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At 92 Years Old, Domingos Pereira Valverde Receives His OAB-GO Card After Graduating in Law in 1956, Ending His Career at Banco do Brasil, and Decades Later Regularizing His Legal Practice in Goiás.
At 92 years old, the Goiás lawyer Domingos Pereira Valverde received his definitive registration in the Brazilian Bar Association – Goiás Section (OAB-GO) and officially joined the ranks of the entity, after a wait that began back in the 1950s.
The ceremony to deliver the professional card took place on May 29, 2023, online, and marked the registration number 69,069 of the Goiás Section.
According to OAB-GO and the Federal Council of OAB, Domingos was the youngest lawyer registered in the section, both in the literal sense – due to the date of registration – and the unprecedented age at the time of formalizing his legal career.
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Graduation in Law in 1956 and Context of OAB
Born in February 1931, in the city of Goiás, Domingos graduated in Law from the Federal University of Goiás (UFG) in 1956, in a legal environment very different from the current one.
At that time, the Bar exam did not yet exist, and registration with OAB was not mandatory for practicing law, allowing professional practice solely with the university diploma.
The Goiás Section, which completed 91 years in 2023, was not even operational when he was born, which reinforces the contrast between the lawyer’s personal trajectory and the institutional evolution of the entity that now welcomes him permanently.
Career at Banco do Brasil and in the Transportation Sector
With his diploma in hand, Domingos chose to direct his professional life towards banking service.
According to OAB records and press reports, he built a career at Banco do Brasil, where he held trusted positions.
In this context, the registration with the Bar, which could have been made provisionally, was repeatedly postponed.
The priority for decades was work at the financial institution, which consolidated the image of a professional dedicated to his career at the institution but still without full registration with OAB.
After retiring from Banco do Brasil in the 1980s, Domingos migrated to the transportation sector and took on roles in the legal department of HP Transport.
Official documents and reports indicate that he remained in this environment for over four decades, directly handling legal issues related to the company.
Even during this period, which was no longer tied to banking, the definitive registration with the Bar continued postponed, although daily contact with legal matters remained intense.
Decision to Regularize the Registration and Bar Exam
The turning point occurred in 2023.
According to OAB-GO and reports from national and regional newspapers, Domingos formally ended his role in the legal department in March of that year and then decided to apply for definitive registration with the Brazilian Bar Association.
In practice, this meant regularizing, already at an advanced age, a path that began almost seven decades earlier when he completed his Law degree.
The decision was presented by him as the realization of a goal that had been kept on the back burner throughout his professional life but never abandoned.
The regularization process included passing the Bar exam, which is currently required to practice law.
Reports covering the case emphasized that when Domingos graduated in 1956, the exam was not yet administered, which removed the need for a standardized assessment of the legal knowledge of graduates.
Decades later, already in a different regulatory context, he had to take the exam, now as an elderly candidate, to then obtain registration.
Message to Young People, Plans in Law, and Active Aging
When commenting on this achievement, the lawyer shared messages directed primarily to younger professionals.
In statements recorded by the Federal Council of OAB, the Goiás section, and media outlets, Domingos stated that “he still has much to contribute and learn” and that “there is no time for complaints.”
In his view, the combination of constant reading, broadening general knowledge, persistence, and perseverance is crucial for anyone to achieve academic or professional goals, regardless of age.
In an interview, he summarized the message by saying “it’s never too late” to pursue a goal, as long as the person maintains relative health and lucidity.
The plans after registration were also disclosed in a straightforward manner.
OAB-GO and reports in newspapers such as O Liberal and Metropoles indicated that Domingos intends to join a law firm in Goiânia, aiming to share the experience accumulated over decades of work in corporate legal environments.
The idea, according to him, is not to stop working but rather to seek new challenges within the profession he chose in his youth and that, formally, he began to practice in his ninth decade of life.
The case also attracted attention for being an example of late entry, but not isolated, of elderly individuals into the ranks of the Bar.
Data from the Federal Council of OAB indicate that, just in the five years prior to Domingos’s registration, there were 594 commitments from new lawyers aged 70 and older across the country.
The entity itself highlighted the episode as a demonstration of overcoming, vibrancy, and persistence, and associated the lawyer’s journey with a broader movement of professionals who, already in their golden years, seek to formalize a second or third phase of active life in law.
Tenho 62 anos, iniciei o curso de Bacharel em Direito, mas não prossegui. Agora, ao ler essa matéria, estou me sentindo motivado a retomar os estudos nessa área.
Há tempo para tudo!. O importante que ele está vivo e com bastante saúde. São 92 anos de muito ponto de equilíbrio e sabedoria. Parabéns!!!
Tinha que ter os julgadores de plantão para dizer que o senhor dobrou por quase 70 anos o diploma só por Deus 🙌 92 anos ? Calem – se deixa o homem !