Akin Gump Expands West Coast American Indian Law and Policy Practice

(San Francisco, California) – Patrick C. Marshall has joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in San Francisco as a partner in the American Indian law and policy practice. Mr. Marshall provides legal representation and strategic business guidance to Indian tribes in California and to major financial institutions, energy companies and real estate entities doing business in Indian Country. He will be assisted in San Francisco by Vanessa L. Ray-Hodge (Pueblo of Acoma), who has relocated from the firm’s Washington office.

Mr. Marshall said, “Akin Gump has long been recognized for its preeminent practice in providing legal and strategic advice to American Indian tribal governments and associated entities. The firm’s commitment to expand not only the American Indian practice but the San Francisco office, combined with the practice’s significant resources, depth and reach, make this an ideal move for me and my clients.”

A seasoned civil litigator, Mr. Marshall has been involved for more than two decades in federal and state court actions, arbitrations and mediations. He handled one of the first successful defenses of a California Indian tribe in federal forfeiture and casino shut-down proceedings brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and brought the first bad-faith actions against the state of California under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Mr. Marshall also advises on issues related to the financing, expansion and diversification of tribal businesses in California, including capital raising, federal and state regulatory matters, compact negotiation, federal recognition, construction, trust land acquisitions, and contract and real estate transactions. He has been involved in several statewide gaming initiatives brought by tribes and helped negotiate the model Class III gaming compact that served as the basis for the compacts signed by nearly all the gaming tribes in California. He has served as outside counsel to native American tribes in Northern California and has represented two of the largest U.S. financial institutions in financings in Indian Country.

Don Pongrace, leader of Akin Gump’s American Indian law and policy practice, said, “Like Akin Gump’s American Indian law and policy practitioners, Patrick has long been committed to the independence, welfare and economic growth of Indian tribes. As we expand our practice into Northern California, our clients will benefit from Patrick’s experience and stature not only in Indian Country but in the Bay Area legal community. We are very pleased to welcome Patrick to the firm.”

Stephen A. Mansfield, partner in charge of Akin Gump’s San Francisco office, added, “Patrick’s arrival adds to the momentum of our strategic expansion in Northern California. It closely follows and complements the establishment of our renewable energy presence in California by Rick Gittleman, who moved last year to San Francisco and brought on corporate associate Maria Vanko. Patrick’s addition in San Francisco builds on Akin Gump’s existing strengths and meets the objectives of our strategic growth plan for the San Francisco office.”

Mr. Marshall received his B.A. from Whitman College in 1976 and his J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law in 1979. He joins the firm from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where he was a co-leader of the Indian Law practice and previously served in numerous firm management positions, including managing partner of the San Francisco office, co-leader of the firm’s National Litigation Practice Section and a member of the firm’s four-person Executive Team responsible for running the firm on a day-to-day basis.

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a leading international law firm, numbers more than 800 lawyers in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The firm’s American Indian law and policy practice provides legal and strategic advice to American Indian tribal governments and other entities that share a commitment to tribal political empowerment, sovereignty and economic development. The practice includes a former counselor to the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, as well as former senior staff at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the Office of Tribal Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House.

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