Pillsbury’s 2018 Partner Class Boasts Cross-Border, Litigation, Policy Experience

“We take enormous pride in the quality of our attorneys at Pillsbury,” said Firm Chair David Dekker. “Through skill, initiative, hard work and determination, the members of this year’s partner class have developed robust practices, forged lasting business relationships and demonstrated the qualities of leadership and character that we and our clients value most. Their contributions strengthen the firm’s geographic reach and ability to deliver premium services, and we congratulate them.”

The members of Pillsbury’s 2018 partner class are:

David Dixon (Government Contracts & Disputes, Northern Virginia): Dixon represents clients in disputes involving government contracts, grants or cooperative agreements at the federal level. He also guides clients, ranging from large Fortune 500 companies to small companies, through compliance issues for providing products and services to the government. He handles bid protests at the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, among other venues. He is co-chair for the International Procurement Committee of the ABA’s Section of Public Contract Law and was recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in both 2015 and 2016. Dixon earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School in 2005, and in December he will receive his Master of Laws Degree from the George Washington University Law School.

Sarah Gajkowski (Intellectual Property, Austin): As an Intellectual Property lawyer, Gajkowski’s practice is centered on serving technology clients in business and corporate deals. She regularly counsels investors, entrepreneurs and companies in formations, venture financings, mergers and acquisitions and technology transactions. She earned her law degree from Columbia University School of Law in 2003.

Amanda Halter (Environmental, Houston): Halter helps companies resolve environmental liabilities and prepare for and mitigate financial and reputational losses associated with crisis events. On behalf of her clients, she negotiates with federal and state agencies on environmental investigations, cleanups, enforcement matters and offshore decommissioning planning, as well as natural resource damages assessment. She has been the lead crisis coordinator on several crisis representations for Pillsbury clients across multiple industries, including mining, chemicals, manufacturing, security and biofuels. She also provides environmental compliance counseling and deal diligence for transactions. Halter is Co-Chair of the Houston Bar Association’s Gender Fairness Committee and a Fellow of the State Bar of Texas. She graduated from Rice University and received her law degree from The University of Texas School of Law in 2007.

Taisuke Kimoto (Corporate & Securities, Los Angeles): Licensed in both Japan and California, Kimoto advises Japanese clients on cross-border deals in the U.S., helping reconcile legal and cultural differences in corporate law, employment matters and dispute resolution, among other issues. He also advises on real estate matters. He is a member of Pillsbury’s Japan practice and works in connection with multiple blue-chip Japanese companies. Kimoto has represented numerous Japanese-listed companies in their acquisitions of U.S. companies and has served as U.S. counsel for a Japanese major bank on acquisition finance issues. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Japanese American Bar Association. He earned his Master of Laws degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 2007, and he earned his law degree from Keio University Department of Law in 1999.

Anne Lefever (Litigation, New York): Lefever assists clients with all aspects of complex commercial contract disputes, with a focus on clients in the aviation sector. She is also a member of the firm’s Corporate Investigations & White Collar Defense team, helping clients address issues such as allegations of tax fraud, antitrust violations, money laundering, corporate governance matters and OFAC violations. She assists European clients in issues with U.S. regulations and with the U.S. justice system and has represented a Swiss bank before the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division. Global Investigations Review named Lefever to its 40 Under 40 list this year. She was a Pillsbury summer associate in 2006 and received a dual law degree in civil and common law from McGill University, Faculty of Law in 2006.

Laura LoBue (Litigation, Washington, DC): LoBue has extensive experience in complex litigation and arbitration with a focus on construction, infrastructure and engineering. She is a member of the firm’s Construction Counseling & Dispute Resolution Team and serves clients in the building industry, including owners and developers, contractors, subcontractors, engineers, industrial and manufacturing companies and power companies. LoBue contributed to Pillsbury’s successful ICC arbitration involving the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and to the successful defense of Duke Energy against a $482 million claim by Westinghouse. Super Lawyers recognized her as a Rising Star in Construction Litigation in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She earned her law degree from the George Washington University Law School in 2007.

Alicia McKnight (Finance, San Francisco): Alicia’s practice includes large-scale project finance, commercial lending and corporate acquisitions and divestitures, with a focus on energy-related projects, including oil & gas and power generation both from renewable and conventional resources. She has handled numerous project finance matters for a major international oil and gas company and for one of the largest privately held developers of electric generating facilities in the U.S. Her bank finance practice includes advising borrowers in the aviation and technology industries. McKnight is an Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Energy Law. She was a Pillsbury summer associate in 2008 and earned her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2009.

Matthew Oresman (Public Policy, London and Washington, DC): Oresman focuses on international law and policy matters and U.S. extraterritorial regulations, helping clients navigate complex international challenges at cross-border intersections of politics and business. He helps design and implement global public policy campaigns for clients, carrying out actions in multiple world capitals. He has advised more than a dozen sovereign governments and political leaders on relations with the U.S. He has helped obtain Congressional approval of new trade agreements, foreign assistance packages, civil-nuclear cooperation agreements and foreign defense assistance. Oresman has advised non-U.S. banks and free trade zones on improving compliance with international sanctions and anti-money laundering laws. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2007.

Notably, women comprise half of Pillsbury’s 2018 partner class. Over the past two years, more than 60 percent of the firm’s partner promotions—10 out of 16—have been women. Those numbers far outpace the industry averages recently reported by the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance, which found that 2017 partner classes at large law firms were made up of only 38 percent women on average.