Pact Named Alternative Dispute Resolution Firm of the Year in Brazil

September 17, 2026

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5 min read

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Pact has been named Alternative Dispute Resolution Firm of the Year – Brazil at the Lawyer International – Legal 100 – 2026 awards. The recognition highlights a growing shift in the Brazilian market: corporate legal departments are no longer expected to operate only as a reactive cost center. Increasingly, boards and CFOs want predictability, better data and clear financial outcomes from litigation management—especially in environments where labor and civil disputes can accumulate quickly and tie up cash in court.

Pact’s work sits at the intersection of legal expertise, negotiation craft, and operational discipline, supported by data and AI. The firm’s message to in-house teams is direct: judicial liabilities do not have to remain a black box. With the right strategy, governance and analytics, litigation can become measurable—and manageable.

From reactive litigation to strategic legal leadership

For many Brazilian companies, large litigation volumes bring familiar consequences: fragmented legal data, rising provisions, and capital immobilized in judicial deposits. The day-to-day pressure to respond to new filings or manage outside counsel often leaves little time to build a proactive view of the portfolio. Over time, the legal function can be perceived internally as a necessary shield rather than a strategic partner.

Pact’s approach is designed to help legal teams reverse that narrative. By aligning negotiation and data practices to business goals, the legal department can generate outcomes that matter to leadership: reduced liabilities, recovered funds and improved decision-making. Crucially, Pact emphasizes that a well-structured settlement is not a signal of weakness—it can be an intelligent business decision that trades uncertainty for predictability.

What differentiates Pact in Alternative Dispute Resolution

Alternative dispute resolution in high-volume judicial portfolios demands more than good intentions or isolated initiatives. Pact describes its edge as the combination of four elements that rarely appear together in a single operation.

Adaptive intelligence: people, data and AI together

Pact positions technology as an enabler—not a replacement—for legal expertise. Negotiations are led by human specialists, supported by data and AI to help teams prioritize, standardize, and learn from outcomes over time. This “adaptive intelligence” model aims to produce consistency across large volumes of cases without losing the judgment that complex disputes require.

Integrated solutions under one management

Many corporate legal departments rely on multiple vendors to address different pain points—settlements, judicial deposits, data organization and reporting. Pact brings these capabilities together under one management structure, helping clients reduce coordination costs and streamline decision-making. For legal operations leaders, integration can mean fewer handoffs, fewer reconciliations and a clearer view of progress.

Negotiation where others rarely act

Pact highlights its focus on negotiation at stages where the market often underinvests: appeals and enforcement. These phases can carry significant financial impact and operational friction. Pact works with a settlement policy built exclusively for each client and uses a system to track and approve negotiations—bringing governance and auditability to a process that can otherwise become inconsistent across teams and jurisdictions.

A success-based model aligned to outcomes

Another distinguishing feature is Pact’s success-based commercial model: the firm earns only when the client saves, with no upfront investment required. Pact frames this as a reflection of shared responsibility for results and a trust-based alignment with corporate priorities.

Measurable outcomes—presented with discipline

In legal transformation conversations, measurement matters. Pact reports that it has negotiated over BRL 1 billion throughout its history. The firm also shares typical portfolio outcomes that can help legal and finance leaders calibrate expectations and evaluate feasibility.

Average savings: typical results include around 30% savings in negotiated matters
Conversion rate: around half of the negotiated base typically converts
Time to first agreement: typical timelines include reaching first agreements in roughly 25 to 30 days

Importantly, these figures are presented as typical results rather than guarantees—reflecting the reality that every portfolio is shaped by claim types, venues, procedural stage and corporate risk appetite. For decision-makers, the key point is that settlement programs can be run with operational rigor and transparent reporting, enabling continuous improvement rather than one-off campaigns.

Core solutions for high-volume litigation environments

Pact’s offering is built around three pillars that address common sources of leakage in judicial portfolios: inefficient settlement practices, trapped cash in deposits, and unreliable data.

Judicial Settlements (labor and civil)

Pact conducts structured negotiations led by specialists, following a settlement policy designed specifically for each client. The model includes a system for tracking and approvals to support internal governance, alongside an accounting view of savings and a focus on protecting cash outcomes.

Judicial Deposits

Judicial deposits can become a hidden balance-sheet issue, particularly in organizations with long litigation histories and decentralized record-keeping. Pact’s work in this area includes identifying forgotten amounts, reconciling bank and court data, unblocking undue amounts, recovering funds, and establishing recurring governance to help prevent new blocks from accumulating over time.

Analytics 360

Reliable data is often the difference between “managing cases” and “managing risk.” Pact’s Analytics 360 is described as a full data journey—registration, capture, cleansing and monitoring—paired with real-time dashboards and automatic alerts. The service includes registrations and monitoring within one business day, AI-powered reports, applied jurimetrics, integration with corporate systems and ERPs, and custom AI agents tailored to client needs.

Why this matters for general counsel, Legal Ops and finance leaders

For general counsel and legal directors, the promise of a more strategic legal department is not theoretical. It is tied to measurable outcomes: fewer surprises, clearer decision rights, and more consistent governance across outside counsel and internal teams. For Legal Ops leaders, it is about process, data quality and speed. For finance and compliance executives, it is about provisions, recoveries and predictability.

Pact’s approach speaks to all three groups by treating litigation as a portfolio that can be improved with disciplined negotiation, cash recovery and analytics. The result is a legal function that is better positioned to explain not just what is happening in the courts, but what the business should do next—and why.

Recognition that reflects a broader market shift

The Lawyer International – Legal 100 – 2026 recognition arrives at a time when Brazilian companies are under sustained pressure to defend claims efficiently while protecting cash and management attention. Pact’s model—combining human specialists with data and AI, delivered through integrated services and an outcome-aligned fee structure—reflects how alternative dispute resolution is evolving from an “option” into a core operating capability.

As corporate leaders look for resilience and predictability, the most valuable legal teams will be those that can translate judicial complexity into business clarity. Pact’s award signals that this shift is already underway.