Pillsbury

Pillsbury is a full-service law firm with an industry focus on energy & natural resources, financial services including financial institutions, real estate & construction, and technology. Based in the world’s major financial, technology and energy centers, Pillsbury counsels clients on global business, regulatory and litigation matters. We work in multidisciplinary teams that allow us to understand our clients’ objectives, anticipate trends and bring a 360-degree perspective to complex business and legal issues—helping clients to take greater advantage of new opportunities, meet and exceed their objectives and better mitigate risk. This collaborative work style helps produce the results our clients seek.

What Sets Us Apart

Pillsbury is distinguished by its highly collaborative, cost-effective approach to client work. A decade ago, we pioneered the client team model as a means of immersing ourselves in our clients’ worlds. We have since expanded this service model to include issue-specific task forces and multidisciplinary teams that focus on the emerging trends that are likely to impact our clients’ businesses. We make this significant and sustained investment to stay ahead of change so that our clients are well positioned for future success.

Practice Groups. Pillsbury’s firmwide practices can be broadly grouped into three categories:

Business. From entity formation to project and commodities finance, alternative investments to outsourcing agreements, Pillsbury’s business practices advise emerging, middle-market, institutional and multinational clients on all types of corporate, securities, finance and intellectual property transactions, particularly in the banking, energy, insurance, life sciences, retail, real estate and technology sectors. Based on both deal value and number of transactions, American Lawyer’s 2009 Corporate Scorecard ranked Pillsbury in three categories: Bankruptcy Emergences, Investment-Grade Debt, and REIT Counsel. The 2013 Chambers Global hailed our Capital Markets: Debt & Equity, Energy: Nuclear (Regulatory & Litigation), International Trade, Outsourcing, Privacy & Data Security, Oil & Gas, and Renewables & Alternative Energy and Technology & Communications practices as among the world’s finest.

Litigation. Pillsbury’s litigation section includes more than 200 lawyers throughout our global network. Our litigation experience is broad and varied, and ranges from antitrust to corporate defense and special investigations, and from environmental to intellectual property, ERISA and tax. Pillsbury litigators have substantial trial experience at the state, federal and appellate level, with the bankruptcy courts, and with dispute resolution proceedings before all of the world’s major arbitration bodies. We are particularly noted for representing energy, financial services, government contractor, technology and university clients in complex litigation matters, restructurings, labor suits, and intellectual property disputes. 2013 Chambers USA ranks Pillsbury’s Appellate and Tax Controversy practices as among the best nationally.

Regulatory. Pillsbury’s regulatory practices offer a wide range of counseling related to compliance, regulatory hearings and investigations, and public policy. Our lawyers have previously worked in public service at 20 different regulatory agencies, including the DOJ, EPA, FAA, FCC, FERC, FTC, IRS, NOAA, SEC, USPTO and the Federal Reserve. The 2013 Chambers USA ranked our Aviation Regulatory, Banking & Securities Regulation, Environment, Food & Beverages: Alcohol, Government Contracts, Government Relations, International Trade, Native American Law and Political Law among the nation’s best. We regularly handle trade matters under WTO and NAFTA, advise on export and technology transfer controls, and represent clients in trade remedy proceedings before the International Trade Commission and the Court of International Trade, including antidumping, countervailing duty and safeguard proceedings.

International Capabilities. Pillsbury’s U.S. and international offices form a fully integrated network that advises clients doing business around the globe. Our recent international recognition includes:

• The M&A Advisor named Pillsbury as a 2012 winner for “Cross-Border Deal of the Year” in the $35mm to $100mm and $100mm to $500mm categories.
• China Business Law Journal ranked our China team’s work among the “Top 10 China Private Equity Exit Deals” in 2012.
• The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) named Pillsbury to the 2014 list of “World’s Best Outsourcing Advisors.”
• 2012 Trade Finance Journal Awards for Excellence voted Pillsbury as “Best Global Export Credit Agency/Development Finance Law Firm.”
• 2011 Chambers Asia Pacific recognized Pillsbury as one of the leading international Venture Capital Practices.
• In 2010, Trade Finance named Pillsbury’s International Trade law practice as one of the top two in the “Best Trade Firm in North America” category.
• The Lawyer Awards named Pillsbury as a “2010 UK Energy & Infrastructure Firm of the Year” for our energy and project finance work, including a $20B nuclear project in the UAE and major LNG projects in US and Great Britain.

Industry Focus. Pillsbury makes a significant and sustained investment in monitoring—and helping shape—the industries in which our clients compete, from energy and financial services to real estate and technology. We not only attend the same industry events as our clients, but are often the presenters and keynote speakers. The bottom line is that we commence every client matter already well informed of the industry trends that influence strategy and planning, resulting in comprehensive and cost-effective counsel. Our efforts are guided by the nature of our clients’ industries:

• Established Industries. Pillsbury clients operate in today’s most dynamic industries. To serve them better, we structure our practices to address the spectrum of business and legal issues they face. For example, the complexity of the global energy industry led us to build an Energy team that covers all aspects of project development, financing and regulation, providing both industry leaders and new entrants the 360-degree perspective they need to compete effectively.
• Evolving Standards. Organizations from financial fiduciaries to social media startups need to stay abreast of evolving industry standards. So our practice teams include lawyers who sit on the standards bodies and working groups that define industry rules. Our Public Policy team is another resource for clients seeking to advocate policy options before federal and state lawmakers.
• Heavy Regulation. In tightly regulated industries like aviation, health care and communications, our clients benefit from working with lawyers that formerly served in government oversight positions. Across the firm, more than 75 Pillsbury lawyers have held top positions at government and regulatory agencies.

Client Service. From end-of-matter satisfaction debriefs to alternative fee arrangements, client service is the heart of our approach to law. This commitment extends to our multidisciplinary teams that bring together the firm’s top cross-practice and cross-industry talent to prepare clients for emerging issues like climate change and sustainability, disaster planning and liability management, and privacy and data protection.

Aiming to create a true partnership with each client, we also provide complimentary services ranging from on-site incubators for startups, to networking events that bring together clients that share strategic interests, to a program that offers “second opinions” free of charge.

Our Values

• Exceptional performance. We seek to be the best in all we do.
• Authentic interactions. We accept only one way to conduct business—maintaining open, straightforward communications and demanding fair, honest actions.
• Collaborative work style. Since collaboration produces the best results, we work as a team—sharing knowledge and diverse viewpoints with one another and with clients.
• Unwavering commitment. We have a passion for our work, a strong bond with our colleagues and an unshakable dedication to our clients’ interests.
• Ethical foundation. Our experience at work is inspired and guided by opportunities to help other people, our communities and society at large.
• Strategic vision. We see opportunities where some may only see problems. Our people have the ability to imagine, plan for and help our clients and one another realize a better future.