Firm Profile > King & Spalding LLP > London, England
King & Spalding LLP Offices
125 OLD BROAD STREET
LONDON
EC2N 1AR
England
King & Spalding LLP > The Legal 500 Rankings
International arbitration Tier 3
King & Spalding LLP has a large portfolio of complex, high-value arbitrations, with approximately 30 pending arbitrations currently being run out of the firm's London office. The practice acts for many of the world’s largest and best-known corporations and governments, and it boasts three silks in Thomas Sprange QC, Stuart Isaacs QC and John Savage QC, who specialise in international arbitration and conduct their own advocacy. Also highly rated are Ruth Byrne, whose practice is particularly focused on energy, and Egishe Dzhazoyan, who specialises in arbitration matters involving Russia and the CIS. Giorgio Mandelli was hired from Volterra Fietta, while Nicholas Cherryman left for Kobre & Kim LLP.
Key clients
Obrascón Huarte Lain
Emirates International Investment Company
Samsung C&T
Reliance Industries
GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy
Ascom Grup
Government of Turkey
Chevron
Shell
Islamic Development Bank
Betamax
Reliance Industries
Shell Philippines Exploration
Oil and gas Tier 3
From London, King & Spalding LLP advises on major LNG export and import projects around the world, including Anadarko’s Mozambique project. The team also covers a diverse range of M&A, corporate and project development work in the upstream sector, including production sharing contracts and licences, joint operating agreements, and gas transportation and sales agreements. In recent highlights, Martin Hunt and his team advised Sierra Oil & Gas on the first major upstream corporate deal in Mexico since the energy reforms of 2014. Also notable is the team's dispute resolution offering, which has a particular emphasis on commercial and investor-state arbitration within the sector. Nina Howell moved to Bracewell (UK) LLP and Gary Pegg retired from the profession.
Key clients
Anadarko Petroleum Company
Transocean
Baker Hughes, a GE Company
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
Total
Sierra Oil & Gas
German LNG Terminal GmbH (a joint venture between Gasunie, Vopak and Oiltanking)
Sequa Petroleum
SigmaBleyzer Investment Group LLC
Shell and Chevron
Commercial litigation Tier 4
King & Spalding LLP's London disputes practice is a key part of the firm's broader global litigation practice.. It has experience handling corporate and commercial disputes before the English courts for domestic and international clients. Sarah Walker's practice encompasses disputes in the financial services, aviation, IT, communications and energy sectors; Egishe Dzhazoyan acts for clients in the banking, financial services, telecoms, mining and energy sectors. The group also boasts four silks in Thomas Sprange QC, John Savage QC, Stuart Isaacs QC and Gareth Rees QC, while Ben Williams is a notable senior associate. Nicholas Cherryman left for Kobre & Kim LLP.
Testimonials
‘Sarah Walker has an excellent understanding of the offshore world in the context of financial services disputes‘.
Key clients
Attock Oil
Motorola
Libya Africa Investment Portfolio
Antracite Investment
Urgula Platinum
Menrela
Ascom Grup
Aldersgate Investments
Flushing Bank
Fraud: civil Tier 4
King & Spalding LLP's London team has a particular focus on handling fraud-related disputes before courts and arbitral tribunals, for both domestic and international clients. Areas of expertise include enforcement claims, freezing orders, multi-jurisdictional disputes, and bribery and corruption. Key client sectors for the US firm's London office include aviation, banking and finance, IT, communications and energy. Sarah Walker and Thomas Sprange QC head the team, while Robert Dedman joined as partner from Navigant Consulting.
Testimonials
‘Thorough, structured and diligent’.
‘Very diligent and high stamina’.
Key clients
Motorola
Antracite Investment Limited, Urgula Platinum Limited and Menrela Limited
Aldersgate Investments Ltd
KFH Capital
Attock Oil
Ascom Grup S.A., Anatolie Stati, Gabriel Stati and Terra Raf Trans Traiding Ltd
WesternZagros Resources Ltd
IREO
Bank & Clients
TURN8 Innovation Fund
Regulatory investigations and corporate crime Tier 4
King & Spalding LLP's growing team is adept at handling enforcement investigations, internal investigations, as well as advising on allegations of tax evasion, fraud, bribery, sanction breaches and compliance matters. Its lawyers often deal with regulators including the FCA, SFO, CFTC and DoJ, advising clients such as retail and investment banks, fund managers, insurers and insurance intermediaries. The firm has been expanding in London in recent times; Robert Dedman joined as a partner from Navigant and Aaron Stephens joined as a partner from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. The pair both head the team alongside Gareth Rees QC, who specialises in fraud, and Hayley Ichilcik, who joined as counsel from O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
Testimonials
‘Thoughtful and proactive engagement, practical and pragmatic advice’.
‘A brilliant mix of US and UK expertise’.
‘Aaron Stephens never fails to impress with his calm advice and obvious expertise. He is a big player and a major catch for the team’.
‘Gareth Rees QC is a great tactician for the big cases’.
Key clients
Polar Capital
Platinum Capital
NFU Mutual
Financial services: contentious Tier 5
King & Spalding LLP’s non-contentious financial services practice focuses on market abuse regulation, securitisation and hedge funds, with particular experience within the insurance and asset management sectors. On the contentious side, the firm is known for acting in Senior Managers and Certification Regime and white collar crime related matters. The team was strengthened by the 2018 arrivals of Aaron Stephens, from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, who has expertise in representing financial institutions, corporate clients and senior individuals in highly sensitive litigation and investigations; and former Head of Enforcement at the Bank of England / Prudential Regulation Authority, Robert Dedman, who joined from Navigant.
Employment: employers Tier 6
King & Spalding LLP 's London practice was launched in 2016 with the hire of practice head Jules Quinn from Jones Day, where she also led the City employment team. Quinn, who works in tandem with counsel Kim Roberts, advises on a broad range of employment issues including recruitment, workforce downsizing and Brexit-related employment strategies, as well as internal investigations; she has advised MasterCard on all aspects of employment law for more than 20 years. The practice counts a range of multinational corporates among its clients and has particular experience advising companies in the technology and financial services sectors.
Key clients
MasterCard
AEW Europe LLP
Envirogen Group
Cobham plc
Bank of East Asia
Capital & Regional plc
Sojitz Europe plc
SCSK Europe Ltd
Sumi Agro Europe Ltd
Simba Sleep
LCCG
Gett Taxi
Bank and Clients PLC
BearingPoint, Ltd.
Nexant Limited
Pioneer Investment Management Limited
Quintain Limited
Toronto Dominion Securities
Mark Newton- Jones
Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory Tier 6
King & Spalding LLP’s non-contentious financial services practice focuses on market abuse regulation, securitisation and hedge funds, with particular experience within the insurance and asset management sectors. On the contentious side, the firm is known for acting in Senior Managers and Certification Regime and white collar crime related matters. The team was strengthened by the 2018 arrivals of Aaron Stephens, from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, who has expertise in representing financial institutions, corporate clients and senior individuals in highly sensitive litigation and investigations; and former Head of Enforcement at the Bank of England / Prudential Regulation Authority, Robert Dedman, who joined from Navigant.
M&A: upper mid-market and premium deals, £500m+ Tier 6
King & Spalding LLP's corporate practice covers public and private M&A, including joint ventures and private equity-backed transactions. The firm has a strong track record in its traditional sectors, namely energy and natural resources, as well as financial services, and within both the firm acts for international and domestic clients, including Baker Hughes and Sierra Oil & Gas. The practice is led by William Charnley, who has a particular focus on the private equity and financial institutions space, acting on mergers, acquisitions, disposals and providing general corporate advice. The firm recently hired Derek Meilman from Hogan Lovells International LLP, who has a particular emphasis on corporate M&A within the energy and infrastructure and consumer retail sectors.
Key clients
GlaxoSmithKline
General Electric
Baker Hughes
Simba Sleep
United Parcel Service
Global Switch
Global Payments Inc.
ERM
Sierra Oil & Gas
Transocean Ltd
Life Company Consolidation Group
Promethean Investments LLP
King & Spalding LLP > Firm Profile
King & Spalding’s London office specialises in commercial and financial matters, with a particular focus on energy, Islamic finance, project finance, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity transactions. It also offers clients substantial expertise in arbitration and litigation, employment, international trade, real estate and tax law.
The firm: King & Spalding has provided the highest quality legal services to its clients for over a century. Since its establishment in 1885, the firm has had a tradition of attracting and developing many of the finest lawyers. Today, with more than 1,000 lawyers and offices in Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Paris, Riyadh, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC, the firm continues to provide the highest calibre legal counsel to clients around the world.
King & Spalding currently represents more than 250 public companies, including half of the Fortune Global 100. It represents hundreds of clients with new ventures and mid-sized companies in emerging industries.
In 2003, King & Spalding established its London office, the first of ten international offices the firm would open in the next decade. The London office was launched as a base from which the firm’s energy, finance and corporate practices could expand into Europe and beyond. Since then it has become one of the hubs for the firm’s highly respected international arbitration and Islamic finance practices.
Types of work undertaken: In the US the firm is known particularly as a leading corporate and litigation firm, within a wide range of expertise.
Energy and natural resources is one of the fastest-growing practice areas of the London office, including advising on LNG, petrochemical, construction and other projects in the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and the CIS region. Project finance expertise includes representing project developers and borrowers, as well as commercial banks and other clients. The firm has experience of advising on multi-billion-dollar construction projects in the Middle East and other emerging markets.
Among international law firms, King & Spalding is one of the world’s foremost authorities on Islamic finance and investment practices. Much of this work is handled from the London office. In partnership with clients, the firm has pioneered numerous finance and investment structures that comply with Shari’ah principles, including the first mortgage financing provided by a bank for commercial real estate in the US, using an ijara wa-iqtinah structure.
The firm’s mergers and acquisitions practice group consistently ranks among the leading practices, both in terms of aggregate deal value and number of transactions. The firm represents sellers, purchasers, target companies and financial advisers in transactions across Western Europe, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the CIS region, Africa and the Middle East. In addition to the purchase and sale of public and private companies, experience includes the structuring and formation of strategic joint ventures and other investments, devising anti-takeover strategies, structuring acquisition offers and advising on public and private acquisition financings.
Private equity specialists in London act for private equity investment funds and other investors regarding structuring, negotiating and executing leveraged and non-leveraged acquisitions, as well as handling exit strategies. In addition, it represents sponsors and investors in fund formation and administration.
In addition to specialist financing areas, the firm advises on general banking and finance matters. International trade is also an area of expertise and a range of litigation and arbitration services are provided.
Other offices: Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Houston, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Paris, Riyadh, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington DC
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chairman | Robert D Hays | ||
| Managing partner, London office | Garry J Pegg |
Top Tier Firm Rankings
Firm Rankings
- London International arbitration
- London Oil and gas
- London Commercial litigation
- London Fraud: civil
- London Regulatory investigations and corporate crime
- London Financial services: contentious
- London Employment: employers
- London Financial services: non-contentious/regulatory
- London M&A: upper mid-market and premium deals, £500m+