Profile: King & Spalding LLP

King & Spalding LLP - Who's Who Legal '70'

What is the Who's Who Legal '70'?

Today the firm is home to over 800 attorneys, and has expanded to include offices in Houston, New York and Washington, DC, as well as adding an international dimension through the opening of a London office in 2003, a Dubai office in 2007 and an affiliated office in Riyadh (The Law Offices of Mohammad Al-Ammar). The firm is able to offer clients representation “of a consistently exceptional standard” across the full range of areas and industries, and some of the biggest names in business are among its clients, including Coca-Cola, Credit Suisse First Boston, General Electric, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline and Shell Oil. King & Spalding performed extremely well in our research this year and fields 33 practitioners across 15 of the 29 chapters in this publication.

OIL & GAS AND ENVIRONMENT
The firm’s already strong oil and gas practice received an extra boost in 2007 with the lateral hire of “one of the most highly regarded energy disputes lawyers around” – John Bowman – who left Fulbright & Jaworski to join Philip Weems, the firm’s global energy practice head, and his team. Weems relocated from Houston to Dubai in January 2007 and manages the firm’s Middle East offices and is a “leading light” in the oil and gas chapter. Kenneth Culotta in Houston is “very bright and well thought of for LNG and general oil and gas” and is joined by three further partners in the city – Jose Valera, Daniel Rogers and Doak Bishop.

The Atlanta office is home to the two K&S practitioners selected for the environment chapter. Patricia Barmeyer – “one of the state’s greatest environmental litigators” – and is said to be a “very smart strategic thinker”. Charles Tisdale is highlighted as “the foremost Superfund attorney in Georgia, if not the south-east, if not the whole of the US” and they both contibute to the firm’s reputation in this area.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Doak Bishop and John Bowman also feature prominently in the commercial arbitration section. Bowman is “very strong” in a variety of disputes and Bishop was also showered with praise; competitors envy his “great practice”, labelling him “impressive”, “very accurate – first class”.

K&S is also one of the leading US firms for commercial litigation, with four partners included in this chapter. The firm is home to a “highly effective group of litigators” with three of the featured lawyers based in the Atlanta office. Chilton Varner (also in the product liability chapter) was described as “first class”. Senior litigation partner Joseph Loveland has been active in state and federal courts on behalf of Coca-Cola, Imperial Tobacco and Texaco and enjoys “a fantastic reputation”. Daniel King, who heads the business litigation group in Atlanta, focuses his practice mainly on tax and bankruptcy disputes. Managing partner of the Houston office Robert Meadows gained praise for his “top-tier” practice and completes the firm’s showing in this chapter. Stephen Cowen has developed a reputation in the white-collar arena and is featured in our business crime section while John Hinchey’s expertise in construction disputes sees him listed in the construction chapter.

Jim Griffin is a “very good criminal antitrust attorney” and is one of two practitioners from the Washington, DC, office in the competition chapter. The other, Kevin Sullivan, is “really good to work with” and scored highly in our research.

CORPORATE
Corporate tax attorney Robert Woodward is based in Georgia and regarded by his peers as “a luminary” and “one of the best in the state for everything tax related”. Also in the Atlanta office is Herschel Bloom, “a knowledge goldmine” who specialises in state and federal tax controversies and is “exceptional for REIT tax issues”. Robert Culbertson is the final entry in this chapter and is, according to our sources, “absolutely spectacular”.

The firm fields two practitioners in the insolvency & restructuring chapter. Myron Sheinfeld joined K&S from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and is now senior counsel at the firm and “a nationally renowned player in this field”. James Pardo from Atlanta was described as “one of the very best around”, an “elite” lawyer.
The trade and customs chapter also boasts two King & Spalding practitioners, Joseph Dorn and Gilbert Kaplan – both of whom reside in Washington, DC. Dorn is the founding partner of the firm’s international trade group. Bradley Slutsky is featured in the internet & e-commerce chapter. Slutsky is a former computer programmer and a “terrific lawyer”.

Intellectual Property
The firm has four practitioners in our intellectual property chapters: one in Patents; three in Trademarks. Clark Lackert is the firm’s deputy practice group leader and heads the IP group in New York. He came extremely highly nominated in the research for trademarks, as did fellow New Yorker Ethan Horwitz. Bruce Baber in Atlanta is “very active in trademark protection and litigation”; Anthony Askew has a “sterling reputation for patents work”.

OTHER NOTABLE AREAS
The “extremely able” Mason Stephenson features in the real estate section alongside William Fryer. Stephenson is managing partner of the firm’s Atlanta office and Fryer heads the real estate capital markets group. Both were praised by sources for their “sterling work” on a great number of complex matters.