'Professional Standards'

Professional services in Bahia. Not quite like back home. From acquiring property to obtaining a medical prescription, everything (dis)obeys the rules. And from another perspective, everything obeys a refreshingly loose format.

It matters where you're from or what you're used to: Los Angeles, London or Lisbon. Rio, Sao Paulo or Brasilia. But it isn't rocket science, either. Structurally, Bahia is all so much more relaxed.



With business enterprises of any kind, a key phrase is 'caveat emptor'. Let the buyer beware, let him often use a lawyer, let him realize short cuts are probably rigged, let him take nothing for granted, let him check everything twice, let him get a second opinion. In other words, let him remember to "look under rocks'. And let him realize that for all his efforts, it may still not be enough.

Six 'Rules' you may wish to consider. They may be respected elsewhere, but they are especially relevant in Bahia. Take them to heart, make of them good friends, and relax. But do cultivate a healthy paranoia. One way or another the attitudes work for the locals. They may also become your best friends on the Península. Ignore good friends and, you know what they say....


(1) In Bahia, simple things are difficult. Difficult ones are simple.

Death and taxes, romance and making attachments. Simple! Getting a driver's license, posting a letter, paying a bill, ad infinitum: These can be surprisingly difficult.


(2) Each time is the first time. For everything. Format is fluid, the road map of objectivity worth consulting. But most everything from itinerary to destination will probably change along the way.

No one looks back, mistakes are repeated, arrangements forgotten, or dismissed. Promises, too.


(3) Rules, laws, regulations are often honored in the breach, more than in the observance. They are not Holy Writ. The law in fact secures little that is secure, anyway. Like road maps drawn in the sand with a stick, they act only as guidelines.

Context is more important than fact. The law strictly on your side? Fine. Better look and see who isn't.


(4) The problem is not lack of laws. There are as many laws here as stars in the sky. They conflict, intersect, harmonically vibrate. We employ a lawyer like a cowboy roping steers in a corral. Some get away, some don't. But what counts is the more laws the more 'loop holes'. Laws are raw material to a lawyer as money is to a banker, flour to a baker. The opportunities are always in the gray areas, and he exploits them. Either for or against our interests.

As our family business accountant in Rio once said, "Corruption in Brazil does not result from low pay. It arises with far too many laws."


(5) 'Professional' is a relative term. Lawyer, real estate agent, doctor, engineer, teacher: all nice labels.

Once we realize they guarantee nothing, we will be much better off. The same thing with accreditation, education, 'professional standards', etc. Framed on the wall, they display nicely, lubricate business interests well. A place to start, perhaps, but the important stuff has nothing to do with it.


(6) Personal recommendations are key. Of course we must evaluate where they come from. And why. So skip what someone's brother in law tells you. Forget the corner grocer, the neighbors, a 'well connected' local lawyer, an expat from another country- even from fairly close like Rio or Sao Paulo. Get other recommendations, cross reference, test. Then hold your breath while you give them a try.

Networking is the attempt to assess credibility above all. Competence comes later. It is, without exaggeration-crucial.


There are others. These are among the more important, and a start. The main thing is to have a 'caipirinha', sit back and enjoy the ride. At first the absence of regimentation can be startling. Later, it becomes liberating.