Strategic Vision
Public policy and regulated industries
Allen and Pinnix’s practice reaches across a wide variety of government and private enterprise related expertise. The common threads running through this multi-disciplinary fabric are the development of realistic public policy and the resulting beneficial social and economic effects on clients, including governmental units as well as private enterprises, regulated and unregulated.
The increasing complexities of 21st Century life dictate that effective public policy and successful private enterprise are becoming increasingly interrelated. This world will require professionals who can operate in such a many-faceted, public and private environment; professionals who can expertly reconcile management cultures, coordinate joint projects, and integrate ongoing operations when public and private sectors intersect. To effectively combine all of these disparate forces and to reach the potential of today’s American economy is nothing less than today’s challenge to fulfill the economic promise of the United States of America.
Allen and Pinnix’s attorneys are highly qualified, experienced and prepared to effectively address this challenge and thus achieve marketplace success and leadership for their clients.
International, national, state and local dynamics
Raleigh and the Research Triangle
Raleigh, as the capital city of the 10th largest state in the nation, is at the center of public and private policy ventures of all kinds in North Carolina. The Research Triangle region of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, anchored by Raleigh and Wake County, attracts dynamic businesses, new and old, because of its busy lifestyle of arts, music, sports, and entertainment. The famed Research Triangle Park, founded in 1954, and strategically located between UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University, exemplifies the state’s innovative and long-standing role in public-private economic development. The 25-year-old, unique 1,334-acre Centennial Campus at North Carolina State University has continued this tradition of public-private partnerships. The Research Triangle region, now home to over 1.5 million people, is among the strongest areas of economic growth in the country. Its population is projected to increase by 65 percent by 2020, thus surpassing in size other regions such as Charlotte, San Antonio, and Nashville. Raleigh has been named the best place to live and work by Forbes, FORTUNE, Money, and Employment Review magazines. Software entrepreneurs such as SAS Institute and Red Hat and two of the best medical centers in the country at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill make the Triangle market a vigorous player in national and international research and business. In addition, the Research Triangle region is the home of leading international pharmaceutical giants such as GSK and Quintiles and is the operating U.S. base for four major, international financial institutions: CSFB, Fidelity Investments, Royal Bank of Canada, and First Citizens Bank Corp. Allen and Pinnix is a part of the heart of this pulsing community.
The Wake County Public School System, the largest in the state and the 19th largest in the country with over 134,000 pupils, has been featured in The New York Times as one of the best in the country. The Triangle takes its name from the three, nationally recognized research institutions: UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, and NCSU. Corporate growth has seen international and national companies such as ABB and Progress Energy locate headquarters here along with home-grown institutions.
Public-Private government and business needs
The capital city is the center for the state’s regulatory agencies and the practice of law related to regulated industries and public regulation of private enterprise. For example, the state has over 40 licensing and regulatory boards and commissions, and Allen and Pinnix’s partners serve as counsel to a number of these agencies. In addition, many of the firm’s private clients, including large financial and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are heavily regulated by state and federal agencies; thus, the firm’s practice focuses on the workings of state and federal government, in which all partners have first-hand experience.
Professional and economic dynamics
Allen and Pinnix has matched and grown with this sophisticated and rapid demographic and economic growth. Over the last 30 years, its law practice has grown to include areas such as regulated industries, state and federal government, antitrust law, immigration law, and international law as well as its complementary work in corporate governance and finance.
Valuable networks and contacts
In public and private business, networking is important, and Allen and Pinnix’s partners combine “what they know” and “what they can do” with “who they know” to serve their clients. Firm members have experience at the highest level in national organizations, specifically the American Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the National Association of Accountancy.
Allen and Pinnix’s partners have developed a strong network of national contacts that is complemented by state and capital city contacts cultivated over three decades. For instance, one partner has held local elective office; another has been a member of the state Tax Review Board; each is a respected lecturer in his or her field of law; and two have served as chairs of the boards of trustees of leading universities (UNC-Wilmington and Elon University). Allen and Pinnix is in touch, and it can put you in touch.
Federal and state relationships
All of Allen and Pinnix’s partners have walked and worked the halls of Congress as well as the North Carolina legislature and dozens of local North Carolina local government units. They have worked closely with federal regulatory agencies in conjunction with the partners’ representation of similar state regulators. They have worked with past and present members of Congress in the House and Senate and their respective staffs as well as a succession of seven North Carolina governors and their cabinets. Each partner has longstanding personal and professional relationships with federal and state legislative and executive branch officials and regularly works with them on client matters.