Paul Hastings has recruited a New York-licensed capital markets partner for its São Paulo office to help with a crush of work in Latin America’s biggest economy.

Thiago Spercel joins from a leading Brazilian firm, Machado Meyer, where he was an equity partner for nearly five years after having spent more than a decade at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Spercel worked for several years at Simpson Thacher in New York before returning to his native Brazil in 2008 to help the Am Law 100 firm open its São Paulo office.