King & Spalding

The Atlanta office of King & Spalding continues to provide assistance to clients facing labor and employment issues. Michael Johnston resides in the Atlanta office and remains an active labor and employment litigator. He is highly experienced in handling labor and employment disputes and internal investigations. Recently, Johnston was lead counsel in two lawsuits representing Volkswagen Group of America and Volkswagen Group of America – Chattanooga Operations. One of the cases is in United States District for the Eastern District of Tennessee and the plaintiffs allege class-wide age discrimination on the basis of programs adopted and implemented by Volkswagen in Germany.

King & Spalding is an internationally-lauded law firm with a network of 20 offices worldwide, with 10 of these outside the US. Peers are quick to address the firm’s most obvious strengths; one being its global balance of power. “King & Spalding was way ahead of the curve in terms of establishing an international scope. That firm has as many tentacles internationally as it does in the US.” Another area in which the firm reigns supreme is the energy sector. One competitor confirms, “King & Spalding is 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 be “the best in the world when it comes to representing the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms.”

Atlanta-based trial lawyer David Balser was lead counsel to SCANA in criminal and SEC investigations. The dispute was related to the abandonment of SCANA’s new nuclear development at the V.C. Summer plant in South Carolina, including defense of ratepayer class actions, derivative claims, federal securities class actions, and state and federal governmental investigations. Additionally, an expedited federal court injunction proceeding seeking to block implementation of confiscatory legislation targeting SCANA was also at stake.  A multi-practice, cross-office team, led by Balser, were involved in a multi-week evidentiary hearing before the South Carolina Public Service Commission that sought to block SCANA’s proposed $14.6 billion merger with Dominion Energy.  A complete victory for the client was obtained, leading to the closing of the Dominion merger in January of 2019. Balser and fellow Atlanta partner Michael Smith were members of the lead counsel team representing Equifax in numerous high profile putative class actions arising from the cyber security incident announced in September 2017. The client is involved in more than 250 consumer and financial institution class actions from the data breach. Trial and global disputes practice group leader Andy Bayman successfully obtained a reversal of a $3 million jury verdict in favor of his client GlaxoSmithKline in a wrongful death lawsuit. Bayman was co-lead counsel in this matter, the first lawsuit ever tried under the “innovator liability” theory. The decision is the first by the 7th Circuit to find federal preemption in a prescription drug case since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Wyeth v. Levine, which set out the standard for this issue.

Ursula Henninger hails from the Charlotte office of the firm. She routinely represents companies in tobacco, medical device, and pharmaceutical industries in personal injury, wrongful death and tort matters. She is a member of the lead counsel team continuing to represent RY Reynolds in engle progeny  tobacco cases pending in Florida, in which former members of a decertified class action may bring additional individual lawsuits. Kenneth Steinthal is a California-based intellectual property authority who often represents clients in media, copyright and licensing matters. He represented the Radio Music License Committee on behalf of over 7,000 commercial radio stations in the first rate setting arbitration against performing rights collective SESAC under the RMLC’s 20-year antitrust settlement with SESAC.

New York litigation luminary Richard Marooney continues to manage a stand-out practice dedicated to securities, general commercial and international disputes. He was the lead lawyer who won the dismissal with prejudice of a Section 10(b) securities fraud complaint against automotive transportation and logistics provider Jack Cooper Holdings Corp. and two of its officers in the Southern District of New York. The judge held that the plaintiff failed to plead either that Jack Cooper or its officers made any material misstatements or omissions. This early result not only dismissed the case against Jack Cooper Holdings Corp., its CEO and former CFO, but also denied River Birch the opportunity to file another amended complaint. Edward Kehoe is the managing partner of the New York office, and co-head of the international arbitration practice. He specializes in business arbitration and litigation. He is involved in an ongoing dispute between pharmaceutical companies relative to a joint venture agreement. Kehoe and Houston trial lawyer Doak Bishop obtained a groundbreaking victory for Spanish gas company Union Fenosa Gas in an international arbitration proceeding. A historic award of approximately $2.2 billion, including interest and legal costs, against the Arab Republic of Egypt was secured.

Seasoned trial lawyer Bobby Meadows also hails from the Houston office where he is recognized as a frequent face in trials in state and federal court, as well as arbitration proceedings. He is lead counsel to Chevron USA in multiple lawsuits arising from an explosion and fire at its Richmond, California Refinery. He has secured the dismissal of over 10,000 plaintiffs in the individual claimant actions. The court also agreed to a random selection of individual plaintiffs to go through discovery and eventually be tried. Of the 160 plaintiffs randomly selected, 100 elected to dismiss their claims rather than proceed through discovery and trial. The firm also achieved the dismissal of two purported class actions at the pleadings stage.

Texas-based Tracie Renfroe serves as the managing partner of the Houston office, as well as co-head of the energy practice. Her trial practice is centered on toxic tort, environmental, professional and product liability, and commercial disputes. She currently represents DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson company, in a multi-district litigation involving metal-on-metal hip implants. New York litigator Carmen Lawrence specializes in securities-related government investigations and litigation. She serves as co-lead of the firm’s Securities Enforcement and Regulation practice and often represents both public and private companies in regulatory and investigative matters. Renfroe, Lawrence, and DC litigator Dixie Johnson are also acclaimed as one of Benchmark's Top 250 Women in Litigation. Johnson is the deputy practice group leader for government matters of the firm, where she represents businesses and individuals in securities enforcement investigations and conducts internal investigations for corporate board committees and companies.

King & Spalding has a key focus on arbitration work and represents its clients from across 13 offices worldwide. The firm has a strong focus on international commercial litigation. Key names in the firm include Tom Sprange QC and John Savage QC.

The firm represented Unión Fenosa Gas in commercial arbitration proceedings relating to a natural gas contract.

Another case highlight saw the firm advise German companies KS Invest and TLS Invest in an ICSID arbitration. The case related to a violation of investor rights and was brought under the Energy Charter Treaty against Spain.