Cristiane Melo Franco

Cristiane graduated in Law (LLB) in 2011 from the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), Minas Gerais, Brazil, and is a qualified lawyer in Brazil and Portugal.

As a public law lawyer with more than a decade of experience and a strong background in public law, Cristiane participated in several public interest litigations involving Civil Public Actions, misconduct, and improbity litigation, including before the High Courts in Brazil.

Cristiane is a former in-house public attorney for the Brazilian local government and worked as external counsel for politicians, mayors, directors, members of the government, and big corporations clients. Beyond her litigation experience, she provided legal opinions in administrative proceedings across a range of public sectors, especially in bidding procedures and political matters, advising government members and business clients on politically sensitive issues in cases that were often in the public eye.

She volunteered as Chair of a land regularisation project to provide thousands of low-income people with legal title and ownership of their homes. She also volunteered on a project to provide legal advice to the elderly and women victims of domestic violence.

Prior to joining Pogust Goodhead, Cristiane worked at an immigration law firm in London, where she gained experience in human rights and the ability to work sensitively with vulnerable people.

At Pogust Goodhead, Cristiane expanded her international career and worked on the ‘Dieselgate’ emissions litigation. She then joined the International team and, since October 2021, has been mainly working on the Mariana dam disaster case – a litigation brought in the English courts and considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazil.