Robert B. Robbins
Partner

Robert (Bob) Robbins is leader of Pillsbury's Corporate & Securities practice section, which provides services from offices in New York, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Abu Dhabi. His practice involves the legal aspects of securities offerings, mergers, acquisitions and restructurings, investment management and private investment funds, and advisory services to boards of directors and committees of independent directors.

In 2009, Mr. Robbins led the Pillsbury team that represented the special committee of independent directors of Gmarket, the largest internet auction site in Korea, in the $1.2 billion acquisition of Gmarket by eBay (the first acquisition by a US company of a Korean company listed solely in the US) through a negotiated tender offer. This deal was named one of Asian-Counsel magazine's Deals of the Year 2009. Also in 2009, he led the team that represented Goff Capital in the formation of a joint venture with Barclays Bank plc to acquire Crescent Real Estate Equities, acted as counsel for Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated in its role as financial advisor to a special committee of the board of directors of Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. that was formed to respond to a tender offer by Hearst Corporation and represented the accounting and consulting firm Beers+Cutler PLLC in its merger with Baker Tilly LLP.

In 2007, he headed the Pillsbury team that represented Crescent Real Estate Equities Company in its $6.5 billion acquisition by Morgan Stanley Real Estate. He also headed the Pillsbury team that represented the special committee of independent directors of Laureate Education Inc. in Laureate's $3.9 billion acquisition by a management-led buy out group in a negotiated tender offer, the largest acquisition to date in the for-profit education industry.

Mr. Robbins has published widely on securities law topics and has served since 1991 as co chair of the annual three-day course of study, "Private Placements and Regulation D," jointly sponsored by the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA) and the Federal Bar Association. He also has served for many years on the faculty of the annual ALI-ABA two-day course of study, "Fundamentals of Securities Regulation." He is a former chair of the steering committee of the DC Bar Section on Corporation Finance and Securities Law, and former chair of the Section's Committee on Broker-Dealer Regulation.

He clerked on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and has been with the firm since 1976.

• Chambers Global, Capital Markets: REITs—USA (2009-2012)
• Chambers USA, Corporate/M&A & Private Equity—DC (2008-2012), Chambers USA, Investment Funds: REITs—National (2007-2011)
• Best Lawyers in America, Corporate Law, Securities / Capital Markets Law (2013)
• Legal 500 US, M&A: Middle Market: sub-$500 million (2011-2012)
• PLC Which Lawyer?, Corporate/M&A—DC (2010-2012)

District of Columbia Bar, Section on Corporation Finance and Securities Law; American Bar Association, Section of Business Law, Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities; National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts; National Association of Corporate Directors