Pillsbury Elevates Six New Partners for 2020

This year’s class reflects the firm’s broad strengths across industries and practices. The newly named partners advise clients in each of the firm’s four core industries—Technology & Media, Energy, Financial Services and Real Estate & Construction—and handle everything from business-critical financings and transactions to complex regulatory issues and high-stakes litigation.

Pillsbury’s latest round of promotions also reflects the firm’s ongoing efforts to establish a clear path to partnership for women. With four new women partners this year, women now comprise more than half of all Pillsbury partner promotions since 2017.

“What this talented group has in common is the excellent results they consistently deliver for our clients,” said Firm Chair Dave Dekker. “Their successes to date, and the many more they’ll achieve, are a testament to their drive and commitment. They also speak to Pillsbury’s long tradition of nurturing and developing lawyers of the highest caliber.”

The members of Pillsbury’s 2020 partner class are:

Emily Bias (Real Estate, Los Angeles). Bias advises large financial institutions, developers, syndicators and other real estate industry participants on a broad range of real estate, tax and transactional matters, with an emphasis on tax-advantaged investment and affordable housing. As the principal real estate attorney overseeing these complex transactions, she drafts and negotiates partnership and operating agreements, financing and bond documents, and real estate agreements including development, leasing, condominium, easement and related agreements. She also serves as editor-in-chief of the firm’s Gravel2Gavel blog.

Tamara Bruno (Litigation, Houston). Bruno advises policyholders in insurance recovery matters and is particularly active in cross-office matters involving directors & officers and other professional liability insurance claims, as well as first- and third-party cyber insurance issues. She serves on the council for the Insurance Law Section of the Texas State Bar, on the board of the Houston Bar Association’s Corporate Counsel Section and as a legal advisor to the Houston Chapter of the Risk and Insurance Management Society. She has been ranked in Chambers USA for the last three years and was recognized as a “Rising Star” in 2017 by Law360.

Deborah Carrillo (Corporate & Securities, San Francisco). Carrillo covers all areas of corporate law, with a focus on forming emerging growth and technology companies and negotiating their seed and growth equity financing. Her practice also focuses on advising venture capital firms and corporate venture funds on their investments in early-stage and growth companies. In addition, she represents private and public clients in M&A and strategic transactions and advises boards of directors on general corporate governance matters.

Richard Evans (Finance, Los Angeles). Evans has been critical to the expansion of the firm’s West Coast aviation finance offering. He focuses on finance and leasing transactions involving commercial aircraft, as well as managing large cross-border portfolio trades and financings. He also handles private jet transactions for blue chip and high-net-worth clients. Evans is a regular speaker at the Aircraft Financing Subcommittee of the American Bar Association, is co-editor of Pillsbury’s World Aircraft Repossession Index and co-author of the U.S. chapter of Chambers Global Practice Guide to Aircraft Financing & Leasing. He is dual-qualified as an attorney in California and a solicitor of England & Wales.

Laura Hurtado (Litigation, San Francisco). Hurtado is a litigator who represents clients in antitrust, unfair competition, and commercial litigation in federal and state court. She also represents educational institutions in a variety of matters, including faculty tenure and university governance. Hurtado is on the board of directors of The Bar Association of San Francisco Justice & Diversity Center and is the incoming chair of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers – Leadership Development Committee. Hurtado was recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” for 2018 and 2019. Prior to starting with the firm, Hurtado was a Pillsbury Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area for two years.

Aaron Hutman (International Trade, Washington, DC). Hutman advises clients on how to engage in business, banking, investment and trade in some of the world’s most challenging markets, and he helps them address concerns regarding sensitive technologies. His practice includes U.S. sanctions law; export controls; anti-money laundering matters; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption rules; WTO, NAFTA and U.S. trade disputes; and Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) matters.