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Key contacts
Partner: Jeff Hohner
Partner: Edward G. Kehoe
Key practice areas
Copyright & related rights
Intellectual property
Patent disputes
Trade mark disputes
Trade mark
Patent
Patent prosecution
Trade mark prosecution
Dispute resolution
Firm overview

King & Spalding helps leading companies advance complex business interests in more than 160 countries. Working across a highly integrated platform of more than 1,300 lawyers in 26 offices globally, we deliver tailored commercial solutions through world-class offerings and an uncompromising approach to quality and service.

Trial and Global Disputes: Our experienced disputes lawyers try and arbitrate high-stakes cases every year across the globe in the most challenging jurisdictions for corporate clients.  Recognized for creativity, meticulous preparation, and top-rate advocacy, our lawyers help clients navigate the litigation lifecycle, working together from day one to identify business objectives, develop a strategy to meet those objectives, and then execute that strategy.  With more than 450 lawyers in 17 offices worldwide, we are uniquely able to staff and manage large and cross-border disputes from filing, to trial, and through appeal.  Our lawyers have a variety of expertise across substantive areas, including Appellate Law, Class Action Defense, Commercial Litigation, Construction & Engineering Disputes, Corporate & Securities Litigation, E-Discovery, Insolvency Litigation, Insurance Coverage & Recovery, Intellectual Property, International Arbitration, Labor & Employment, Product Liability, Professional Liability, and Toxic & Environmental Torts.  Working together—one area of expertise informing another—our disputes lawyers provide clients with seamless and efficient representation in the most complex and sensitive matters.

Capabilities:

  • Appellate, Constitutional and Administrative Law 
  • Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation
  • Class Action Defense
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Construction and Engineering Disputes
  • Corporate and Securities Litigation
  • E-Discovery
  • Insurance Coverage and Recovery
  • Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark and Copyright Litigation
  • International Arbitration and Litigation
  • Labor and Employment
  • Product Liability
  • Professional Liability
  • Toxic & Environmental Torts

Government Matters: Clients ranging from Fortune Global 50 corporations to high-profile individuals in every region of the world entrust King & Spalding’s Government Matters practice to guide them through rapidly changing regulatory landscapes, complex investigations by U.S. and foreign enforcement authorities, highly sensitive internal investigations and related, often parallel civil proceedings. 

Hundreds of lawyers across the United States, Europe and Asia bring decades of prior government service and industry experience to our regulatory and investigative practices, which serve the financial services, pharmaceutical and medical device, healthcare, energy, automotive and technology sectors in particular. The team includes six U.S. Attorneys, 24 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and former senior officials from the highest ranks in regulatory and enforcement organizations that are most significant to our clients.

Our experienced team includes former leaders at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Bank of England, the U.K’s Financial Reporting Council and the World Trade Organization.

Capabilities:

  • Antitrust
  • Data, Privacy and Security
  • Environmental, Health and Safety
  • FDA and Life Sciences
  • Government Advocacy and Public Policy
  • Government Contracts
  • Healthcare
  • International Trade
  • National Security and Corporate Espionage
  • Securities Enforcement and Regulation
  • Special Matters and Government Investigations

Corporate, Finance and Investments: Our Corporate, Finance and Investments team brings a collaborative approach to help clients execute complex, high-value transactions. We have a fully integrated platform with more than 330 lawyers in 17 offices, offering clients the benefit of global specialists with local knowledge and industry expertise. We work side by side with our clients to execute transactions efficiently and effectively—we understand what matters to both our clients and opposite parties and we explain the actual, practical risks to our clients.

Capabilities:

  • Activist Defense
  • Alternative Capital and Credit Funds
  • Capital Markets
  • Construction and Procurement
  • Corporate Governance
  • Emerging Companies and Venture Capital
  • Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
  • Energy and Infrastructure Projects
  • Financial Restructuring
  • Investment Funds and Asset Management
  • Leveraged Finance
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Middle East and Islamic Finance and Investment
  • Private Equity
  • Real Estate
  • Securitization
  • Tax


Updated Sep 2024

Address:
1290 Avenue of the Americas
14th Floor
New York, NY 10104
Tel:+1 212 556 2100 Web Address:https://www.kslaw.com
Rankings published in 2025
Dispute resolution
Highly Recommended
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Linked Reviews
Dispute Resolution

King & Spalding is unique in that it is one of the only firms with origins in Atlanta to have achieved its level of national prominence. The firm has, in fact, attained global reach, particularly through its international arbitration team, historically acknowledged as one of the strongest in the US – a position it still claims today. King & Spalding has built upon its deep bench with several star players over the past several years, first with trial ace Randy Mastro [since departed to become First Deputy Mayor of New York City] and then with Dallas-based antitrust star Veronica Moyé, both formerly with Gibson Dunn. The firm also took on Jennifer Recine, a real estate and commercial star formerly with Kasowitz. “They have done very well with recruiting, and were already quite strong,” assesses a peer. Another contemporary (and former opponent) testifies on behalf of individual partners. "They were not unnecessarily combative in ways that made settlement difficult. Their briefs were excellent, and they were true stand-up lawyers. It's always great to have professionals on the other side who fight hard but don't engage in unnecessary back-and-forth that wastes everyone’s time." 
     The Atlanta office is still a dominant presence in the city. “Whether they want to admit it or not, in Atlanta, it’s King & Spalding and then the rest of us,” quips a local peer. “If you’ve got clients like Coca-Cola, you’ve got Atlanta on lockdown.” This office is particularly celebrated for its product liability practice, historically one of the strongest in the US, in which Andy Bayman is a central figure. “Andy is terrific,” declares a peer. “He came up under [since-retired product liability luminary] Chilton Varner, and he is making great use of this.” Bayman and Ursula Henninger represent Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals as national defense counsel for all federal and state claims arising from allegations that Zantac is associated with an increased risk of cancer. The King & Spalding duo secured a ruling disposing of all 50,000 remaining claims in the MDL and defeated the plaintiffs’ efforts to certify nationwide and state class actions and is currently acting as trial counsel in multiple state courts. In May 2024, the duo led the team representing Boehringer in the first Zantac-related trial in state court in Cook County, Illinois. Plaintiffs sought $640 million in damages, and the King & Spalding team secured a defense verdict, with the jurors rejecting the claim that Zantac caused an Illinois woman’s colon cancer. “Considering the ‘judicial hell hole’ that Cook County is for defense [lawyers,] this is a milestone,” remarks a peer. Beyond product liability, Atlanta’s David Balser represents Capital One Bank in multiple class actions concerning allegations of breach of fiduciary duty regarding practices put in place on some of Capital One’s accounts.
     King & Spalding’s New York office is home to some of its most recognized white-collar and enforcement stars. Carmen Lawrence and Bill Johnson represent Archegos Capital Management, LP and the Archegos Fund, LP in connection with the highly publicized multi-agency criminal and civil investigations and resulting enforcement actions conducted by, among others, SEC, CFTC, and New York US Attorney’s Office regarding the circumstances leading up to the $36 billion private investment firm’s March 2021 default on margin calls and ultimate collapse. These investigations have resulted in ongoing enforcement actions against Archegos by the SEC and CFTC, and criminal actions against several former directors. Thus far, Lawrence and Johnson have successfully moved to dismiss the CFTC enforcement action. Mike Stenglein, who works from New York as well as Austin, Texas, demonstrates the firm’s “very deep dedication” to the international arbitration arena. Stenglein led a team that secured $900 million for Reficar in its high-profile dispute with US contractor CB&I over the construction of an oil refinery in Colombia. The King & Spalding team Reficar in both the ICC construction arbitration and the subsequent enforcement proceedings in multiple international jurisdictions. In January 2025, the award was confirmed.

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