Ricardo Bernardi Bernardi & Schnapp

Founding partner of Bernardi & Schnapp Advogados, with offices in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Ricardo Bernardi has extensive experience in aviation law. For the last 26 years, he has been providing full assistance to top international airlines operating in Brazil, insurance companies in the aviation sector, aircraft manufacturing companies as well as lessors and lenders in cross-border transactions involving various forms of aircraft financing.

In the airline industry, his experience includes setting up of various foreign airlines in Brazil, not only assisting companies with establishment of the corporate entity, but also for obtaining regulatory approvals from ANAC – Civil Aviation Agency, assistance with various types of agreements, including GSAs, codeshares, blocked space, lease of airport areas, as well as assistance for negotiations of bilateral treaties on international air transportation. His practice covers the whole range of air law, including litigation associated with aircraft accidents, passenger claims, cargo claims, commercial litigation, regulatory air law and competition law issues. Given his experience, Ricardo was appointed as a member of the commission created by the Brazilian Senate to draft a proposed bill to become the new Aeronautical Code.

Ricardo Bernardi has contributed a chapter titled Regulation of Aviation: Regular Air Transportation to the book Regulation of the Economy in Brazil, and the chapter Airport Infrastructure in the Context of Environmental Law for the book Infrastructure in Environmental Law, published by Revista dos Tribunais in 2016. Wrote the following articles on aviation law: Dry lease and Wet lease Contracts, in Revista de Direito Aeronáutico e Espacial (Publication of Aeronautic and Aerospacial Law), number 87, February 2004, and Codeshare Agreements, in Revista de Direito Aeronáutico e Espacial (Publication of Aeronautic and Aerospacial Law), number 94, September 2012. He has also contributed the Brazil chapter to The Aviation Law Review, published by Law Business Research Ltd., London. He has been delivering lectures and participating in panels as a speaker about aviation law at several institutions and universities, including the Catholic University of Sao Paulo (PUC), the Sao Paulo Association of Attorneys (AASP), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Brazilian Association of Aerial and Space Law (SDBA). He is also member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC).