Mark Augenblick
Senior Counsel

Mr. Augenblick is a member of Pillsbury's Litigation/ Arbitration and Infrastructure Practice Groups.

He tried his first case involving antitrust claims successfully to a jury in 1976. Since then, he has tried dozens of cases before federal and state courts and international arbitration panels. He has extensive experience handling complex construction, technology, telecommunications and real estate disputes.

Mr. Augenblick also has substantial experience in the development of infrastructure projects, particularly those on a Public Private Partnership basis. He co-authored studies for the World Bank and UNIDO on private sector finance of infrastructure projects and has lectured on the subject worldwide. He has represented clients in project development and spent 13 years as a business executive in the infrastructure development sector.

Before returning to Pillsbury, Mr. Augenblick was recruited by a client to become CEO of a start-up renewable energy company. The company developed large scale industrial facilities using a next generation Swiss technology to recycle municipal solid waste into synthesis gas to make electricity and other commercially useful products. Concurrently, he was President and a member of the Board of a publicly traded company whose land assets were used to fund the start-up company. He was responsible in both companies for business development, financing, project structures, contracts, corporate compliance, dispute resolution and oversight of outside counsel.

Litigation/International Arbitration
Mr. Augenblick defended a major U. S. engineering and construction company against claims in Texas state court by an electric utility of defective design and construction of a nuclear power plant. He tried claims by a Brazilian electric utility of defective steam generator design against their manufacturer before an international arbitration panel. Mr. Augenblick defended a major U. S. telecommunications carrier in international arbitrations in London, Paris and Switzerland involving licensing, distribution, and service pricing claims. He was the lead trial counsel representing the Republic of the Philippines alleging defective construction and bribery involving a nuclear power plant in parallel cases in federal district court and ICC arbitration. At the time it was one of the largest ICC arbitrations with extensive evidentiary submissions, hearings and collateral proceedings. The case was settled for in excess of $100 million after a jury trial. Mr. Augenblick served as an arbitrator in London appointed by an African state in a complex ICC arbitration involving a large industrial facility.

Legal Counsel
Mr. Augenblick has provided counsel to a number of companies, countries or their government agencies, and international institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations. For example, he counseled a large Brazilian engineering company on a variety of international issues and transactions, including power plant design contracts, foreign regulatory and corporate compliance issues. Mr. Augenblick counseled a U. S. satellite company entering the Asian market focusing on acquisition risk mitigation, regulatory and compliance issues. He counseled a Korean electric utility in connection with international financing for a power project in another Asian country. He counseled an electric utility in Slovenia on a variety of nuclear energy and fuel contracts. He counseled the sponsor of the Dulles Greenway, the first or second privately financed toll road in the U.S.

Corporate Management
Mr. Augenblick's service as a business executive provided valuable insight into the intersection of law and business. He gained broad and deep experience in:

• Corporate compliance, governance and risk analysis
• Complex commercial and government contract negotiation: in particular risk allocation to make projects financeable
• Project financial modeling
• Project finance
• Competitive government procurements
• Intellectual property licensing and protection

Mr. Augenblick's corporate experience provides him with a unique and practical understanding of how actions by competitors or government authorities can directly affect a company's assets and financial performance. His business experience enables him to analyze and understand legal and dispute issues from multiple perspectives.

United States Supreme Court and the D.C., 2d, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Circuit Court Of Appeals

• "The Build, Operate and Transfer Approach to Infrastructure Projects In Developing Countries," co-authored with S.B. Custer, World Bank Working Paper 498, Washington DC
• "Guidelines for Infrastructure Development through Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Projects," co-authored with P.C. Min and O. Steen-Olsen, United National Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna
• "Strategies for Financing Telecommunications Infrastructure Development in the Pacific Rim," co-authored with J.A. Stern and J. Sullivan, Paper for the 16th Annual Pacific Telecommunications Conference, Hawaii
• "Dispute Resolution in World Financial Institutions," co-authored with D.A. Ridgway, Journal of International Arbitration, Volume 10, Issue 73, Geneva
• "Force Majeure in Tumultuous Times", co-authored with Alison B. Rousseau, 13 Journal of World Investment & Trade 59 - 75
• UNIDO sponsored lectures on private sector financing of infrastructure projects in Delhi, Jakarta, Manila, Beijing and Shanghai
• Presentations to the 2nd and 6th Geneva Global Arbitration Forums, Forbes Infrastructure Conference, American Society for Quality Control, IFC/International Contractors Association