The Legal 500

Within Energy: litigation, King & Spalding LLP is a second tier firm,

The ‘excellent’ team at King & Spalding LLP provides ‘a high level of service’ and ‘compares favorably in this area on costs, soundness of advice, courtroom presence and case management’. It is a major player in the oil and gas arena, and although the practice is well known for its weight in Texas, the group’s lawyers are active in offices from coast to coast. The firm’s expertise extends to regulatory permitting and disputes, antitrust, environmental, and oil field and mass tort litigation. It also has an international arbitration practice that often handles energy-related matters. The firm is currently lead counsel on behalf of Chevron in litigation and regulatory matters involving the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Other highlights included achieving a complete defense verdict for Shell Oil after a four-month trial in California in a drinking water contamination case, in which the City of Redlands sued Shell, seeking compensatory and punitive damages relating to contamination of groundwater. Recommended litigator Robert Meadows is ‘one of the best trial lawyers in the country’. Reagan Simpson ‘cannot be matched for appellate law’. Penn Huston is ‘attentive, results oriented, knowledgeable and dedicated’. Washington DC-based Neil Levy is also recommended.

Within Energy: transaction and regulatory, King & Spalding LLP is a third tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP’s ‘responsive and knowledgeable’ team is ‘highly recommended to anyone who wants to do international business’. The firm’s energy lawyers are mainly based in Washington DC and Houston, but the group also has particularly strong ties in Singapore. It advises clients on transactional and regulatory matters across the energy industries including in oil, gas, power and renewable energy sectors. The team acted as EOG Resources on aspects of the Kitimat LNG export project in Canada, involving the development of EOG’s shale gas reserves in British Columbia, Canada, the transport of gas to the coast at Kitimat, and its liquefaction and sale to long term buyers. Highlights also included advising Calpine on all regulatory matters relating on its $1.65bn acquisition of 19 power plants in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US from Conectiv Energy. The representation included FERC approval under the Federal Power Act and related rate filings, obtaining waivers of FERC’s natural gas capacity release requirements for the transfer of various natural gas transportation and storage contracts, and advice on various regulatory, reliability, markets, and antitrust matters relating to the acquisition. Clients also include Dynegy, Noble Energy, Apache, BP America, Duke Energy International, Destin Pipeline Company and SEMCO. Philip Weems and Neil Levy, who is ‘one of the best energy lawyers out there’, lead the team. Houston-based Ken Culotta ‘does a good job and manages costs well’. Washington DC-based David Tewksbury is also highly recommended.

Within Environment: litigation, tier 4

King & Spalding LLP’s ‘extremely capably’ team provides a ‘high level of client service’. The firm handles the full range of environmental litigation, including EPA enforcement matters, permit challenges, cost recovery claims, and claims for damages related to alleged environmental contamination. Recent highlights included water, ground water, climate change and CAA litigation as well as others. It recently successfully defended Shell Oil Company against allegations made by The City of Redlands regarding drinking water contamination associated with 1,2,3 trichloropropane. Clients also include 3M, Atlanta Regional Commission and City of Atlanta, Portland Cement and Chevron. The practice is headed by Atlanta-based Patricia Barmeyer, Washington DC-based Katherine Rhyne and Texas-based Carol Wood. Also recommended are Atlanta-based Kevin Buster, who is ‘excellent, smart and an expert’, and Texas-based Bruce Hurley, who is an ‘outstanding trial lawyer and excellent at questioning and cross-examining witnesses’.

Within Healthcare and life sciences, King & Spalding LLP is a second tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP is ‘a fine firm’ with a dedication to the healthcare sector. Its FDA/life sciences and healthcare practice groups provide corporate and commercial services, and finance, regulatory, investigations and litigation support for hospitals and health systems, health plans, pharmacies and manufacturers. It also has a prominent product liability practice. Dennis Barry is a highly regarded Medicare and Medicaid expert, who is part of a team representing over 700 hospitals in litigation over Medicaid payment rates for in-patient treatments. The firm’s life sciences litigators are ‘terrific – first-rate lawyers, closely aligned with the client’s objectives; dedicated, responsive, and able to work with a whole lot of moving pieces and to see the big picture; excellent judgment’. Atlanta-based Richard Shackelford represents manufacturers and healthcare service providers in False Claims Act and Stark Law cases. Transactional highlights included advising Detroit Medical Center on selling its assets – including six hospitals – to Vanguard Health Systems, and acting for BioScrip on its $348m acquisition of Critical Homecare Solutions Holdings.

Within Trademarks: non-contentious (full coverage), tier 4

King & Spalding LLP’s trademark prosecution and strategic counseling practice includes eight partners well versed in assisting clients on a worldwide basis. The team is mainly based in Atlanta with support from New York and Houston, and deals with a wide variety of sectors. The IP practice group is lead by chair Courtland Reichman, who, as well as handling patent litigation work, manages a number of valuable marks for the country’s leading companies. The team acts as primary outside trademark counsel for The Coca-Cola Company, handling protection and enforcement matters as well as strategic advice. The very experienced Steve Schaetzel acts for UPS, advising on protection, enforcement and prosecution matters.

Within International arbitration, King & Spalding LLP is a first tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP’s traditional area of expertise is disputes relating to the energy sector, but the firm’s arbitration practice has grown in recent times to cover a broader remit. 2010 saw the opening of a new office in Singapore as well as the arrival of Guillermo Aguilar-Alvarez, formerly head of international arbitration at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Clients, including Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, European Foods, Murphy Oil and KBR, say the firm’s ‘overall service, commitment to clients and work product is unparalleled’. The team’s expertise spans both commercial arbitration and investment treaty arbitration, and covers a broad array of industries including pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology, airline, construction, infrastructure and utility, hotel and tourism, banking, telecoms, real estate, mining, taxation and insurance. The practice is representing Chevron in a second arbitration concerning a breach of contract and denial of justice claim in which the arbitral tribunal issued in March 2010 a partial award and decided that Chevron was entitled to approximately $700m in principal damages plus interest, with further proceedings pending to determine potential tax issues. The partial award represents one of the largest ever by an investment-arbitration tribunal. In the ICSID case of Teinver v Argentina, the firm is representing the claimant in a dispute arising under the Spain - Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty concerning Argentina's nationalization of two Argentine airlines and their subsidiaries. The amount in dispute is in the range of $400-600m. Co-head of the international arbitration group Doak Bishop is ‘one of the most knowledgeable investor-state arbitration attorneys practicing today’. Edward Kehoe leads the practice on the East Coast, and is described as ‘excellent and client-focused’. John Bowman is also highly regarded.

Within International trade, King & Spalding LLP is a second tier firm,

Providing clients with ‘an excellent level of service’, King & Spalding LLP’s work on trade matters is ‘of the highest quality’. The firm is particularly strong on the disputes side with significant expertise in countervailing duty matters. Clients include AK Steel Corporation, Bridgestone Americas, Credit Suisse, The Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil and General Electric. The international trade practice expanded in 2010/11 with a number of new hires and the opening of a new office in Geneva. Representative matters included acting for US Magnesium, the only US producer of primary magnesium, in the five-year (sunset) reviews of the antidumping duty orders on magnesium from China and Russia. The firm is also representing US Magnesium in numerous administrative reviews and judicial proceedings resulting from those reviews. On the WTO side, the practice advised the Office of the US Trade Representative and the US Department of Commerce in successfully defending against China’s recent WTO challenge of four US countervailing duty findings involving OTR Tires, circular welded pipe, light-walled rectangular pipe, and laminated woven sacks. The firm was involved in three of the four underlying investigations before the US authorities. Stephen Jones heads up the international trade group and is highly recommended. Joe Dorn is ‘very responsive’ and ‘can explain issues in straightforward terms that are easy to understand’.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: automotive/transport , King & Spalding LLP is a second tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP displays ‘excellent knowledge in the automotive space’ and is reliably able to achieve favorable results. The product liability group is a very significant practice for the firm and fields attorneys based in San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte and Washington DC, giving it the ‘good depth’ and geographical reach to take on the most significant cases. As such, the firm has a strong track record in defending automotive manufacturers and transportation companies in product liability litigation, including wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases. The firm has a substantial relationship with General Motors, most recently defending the client against claims and lawsuits brought by parties seeking to evade rulings that it was not liable for claims arising out of the use of its products if the accident occurred before July 10, 2009. These cases included Frye v General Motors Corporation et al, in which plaintiffs sought compensatory and punitive damages for the alleged wrongful death of a mother and the catastrophic injuries suffered by her sons during a rollover crash. The firm’s attorneys successfully moved to dismiss the claims. The group also serves as lead counsel to Toyota, and recently defended the company in the highly publicized “unintended acceleration” litigation. Other recent clients include Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Mazda and Volkswagen. The practice also represents a number of shipping and boating clients where its recent successes include securing defense verdicts on claims of negligent training and supervision in a wrongful death matter, and defeating punitive damages claims involving older equipment after a company’s decision to install new safety equipment. Chilton Varner is a hugely well respected appellate specialist and leader in product liability, and Randall (Randy) Bassett ‘does a very good job in all aspects of litigation’. Philip Holladay is recommended for high-exposure product liability cases and Harold Franklin is a ‘rising star’. Andrew Bayman is also highly recommended. All of the recommended attorneys are based in Atlanta.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices, King & Spalding LLP is a second tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP has one of the larger teams in this space, staffed by ‘first-rate lawyers who are dedicated and responsive’, and who display ‘excellent judgment’. Clients also value the firm’s efforts to be ‘cost effective and conscious of cost efficiencies’, mixing a strategic approach with a track record of taking complex cases to trial. Recent highlights include representing Baxter Healthcare in litigation brought by the actor Dennis Quaid relating to injuries allegedly resulting from the administration of Heparin to his newborn twins in Los Angeles. After removing the case to the District Court for the Central District of California, the firm successfully obtained a dismissal. It is also serving as national coordinating co-counsel and lead trial counsel to Purdue Pharma in litigation involving the pain medication OxyContin and related civil investigations. Over the course of this representation, the firm has obtained more than 400 dismissals and defeated 15 putative class actions. It also defended the company in a case filed by Kentucky’s attorney general seeking to recover Medicaid expenditure on OxyContin and in a putative nationwide class action filed by a consumer in California under its consumer protection laws. Chilton Varner, Andrew Bayman, Todd Davis and Robert Woo are ‘accessible and responsive, and will move heaven and earth to accommodate clients’ needs and requests’. Halli Cohn and W Ray Persons are also recommended. All of the recommended attorneys are based in Atlanta.

Within Product liability and mass tort defense: toxic tort, King & Spalding LLP is a first tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP is ‘a big player in toxic torts, especially in chemicals’, and its 100-lawyer team and considerable scientific expertise makes it a tried and trusted option for many big-name clients. In 2010, the group was instructed by Shell to serve as lead national trial counsel in litigation alleging that drinking water in Redlands, California was contaminated with 123-trichloropropane due to defective products. The team won a defense verdict after demonstrating that the city was not harmed and the products were not defective. It also succeeded in removing 3M from a product liability case in Florida filed by the local water authority, which alleged that chemicals from fire-fighting foam manufactured by the client had contaminated two of its wells. The team also handles climate change litigation and has represented Chevron in successfully dismissing a number of cases. For example, in Comer v Murphy Oil – a putative class of Mississippi residents and landowners alleging that greenhouse gas emissions contributed to global warming that in turn intensified the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina – the firm took the lead in briefing the motions to dismiss, which were granted. The group’s lawyers are spread across offices in Houston, Atlanta, Washington DC, San Francisco and Austin, with Atlanta-based Kevin Buster identified as the firm’s standout individual for toxic torts.

Within Securities: shareholder litigation, tier 5

King & Spalding LLP’s ‘excellent’ securities litigation team is very well regarded by clients, who praise the firm’s ‘engaged and responsive’ lawyers. Robert Thornton and the ‘responsive and easy to talk to’ Warren Pope are commended for ‘their knowledge in the area and good judgment’, while Michael Smith is praised for his ‘good sense of big picture strategy’. For representation in Georgia, ‘its knowledge of local judges, rules, opposing counsel and general practices is excellent’. Michael Malone is also highly recommended. The firm’s practices in Washington DC and New York were boosted by the arrival of a team of six partners, including Diana Weiss and James Cusick from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP. Recent highlights include winning a major jury trial victory for Jean-Marie Messier, the former chairman and CEO of Vivendi Universal, who was facing one of the largest securities class actions to be brought to verdict. The firm has also been representing PwC in several major securities class actions.

Within Supreme Court and appellate, King & Spalding LLP is a second tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP offers ‘outstanding, top-notch work: creative, thoughtful strategy and excellent writing’. Jeffrey Bucholtz, a former acting assistant attorney general, is ‘an extremely intelligent and thoughtful lawyer; outstanding in every way’. Ashley Parrish, who joined from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, is also considered ‘an intelligent, hardworking attorney with a strong base of experience. His ability to present complex technical and legal materials and arguments is a particular strength’. Daryl Joseffer, who joined the firm in 2009 after serving as Deputy Solicitor General, is ‘clearly a rising star’. Recent highlights include representing the National Rifle Association at oral argument in McDonald v Chicago, and filing an amicus curiae brief for 58 US Senators and 251 Representatives in support of the petitioners. The Court eventually found in favor of the client that the constitutional right of an individual to keep and bear arms is incorporated by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and applies to the states. In Philip Morris v Jackson, the firm was principal US Supreme Court counsel for one of the petitioners, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, and has also been retained by Philip Morris to advise on US Supreme Court proceedings.

Within White-collar criminal defense , tier 8

King & Spalding LLP’s ‘excellent’ 12-partner team has over 20 years’ experience at handling work for corporations and individuals facing the full range of scrutiny including complex federal and state criminal investigations, internal investigations and Congressional investigations, as well as in related civil and regulatory proceedings. Splitting his time between the firm’s Washington DC and Atlanta offices, team head Chris Wray is ‘one of the best in the business’ and provides a ‘highly credible’ service to corporates and individuals as a result of his former tenure as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ’s criminal division. Praised for his ‘excellent judgment, vast experience and responsiveness’, Wray is regularly at the forefront of many of the team’s highest-profile mandates including its recently concluded representation of Credit Suisse in parallel criminal and regulatory investigations into alleged OFAC breaches. The team also has an excellent pedigree in relation to healthcare fraud, as was recently underscored by its successful representation of Allergan in criminal and civil actions regarding the company’s sales and marketing of Botox. The ‘knowledgeable, smart and experienced’ Sedwick Sollers has a broad-ranging practice that encompasses healthcare fraud and FCPA matters, while the ‘brilliant and creative’ Mark Jensen has an excellent track record for handling healthcare fraud matters.

Within M&A: large deals ($1bn-5bn), King & Spalding LLP is a third tier firm,

King & Spalding LLP’s M&A practice consists of over 90 lawyers working from Atlanta, Charlotte, Dubai, Houston, London, New York, and Silicon Valley. Recently, William Spalding, a former executive vice president of CVS Caremark, rejoined the firm in Atlanta as a corporate partner. Spalding focuses on the healthcare services, branded pharmaceuticals and healthcare IT sectors. New York-based Crayton Bell, an M&A energy specialist, joined as partner from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, and private equity partner John Herbert arrived in the New York office from McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Herbert advises private equity funds in connection with their portfolio investments in public and private companies. Recently, the practice represented Eclipsys Corporation in its merger with Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, and advised Cooper Industries in its joint venture transaction combining Cooper’s tools business with the tools business from Danaher Corporation. In the upper echelons of the middle market, Sprint Nextel Corporation was assisted in its $831m acquisition of NASDAQ-listed iPCS, a Sprint Nextel affiliate with the exclusive right to sell products and services under the Sprint Nextel brand in certain markets, including the assumption of debt, and acted for Falcon Gas Storage Company, a portfolio company of Arcapita Bank, in the $500m sale of its subsidiary NorTex Gas Storage Company to Alinda Natural Gas Storage I and Alinda Natural Gas Storage II. In the sub-$500m deal space, the firm represented BioScrip in its $347.7m acquisition of Critical Homecare Solutions Holdings, a provider of home infusion and home nursing products and services to patients suffering from chronic and acute medical conditions, and advised Lodgian, a large independent hotel owners and operator, in its $270m merger with an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. Clients find the practice ‘very responsive to their needs’.

Within Construction (including construction litigation), tier 4

King & Spalding LLP’s construction practice handles both national and international instructions from its offices in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, New York and San Francisco. The team consists of over 40 lawyers and is noted for its ‘broad expertise and excellent knowledge of construction’. Assisting clients through the entire development process, it is adept in both transactions and litigation. While the firm has a strong focus on global development, there are a number of projects keeping the firm busy in the US, particularly in the areas of energy infrastructure and mining. It is acting for Cheniere Energy in the drafting and negotiation of agreements for the addition of liquefaction services at an LNG facility in Louisiana; this high-value project, the first of its kind in continental US, will involve the construction of a bi-directional facility capable of liquefying and exporting natural gas, and will also import and regasify foreign-sourced LNG. On the litigation side, the firm successfully represented COMMISA, a wholly owned subsidiary of KBR, in an ICC arbitration; the tribunal granted $350m to the client (nearly all the claims at the requested amounts) in relation to the performance of a contract to design, fabricate, install and commission offshore a compressor platform and gas treatment platform for PEMEX Exploratión y Producción, a subsidiary of Mexico’s national oil company. The ‘loyal, honest and competent’ Scott Greer is a key contact, and leads the firm’s worldwide construction transactions practice.

Within Real estate, King & Spalding LLP is a third tier firm,

Sarah Borders heads King & Spalding LLP’s real estate team, which is based across the Atlanta, New York, Charlotte, Houston and San Francisco offices. The 19-partner practice generally represents developers and owners, funds and institutions regarding capital markets, financing, refinancing and fund formation matters. Borders represented a resort and golf course developer on all elements of its Chapter 11 case, including a $1bn restructuring transaction and the sale of the business under a reorganization plan; and AIG Baker and its affiliates on the restructuring and sale of its multi-state portfolio involving $1bn of indebtedness. Timothy Sullivan and Timothy Goodwin represented Morgan Stanley and its $7bn Prime Property Fund, via its AMLI Residential platform, on several types of transactions including acquisitions, dispositions, restructurings and financings totaling $1bn. Clay Gibson represented KanAm Grund on multiple sale transactions involving two regional malls in California and Tennessee and nine office buildings in Washington DC, Minneapolis, Texas and Nevada. GE Capital Real Estate and Post Apartment Homes are also clients of the firm.