Robert Meadows > King & Spalding LLP > Houston, United States > Lawyer Profile

King & Spalding LLP‘s oil and gas litigation group represents a number of high-profile clients such as Chevron and ConocoPhilips. The broad practice handles a range of contentious issues, including toxic torts, trade secrets, royalties and administrative agency litigation. Based in Houston, managing partner Tracie Renfroe and Robert Meadows have extensive experience in federal and state courts; Renfroe focuses on environmental, product liability and commercial disputes and Meadows has a strong reputation in complex commercial and tort litigation. The group also has strong international arbitration capabilities, with Reggie Smith and Doak Bishop being key names to note. Andrew Stakelum has unique expertise in energy companies operating along the Gulf Coast.

Many leading chemical, healthcare and energy companies turn to King & Spalding LLP to represent them in high-stakes toxic tort matters, relating to, inter alia, water contamination and chemical exposure. With more than 60 fee-earners spread across the firm’s national network of offices who have a focus in the area, the firm has the critical mass and geographical diversity to handle a tremendous range and volume of cases, irrespective of location. Of these practitioners, many have significant trial experience, ensuring that the team has ‘a wealth of knowledge on how to deal with environmental litigation in challenging jurisdictions’. ‘Strategic, pragmatic and forward-thinking‘, Tracie Renfroe  is managing partner of the Houston office, although her experience in the area extends beyond the regional confines of the office, to include a national and international profile for defending environmental claims. Also based out of Houston, Robert Meadows’ broad trial practice has seen him handle some high-profile toxic tort work, including numerous matters for Chevron, relating to allegations of water contamination caused by the gasoline additive MTBE. The firm’s New York office also continues to gain market share and was galvanized by the recruitment of a four-partner mass tort group from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in February 2020. Kristen Fournier is one of the leading lights of that team and has significant experience acting as national co-ordinating counsel, as well as a first-chair trial lawyer for the likes of Johnson & Johnson. Matthew Blaschke  and Elizabeth Taber, from San Francisco and Houston respectively, are also highly regarded and are practice co-heads alongside Fournier.