Pillsbury is welcoming back Jeff Kiburtz, a litigator with more than 20 years of experience representing commercial policyholders in complex insurance coverage matters, as a partner in Los Angeles. He rejoins Pillsbury’s nationally ranked Insurance Recovery & Advisory practice from Covington & Burling LLP.
“Our Insurance Recovery & Advisory team is the gold standard among policyholder-only insurance practices,” said Firm Chair David Dekker. “Jeff has an extensive background working on high-stakes and highly nuanced insurance matters and will enable Pillsbury to provide even greater support to clients in need of sophisticated insurance guidance, whether they need in-depth policy analysis and recommendations or seasoned counsel to seek recompense in court.”
Kiburtz has helped clients across industries to recover more than $1 billion from insurers over his career. He has handled all aspects of policyholder insurance and indemnification—with significant work in connection with business interruption losses, directors and officers coverages and data breaches—as well as wide-ranging experience representing insured parties operating in the technology, finance, real estate and construction, life sciences, health care, industrials, retail, higher education, sports, and media and entertainment sectors.
Among major matters, Kiburtz represented the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee in prosecuting insurance coverage claims involving sexual abuse litigation in the Larry Nassar case; advised numerous entertainment companies for losses incurred during the pandemic; pursued claims for major music band Foo Fighters for losses caused by cancelled concerts due to terrorists attacks; and advised a major university research hospital in litigation involving an alleged data security breach claim.
Fluent in Spanish, Kiburtz maintains an active pro bono practice representing monolingual Spanish speakers.
“Pillsbury’s litigation practice has seen rapid growth across our global platform, and Jeff’s arrival in Los Angeles continues that ongoing expansion,” said Deborah Baum, Pillsbury’s global head of Litigation. “He is a seasoned trial lawyer who we know and who can seamlessly fit into and enhance one of our most active practice areas.”
Kiburtz joins an Insurance Recovery & Advisory group at Pillsbury that has been expanding to keep up with demand. Beyond Kiburtz’s recruitment, the group has seen several other members elevated to partnership in recent years, including Matthew Brady in Los Angeles, Janine Stanisz and Benjamin Tievsky in New York, and Stephen Asay and Eric Gold in Washington, DC.
“As other large law firms pull back from representing policyholders, our exclusive focus on them has driven a significant uptick in new assignments, from both new and existing clients,” added Robert Wallan, who co-leads Pillsbury’s Insurance Recovery and Advisory practice and is based in Los Angeles. “Jeff has a proven track record of success in cases against the biggest insurers and can jump right in to help navigate those matters. Already held in high regard by our team, he is equally well-respected within the broader community of insurance lawyers, and we are so pleased to have him back.”
In September, BTI Consulting Group named Pillsbury an “Awesome Opponent” in its BTI Litigation Outlook 2025 report, recognizing it as one of 35 AmLaw 100 firms that opposing parties fear coming up against most. The recognition marks Pillsbury’s fifth consecutive inclusion in BTI’s prestigious “Most Feared” list.
Kiburtz’ arrival is the latest of an impressive run of prominent litigators joining Pillsbury in the last 12 months. Those include former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Chris Caffarone; renowned appellate partner Anne Voigts in Silicon Valley; high-profile and Washington, DC-based cross-border disputes partner Waleed Nassar; a multidisciplinary team of lawyers in China, led by partner Jia Yan, that oversees a broad corporate, investigations and disputes practice that spans Asia, the U.S. and the UK; high-stakes employment litigation partner JoAnna Brooks in San Francisco; corporate investigations, white collar and anti-bribery partner Audrey Koh in London; former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and former Assistant State Attorney for Miami-Dade County Stephen Demanovich in Miami; and former National Coordinator of the DOJ’s Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Program Mark Krotoski.
“I am so excited to return to Pillsbury’s amazing team of skilled and savvy litigators, so many of whom I already consider friends,” Kiburtz said. “More objectively, Pillsbury has one of the most admired and respected policyholder-side practices in the world, as well as a reputation for going to the mat for clients. I’m thrilled to be a part of that again; most any lawyer would be.”