Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP’s transactional tax practice advises a wide range of clients, including in the tech, financial services, energy, and real estate sectors, on the tax implications of mergers, financings, capital markets offerings, and restructurings, among other matters. Practice head Julie Divola in San Francisco focuses on corporate and partnership transactions, with expertise spanning acquisitions, joint ventures, and spin-offs. Michael Kosnitzky in Miami regularly handles the tax issues faced by individuals, families, and privately held businesses. Los Angeles-based Brett Willis offers broad expertise covering reorganizations, REITs, and private equity investments. Cryptocurrency specialist Joshua Becker divides his time between New York and Miami. Don Lonczak joined the firm’s Washington DC office in August 2023 from Bracewell LLP, bringing extensive experience, particularly in the energy sector. Tax equity specialist Jorge Medina left the firm in February of the same year.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The Pillsbury team is extraordinarily accessible and available with deep technical tax law specialists in corporate income tax.’

  • 'Very practical advice - the team has invested the time and resources to build long-term relationship where they are able to be a trusted partner very quickly and efficiently.'

  • ‘Julie Divola is highly technical in tax law knowledge and its application to our specific businesses. She is forward thinking and provides cutting-edge advice on corporate transactions (mergers & acquisitions, restructuring, refinancings).' 

Key clients

  • 8Minute Solar / Thomas Buttgenbach CEO and founder
  • Amazon.com, Inc.
  • CalPERS
  • Catalyst Spirits
  • Eagle Four Partners
  • Flow Global Holdings
  • Innovation Refunds / Howard Makler
  • JSR Corporation
  • Kirei USA, LLC
  • MSUITE Corporation
  • NextEra Transmission, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc.
  • NTT Data
  • Poses Family Foundation / Fred Poses
  • Rafael Illshayev and Yakir Gola/Gopuff founders and co-CEOs (aka, GI Holdings LLC)
  • Stephen A. Wynn and the Wynn Family Foundation
  • TeraWatt Infrastructure
  • The Potamkin Automotive Group
  • Ventura Foods

Work highlights

  • Represented Innovation Refunds, LLC, a service provider helping taxpayers to access employment retention tax credits and resulting tax savings, relating to reinvestment of after-tax proceeds, and to mitigate tax leakage associated therewith.
  • Represented NTT Data – a part of NTT Group- in relation to its acquisition of Postlight LLC, a digital strategy, design, and engineering company.
  • Represented CalPERS, as investment and tax counsel, on the divestiture of $6 billion in private equity stakes from the fund’s $50 billion private equity portfolio.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Julie Divola

Other key lawyers

Michael Kosnitzky, Brett Willis: Joshua Becker, Don Lonczak