King & Spalding

In business for over 130 years, King Spalding has experienced a substantial expansion from roots in Atlanta, Georgia to its present network of 19 offices worldwide, with 10 of these outside the US. Speaking to the firm's international reach, one competitor observes, "Although they still are a brand name in Atlanta, it would be ridiculous at this point to conceive of King & Spalding as 'that Atlanta firm.' They are far more internationally entrenched than many of the more provincial players that dominate locally." The firm has established a strategy of focusing on six primary areas: intellectual property, government investigations, global disputes, energy, life sciences and health care. One competitor confirms, "King & Spalding are very deep in the life sciences world, and in energy – forget it. No other big national firm can touch them on the litigation side." The firm is also said to "the best in the WORLD when it comes to representing the 'Big Four' accounting firms."

In the firm's flagship Atlanta office, Andrew Bayman has made his mark as a product liability trial lawyer in the mold of the firm's star trial legacy partner Chilton Varner, trying several cases for GlaxoSmithKline concerning its Paxil product. Bayman tried a wrongful death lawsuit with claims alleging that a generic form of Paxil caused the user to commit suicide. In April 2017, the jury returned a $3 million verdict, substantially lower than the plaintiff's $39 million request. He also tried a case for this client in which the plaintiffs claimed a mother's use of Paxil during pregnancy caused her son to be born with a congenital heart defect. In April 2017, in the middle of trial, the court dismissed the claims against the client.

DC-based white-collar stars John Richter and Michael Pauze recently won a unanimous federal jury verdict of "not guilty" on behalf of client Vascular Solutions and the company's founder and CEO, Howard Root, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. In this bet-the-company criminal prosecution, the client and its CEO were charged with conspiracy and other federal offenses in connection with the alleged off-label promotion of a medical device used to treat varicose veins. Following more than three weeks of trial, the jury unanimously exonerated the client company and the CEO. "This is massive," marvels a peer. "This is the premier criminal case for 2016, a rare case where a significant public company goes to trial for a criminal matter. And wins!" Pauze also is part of a team representing PwC Brazil in connection with investigations and litigation stemming from the corruption investigation involving PwC Brazil's audit client, Petroleo Brasileiro SA – Petrobras. Deemed Operation "Lava Jato" ("Car Wash"), the investigation by Brazilian federal prosecutors involves an effort by a cartel of construction companies to pay bribes to Petrobras personnel to win company contracts, a portion of which was paid to Brazilian politicians. The matter has been the subject of investigations by U.S. agencies and class-action securities litigation. The investigation involves alleged bribes that reportedly amount to more than $2 billion (USD) to win contracts that amount to approximately $80 billion (USD). Wick Sollers represents Shire, whose Advanced BioHealing business, which Shire acquired in 2011 and divested in early 2014, had been the subject of several investigations regarding the company's sales and marketing practices. The case involved six separate qui tam complaints under the federal False Claims Act that were filed by former employees of Advanced BioHealing who became whistleblowers. Sollers succeeded in reaching a civil settlement under the False Claims Act, with no criminal component and no admission of wrongdoing or liability by the company, in January 2017. DC antitrust and business torts partner Bobby Burchfield achieved a record settlement of $538 million paid to client DaVita by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to resolve allegations of underpayments for dialysis services provided to veterans over a six-year period. The settlement, which was successfully negotiated in December 2016, with trial imminent, is one of the three largest ever paid by the U.S. Government to a private party. A client cheers Burchfield as "very responsive and a fabulous lawyer."

Speaking to the firm's coveted energy and international presence, a peer explains, "King & Spalding were historically thought of as the dominant Southeast firm, but nobody in the energy market knew who they were." This market perception, and the firm's practice focus as a whole, changed with the pivotal recruit of Doak Bishop. "Doak grew up as an oil and gas litigator and had a ton of trial experience, but he eventually transitioned into international arbitration. This was still a very small niche practice, nothing like it is today, but Doak – and the firm – was way ahead of the curve in exploiting the energy-driven possibilities of a non-obvious international arbitration market." In perhaps the most visible and hotly contested example, Bishop and New York international arbitration star Edward Kehoe have been representing Chevron, energy company that absorbed former firm client Texaco, in a massive arbitration concerning the previous entity's dealings in Ecuador, which, upon concluding, were to have seen the client released from liability for public environmental harm by a government-supported agreement. The arbitration was filed against the government Ecuador for allegedly violating that agreement by supporting plaintiffs in pursuing a controversial and prolonged litigation against Chevron for damages. The firm's Chevron work is largely credited to "high-end Houston lawyer," Bobby Meadows, who is said to have carved out a specialty of mass tort defense matters. "Bobby was representing Chevron when King & Spalding hired him." In another matter for Chevron, as well as other clients including the Dow Chemical Company and Shell, Houston's Tracie Renfroe attends to lawsuits filed throughout the country in which plaintiffs allege that certain chemicals manufactured by the clients have contaminated water supply wells or interfered with projects such as redevelopment. Brought by water purveyors or municipal entities, these cases involve damages claims and injunctive relief ranging from millions to hundreds of millions of dollars.