Arbitration International, 2020, 36, 459–463
September, 2020
One of the most rewarding aspects of practising in the field of international arbitration is working with clients, lawyers, and arbitrators from different countries. And of all the many countries in which I’ve had the pleasure to have worked, one of my favourites is Brazil. I consider myself extremely fortunate that work has taken me there at least once a year for the past 15 years or so. What I like best about Brazil is the people: welcoming, warm, diligent, enthusiastic—and always hopeful about the future. This hope is summed up in an interview I read a few years ago with the Carioca novelist, Paul Coelho, in which Coelho quoted a Brazilian poet who said ‘Don’t lose your hope in difficult times. God was born in Brazil’.