Pillsbury is proud to announce that Real Estate & Construction Industry Team Leader and Chair Emeritus James Rishwain was honored Monday evening with the Law Firm Leadership award at the 2018 Burton Awards Gala. The Law Firm Leadership Award honors a lawyer for displaying the highest degree of professionalism, achieving the greatest respect and admiration by the legal community, possessing the highest ethical principles, succeeding in surmounting formidable challenges, adapting to change and innovation and establishing an all-around excellent record of success.

“Excellence in legal writing and excellence in the law are vital to our democracy, to our society and to our communities,” Rishwain said. “By recognizing this, the Burton Awards organization elevates our profession, its people and our approaches.”

Also honored at the event were Pillsbury Energy partner Elina Teplinsky and senior lawyer Vincent Zabielski, who were named among the finest law firm writers of 2017 for their article “Whatever Happened to the Nuclear Renaissance,” which appeared in the October 2017 edition of The Energy Industry Times. The Burton/Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Awards recognize exemplary articles that have been published by lawyers during the past year. Out of the 1,000 largest law firms in the United States, only 25 winners are selected each year.

The annual Burton Awards dinner and gala is held at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and this year featured lawyer and “First Lady of the Supreme Court” Jane Sullivan Roberts, New York Times reporter and CNN Chief Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin and Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, along with a performance by Broadway stars Megan Hilty and Stephanie J. Block from the hit musical Wicked.