Sustained interest in Brazil and Chile kept lawyers who practice in Latin America busy with mergers and acquisition work in 2020 as foreign investors largely pulled back from the region amid concerns over COVID-19.

League tables compiled by Mergermarket show that Brazilian law firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados led activity in Latin America by both number and value of deals, having advised on 67 mergers and acquisitions worth $23.5 billion last year. That deal activity represented a 20% increase on the year by value for the firm; Pinheiro Neto ranked second by value in 2019.