisingly, these were the foundations on which we have formed and over the years built our own alliance, the Miranda Alliance. All of the offices and firms comprising Miranda Alliance are independent practices, owned by local professionals of the highest reputation, which are deeply-rooted in the respective local markets. However, they all share a common goal: providing a high quality service to clients.

Miranda has operated a liaison office in Houston since 2005 to provide assistance to the Miranda Alliance's US and Canada-based clients. The office does not practice US law but instead focuses on facilitating the flow of international investment into the sub-Saharan Portuguese and French-speaking African and Emerging Markets. The Miranda Alliance remains the only leading Portuguese language-led network with a presence in the US. Our Houston office assists investors in understanding and complying with the requirements and specificities of doing business in the Miranda Alliance countries. It also helps clients to gather and prepare the necessary documents to set up a presence in their country of choice, and further acts as a first line of support. North American clients have overwhelmingly expressed their support for the service and proximity offered by the Houston office. Our ability to work in a comparable time zone with regional clients has proved instrumental in improving response times and allows for more direct face-to-face advice where appropriate. A Houston presence particularly enables us to more closely connect with oil and gas and energy clients across the US and especially those with a presence within Texas and across the Gulf of Mexico. The office also functions as a communications hub, connecting US and Canada-based clients with the right people across the Atlantic, in Europe and Africa, reducing or even eliminating idle time. Luis Miranda is the current Head of the Houston office. Luis joined Miranda five years ago and has significant experience assisting clients in the jurisdictions covered by the Miranda Alliance, having lived for long periods in some of them. He obtained his law degree and Master's degree in International Comparative Law from a French University and completed his LL.M. in Energy, Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Houston. He is fluent in English, French and Portuguese. Please feel free to contact him at luis.miranda@mirandalawfirm.com or connect with him on www.linkedin.com/in/luis-miranda-859446102 in order to know more about how he can assist with your legal needs.