Dear client,
A little over ten days ago, I closely followed the operation of one of the firm's clients, which organises large-scale events for the wellness sector (health and aesthetics), in Brazil and abroad. I am frequently asked what it is like to be a lawyer for major events. The answer is not short, and I take this editorial as an opportunity to share it and to dispel the idea that the firm, by taking part in these events, is just "having fun."
It all starts long before
The event is born when the organiser signs the venue lease agreement. In general, the template comes ready-made from hotels and convention centres, with little room for negotiation. Our job is to identify the excessive and disproportionate obligations imposed on the organiser and suggest targeted adjustments with a real chance of acceptance, especially regarding termination and penalty clauses.
Next come the contracts with suppliers: stand builders, outsourced teams, ambulance and medical services, security, video, marketing, decoration, and food and beverage. In parallel, relationships are formalised with exhibitors, speakers, professors, musicians, and bands. Commercial ticket sales policies are reviewed, and instruments are prepared for situations that always arise at events of this size, such as the safekeeping of belongings in lockers, authorisation for accompanied minors, among others.
Finally, all required permits are obtained, despite Brazilian bureaucracy: city hall, operating license, fire department, health surveillance, Ecad...
During the event
During execution, the watchwords are planning, strategy, and contingency. The protocols defined beforehand must work for any incident that an event with thousands of people can produce: a fall, an illness requiring hospital transfer, the theft of an item, the delay of a contracted service, a visit from an inspection authority. Each situation is handled and, whenever possible, resolved on the spot.
My wife is a physician and tells me what it is like to be on call in an "open door" emergency room. There are similarities with our work. In both cases, you must be ready for any circumstance, preserving the smooth running of the operation and, at the event, the attendee's experience. It helps a great deal to work for clients who value ethics and strive to do their best within the law.
What this experience teaches any company
A major event is, on an enlarged scale, a portrait of any business: dozens of contracts running at the same time, in-house and outsourced teams, requirements from public agencies, civil liability risks, and a reputation that depends on everything going well. The difference lies in when the legal team gets involved. When it comes in early, the contract is born balanced, the protocols exist before the crisis, and the company makes decisions with information. When it comes in late, all that is left is to react.
That is why I value so highly the multidisciplinary approach of Petereit Advogados. The same team that reviews a lease agreement also handles corporate, labour, tax, regulatory, and litigation matters, and is able to see how a decision in one area affects the others. This integrated vision is what allows us to prevent problems instead of merely solving them, and it is what we bring to clients of all sizes, both inside and outside the events world.
You can only "have fun" once the event is over and we leave certain that everything went well!
Ricardo Petereit
Founding Partner of Petereit Advogados Associados
9 November 2026
