Everybody Hates Zanin? Lula’s Supreme Court pick making enemies left and right

When he was taken into custody by the Federal Police in April 2018, four years before his remarkable political comeback, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was accompanied by only two people: his lawyers Cristiano Zanin and the late Sigmaringa Seixas. 

When his legal counsel began unpacking his things and making his bed, Lula stopped them. “Allow me. I’m going to be staying here a while, so I should have some sort of routine,” he said, according to Mr. Zanin. Indeed, he spent almost 20 months in prison, and Mr. Zanin took the two-hour flight from São Paulo to Curitiba to visit him at least once a week.

Showing an almost canine loyalty, Mr. Zanin stood by Lula’s side during the most difficult moments of his legal battles. The then-former president had been accused and convicted of corruption as part of Operation Car Wash, receiving a 12-year prison sentence. His lawyers appealed in every possible way and eventually managed to have the convictions quashed, with courts ruling that judge Sergio Moro had been biased in his rulings on Lula’s case, and freeing the leftist figurehead up for a return to the presidency.

When he took on Lula’s case, Mr. Zanin had no background in criminal law, previously focusing much more on bankruptcies and corporate law. His success in overturning Lula’s convictions catapulted him to the position of one of Brazil’s most renowned legal scholars. He even began representing major retailer Americanas, implicated in Brazil’s biggest known accounting fraud scandal.

Mr. Zanin is married to one of Lula’s goddaughters, which is how the pair first met. He became his lawyer in 2013, but their bonds were only truly strengthened during Operation Car Wash.

Lula has a reputation for rewarding loyalty. And in Mr. Zanin’s...