Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Headquarters Bertelsmann Building
New York, New York
No. of offices 18
No. of attorneys approximately 700
Key people James M. Rishwain, Jr., Firm Chair[1]
Date founded 1868
Company type Limited liability partnership
Website
www.pillsburylaw.com

Pillsbury is a full-service law firm with an industry focus on energy and natural resources, financial services including financial institutions, real estate and construction, and technology. Based in the world's major financial, technology and energy centers, Pillsbury counsels clients on global business, regulatory and litigation matters.[2]

It has approximately 700 attorneys operating from 18 offices in the U.S., London, Asia, and the Middle East.[3] The firm has connections to the two main political parties in the United States.[4]

The law firm's two oldest predecessor firms were founded in New York in 1868 and in San Francisco in 1874, following the California Gold Rush. The San Francisco firm, generally known as Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, helped create a number of new West Coast businesses including Chevron and Pacific Bell (now known as AT&T). In the 2000s, Pillsbury has become an advocate of labor outsourcing as a means of firms cutting costs by offering services to both buyers and providers of outsourcing services.[5]

History

Pillsbury's New York office is located in the Bertelsmann Building on Broadway.

Predecessor firm Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro opened in San Francisco in 1874, making Pillsbury the oldest “powerhouse” law firm in California. In 1900, Pillsbury incorporated Standard Oil of California—the company would later become Chevron, which has remained one of the firm’s longstanding clients. Pillsbury managed Chevron’s then-record $13.2 billion cash merger with Gulf Oil in 1984 and its 2005 acquisition of Unocal Corp.[6]

Pillsbury is the result of several law firm mergers. In 1990, Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro merged with Los Angeles-based Lillick & McHose, and then in 1996 with Washington, D.C.-based Cushman Darby & Cushman. In 2001, the firm merged with Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts of New York City (Winthrop Stimson's predecessor was founded in 1868 by future Secretary of State and Nobel Peace laureate Elihu Root; another past partner was statesman Henry L. Stimson). The firm changed its name to Pillsbury Winthrop.

In 2005 Pillsbury Winthrop merged with Shaw Pittman (formerly Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge), a 300-lawyer Washington, D.C.-based firm working in global sourcing, energy, real estate, technology and communications.

Pillsbury was involved in the drafting of the 1952 Patent Act, which serves as the basis for patent law today, and launched the first nuclear energy law practice in the U.S. in 1966. In 1968, the firm handled the formation of Intel Corporation, and in 1970, it served as counsel on the first public offering by a member of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1980, Pillsbury advised on the then-largest foreign acquisition of a U.S. bank, and in 1994, the firm registered the first trademark for a dotcom.[7]

In 2012, the firm entered into merger discussions with Washington, D.C.-based Dickstein Shapiro, but those talks ended by early 2013.[8]

Offices

Pillsbury currently has offices in:[9]

Notable work

Awards and recognition

Layoffs

In April 2006, Pillsbury had a round of layoffs. These layoffs were in connection with the merger with Shaw Pitman in April 2005.[41] The layoffs included its unofficial mascot, Martin Macy.[42] Macy, who had started with the firm at the age 17, had been in the San Francisco office for 41 years prior to his dismissal. He was terminated from his position as messenger to save his annual salary of $34,000.[43] At the time, the combined revenue for the partners at the firm had dropped from $780,000 to $760,000 [44] and the firm's assets were over $6 million.[45] To assist Macy, the legal community created a trust fund to which former co-workers, clients and other members of the legal community donated money.[45] The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "His dismissal has become something of a cause celebre in the San Francisco legal community." [45] By April 2007, over $230,000 had been gathered for Macy.[46] Macy died in his sleep on February 2008.[47]

Misconduct

In 2009 a United States federal judge found misconduct by a number of lawyers regarding the conflict of interest disclosure failures by Pillsbury Winthrop in the SONICblue bankruptcy case stating "The reorganization of SONICblue, Inc. has been tragically marred by the misdeeds of professionals".[48] Pillsbury was forced to disgorge $10 million in fees for filing a false affidavit and hiding their conflict of interest for the debtor in the bankruptcy case of SONICblue. The federal judge ordered the firm to step down citing the "complete breakdown of creditor confidence" due to the firm's failure to make a required disclosure of a conflict of interest involving a number of hedge funds. Counsel for the official creditors committee gave tacit approval of the conflict as neither law firm brought the matter to the attention of the court.[49] Sequential conflict disclosure misconduct in the SONICblue bankruptcy case has escalated the possible consequences to Pillsbury.[50] The lawyer representing the successor to SONICblue subsequently learned that in addition to the failure to disclose the conflict, the firm also failed to disclose their own withdrawal of funds from the Debtor during the pre-petition preference period and had petitioned the Federal Judge to refer the firm's responsible lawyers for criminal prosecution[51] and sought $30 million in damages from Pillsbury Winthrop and associated parties on the official creditors committee as well as their counsel.[52][53]

References

  1. Rishwain's firm bio
  2. http://www.pillsburylaw.com/what-sets-us-apart
  3. "Welcome page". Official website. Retrieved 2007-05-07.
  4. No Better Time, Pillsbury Newsletter, John Haworth and Mario F. Dottori, December 5, 2008, page 1.
  5. 1 2 http://www.law360.com/articles/559175/california-powerhouse-pillsbury
  6. "Firm history". Official website. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  7. Post, Ashley (14 January 2013). "Pillsbury, Dickstein end merger talks". Inside Counsel. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  8. "Offices" (JSP). Official website. Retrieved 2013-05-14.
  9. http://www.law360.com/articles/574827/global-cash-access-pays-1-2b-to-pick-up-multimedia-games
  10. http://www.law360.com/articles/489897/dc-circ-halts-750m-annual-nuclear-waste-fee-payments
  11. http://www.pillsburylaw.com/news/pillsbury-client-aerostar-airport-holdings-secures-faa-approval-closes-deal-to-lease-and-operate-luis-munoz-marin-international-airport
  12. "Pillsbury Advises Mission West in Deal".
  13. "Top Silicon Valley CRE Sales 2013".
  14. "Pillsbury Advises Nicira on $1.05 Billion Deal with VMware".
  15. "TechCrunch".
  16. "Pillsbury Helps Lenovo Create Major Partnership".
  17. "Wall Street Journal".
  18. http://www.thedeal.com/content/energy/bp-sells-refinery-to-tesoro.php
  19. "Bloomberg".
  20. 1 2 "Pillsbury website".
  21. "AMC Networks Press Release".
  22. "Bloomberg Businessweek".
  23. http://www.law.utoronto.ca/documents/Mackin/khadr_reply_AlOdah2.pdf
  24. http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Asian_Amer_Bar_Assn_Amicus_Curiae_Brief.pdf
  25. http://hrc-assets.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com//files/assets/resources/CEI-2015.pdf#__utma=149406063.2074266886.1412199325.1416934335.1416951804.7&__utmb=149406063.1.10.1416951804&__utmc=149406063&__utmx=-&__utmz=149406063.1416951804.7.7.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=37067040
  26. http://bestlawfirms.usnews.com/profile/pillsbury-winthrop-shaw-pittman/overview/13448
  27. 1 2 3 4 http://www.pillsburylaw.com/recognition
  28. http://www.iaop.org/Content/19/165/3880
  29. http://www.workingmother.com/node/156592/list
  30. http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202651156795
  31. http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202658249779/THE-NLJ-350
  32. http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202669118424
  33. http://www.workingmother.com/best-companies/2013-nafe-top-50-companies-executive-women
  34. ILA Website
  35. PR Newswire Asia
  36. http://www.pillsburylaw.com/nuclear-energy
  37. http://collegeoflpm.org/innovaction-awards/award-winners/2008-innovaction-award-winners/
  38. http://www.pillsburylaw.com/recognition/pillsbury-ranked-1-outsourcing-legal-advisor
  39. "One Year In, Pillsbury Merger Not an Easy Fit", The National Law Journal, Leigh Jones, April 17, 2006
  40. "Beloved staffer downsized at Pillsbury," by Marie-Anne Hogarth, The Recorder, 04/03/2006
  41. "Legal world conjures up a conscience" by Joan Ryan, San Francisco Chronicle, 04/06/2006
  42. Jones
  43. 1 2 3 Ryan
  44. "Sidebar," The Recorder, 04/09/2007
  45. Niraj Chokshi, "Martin Macy, Ex-Pillsbury 'Mascot,' Dies at 59", The Recorder February 21, 2008
  46. "OPINION AND ORDER". Marilyn Morgan U.S. Bankruptcy Judge NDCA. Retrieved December 29, 2009. line feed character in |publisher= at position 15 (help)
  47. "BigLaw Firm Bounced From Bankruptcy Case". New York Lawyer. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  48. "Law Firm Faces Another Conflict Accusation Due to Non-Disclosure". Klein, DeNatale, Goldner, Cooper, Rosenlieb & Kimball, LLP. Retrieved August 21, 2008.
  49. "Motion Asks Judge to Refer Pillsbury Partner for Possible Perjury Prosecution". Retrieved April 17, 2008.
  50. [http://www.bankruptcymisconduct.com/site/content/view/65/89/ - "Pillsbury Winthrop BankruptcyMisconduct"] Check |url= value (help). Retrieved May 28, 2008. line feed character in |url= at position 61 (help)
  51. "Trustee Seeks $30 Million Hit for SonicBlue Law Firms, Creditors". Retrieved April 17, 2008.
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