Mary B. Cranston

Mary B. Cranston is Senior Partner and Immediate Past Chair of Pillsbury. In her eight years as Chair, she expanded the law firm from a regional California base into an international platform through two of the largest law firm mergers in history, and added seven offices. While Chair, she also achieved top-10 rankings among American law firms for women and minority partners through the introduction of innovative diversity and work-life programs.

Ms. Cranston has been practicing complex litigation, including antitrust, telecommunications and securities litigation since 1975, and she is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She has been named one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal, one of two “Best Law Firm Leaders in the United States” by Of Counsel and has been profiled as “One of the Best Female Antitrust Lawyers in the World” by Global Competition Review. In 2005, she was the recipient of the Margaret Brent Award, the American Bar Association’s highest award for women lawyers given for legal excellence and for paving the way for other women lawyers. She is on the boards of GrafTech International, VISA, Inc., Juniper Networks, International Rectifier, Stanford University, the San Francisco Ballet, and Catalyst. She is the current Chair of the Board of the Commonwealth Club of California.