Pillsbury

With more than 700 attorneys and 22 offices around the world, Pillsbury is truly a global firm. While our offices each have their own style and personality, We are a true partnership, unified by common business objectives and shared values.

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Pillsbury dates back to 1868, when Elihu Root opened a New York practice that would later become Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts. Root was known for his positions as Secretary of State and Secretary of War in the early 1900s.

Meanwhile, in 1874, Evans S. Pillsbury opened a practice on the West Coast. Pillsbury represented a local banking and delivery service called Wells Fargo and a nascent California oil outfit that would eventually become Chevron; these two clients are still represented by the firm today.

In 2001, Pillsbury Madison and Winthrop Stimson joined forces. Four years later, the new firm merged with Washington, DC-based Shaw Pittman, ushering in the era of Pillsbury in its current form.

Changing with the Times

Pillsbury has had a hand in the growth of global commerce and industry through its representation of America’s oldest financial institutions and in drafting of the 1952 Patent Act, establishing the first nuclear energy practice, and forming Intel. Today, the firm’s clients include more than 100 companies in the Fortune 500, as well as startups, mid-caps, investment funds, and nonprofits.

The firm’s legal work is concentrated primarily in five major industries: technology and media, energy and infrastructure, financial services, life sciences and digital health, and real estate and construction. Moreover, the firm has developed region-specific practices aimed at clients’ needs across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Pillsbury maintains a unique “emerging issues” program, which allows its attorneys to pioneer new and novel areas of the law. Some of the current topics are focused on AI; digital currency and blockchain technology; esports; privacy, data security and information use; public-private partnerships; and water resources.

Public Service

Pro bono work is central to Pillsbury’s culture, with every attorney from the top down required to take on a minimum of 25 hours of pro bono projects per year. Pro bono cases involve asylum claims, civil rights, justice for indigent individuals, and other concerns. In addition, the firm’s Stimson Fellowship allows incoming associates to spend one year at a public service organization.

• In the 1880s, Pillsbury represented Pacific Telegraph Co. and Sunset Telephone & Telegraph Co., predecessors of AT&T, in cases involving telephone wire installation on city streets, and in 1900, the firm helped Standard Oil acquire Pacific Coast Oil, creating what would become Chevron, which the firm represented for more than a century.
• Pillsbury co-authored the U.S. Patent Act of 1952, helping establish the modern standard of patentability.
• Established the nation's first nuclear energy practice in 1966. 
• Handled the formation of Intel Corporation in 1968; and guided the first public offering by an NYSE brokerage firm in 1970.
• In 1978, Pillsbury obtained the world's first nanotechnology-related patent; in 1984, it managed the then-record-setting $13.2 billion merger of Gulf Oil and Chevron; in 1985, the firm advised on the first offshore outsourcing of computer applications development and maintenance; and in 1987, it secured a landmark SCOTUS decision allowing states to regulate corporate takeovers.
• In 1999, Pillsbury became the first AmLaw 100 firm to elect a woman as chair. In 
• 2005, the firm handled the first Japan-only initial public offering by a U.S. company and represented Chevron in its $18.5 billion acquisition of Unocal; in 2008, the firm won a landmark SCOTUS ruling on habeas corpus rights for foreign detainees at Guantánamo Bay, and in 2010-2011, Pillsbury enabled the construction of the world's largest wind farm and closed the deal to develop the world's largest mall.

• 140 lawyers recognized as leading practitioners in the United States, 37 lawyers recognized as Ones to Watch, and 3 lawyers named a prestigious Lawyer of the Year
• Among the Most Most Feared Firms in Litigation, 2025—BTI Consulting
• Most Innovative Law Firm in North America in the Energy Transition, 2023 and 2024—Financial Times 
• Ranked among Top Global Firms; 52 practices and 103 lawyers ranked in the USA, 2024—Chambers