Pugh joined Skadden as counsel in the firm’s tax department in 2005, after a lengthy career in public service. Immediately before joining Skadden, Pugh was special counsel to the Chief Counsel of the IRS from 2002 through 2005. Prior to that, she was tax counsel and minority tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee from 1999 through 2002.

During Pugh’s stint as IRS special counsel, she was responsible for coordinating the chief counsel’s implementation of the American Jobs Creation Act and helped create guidance on tax shelter disclosure and reporting requirements, the domestic manufacturing deduction, and dividend repatriation, according to her Skadden biography.

At the Senate Finance Committee, Pugh advised committee members on a panoply of tax issues including S corporations, energy tax and tax-exempt bonds.