Tracie Renfroe > King & Spalding LLP > Houston, United States > Lawyer Profile

King & Spalding LLP fields a robust team of experienced litigators regularly entrusted by leading energy companies and oil and gas operators, including Chevron and Shell, for advice on a range of high-value, complex litigation proceedings. These span litigation related to climate change, energy transition/carbon neutrality, and environmental justice. From the Houston office, managing partner Tracie Renfroe brings great experience in high-stakes environmental disputes and toxic tort litigation, an area in which San Francisco-based Charles Correll is also well-versed, representing domestic and international companies in complex commercial, mass tort and environmental disputes. Spanning catastrophic injuries, environmental contamination, and oil and gas–related disputes, Elizabeth Taber is another key contact, while Andrew Stakelum is noted for handling onshore and offshore litigation on behalf of energy companies operating on the Gulf Coast.

King & Spalding LLP is well-versed in handling high-stakes, complex multi-pronged toxic tort matters involving a range of contaminants. The firm’s Atlanta and Houston offices regularly act for energy and industrial clients in the aftermath of environmental incidents – where the firm is not only well-placed to advise on ensuing litigation but also to limit any negative press coverage and to manage the immediate incident response. In Houston, Tracie Renfroe  has a ‘great track record in the field’, winning praise for her ‘excellent trial skills’, which extend not only to local and national toxic tort matters but also matters with an international complexion. Also based in Houston, Elizabeth Taber is a popular choice among energy and oilfield companies as defendants in relation to toxic tort suits (including MDLs and class actions) in Texas and beyond, where she excels at all stages of the litigation process, including at trial. In New York, both Kristen Fournier and Morton Dubin have exceptional trial skills which they bring to bear across a range of toxic tort matters, including as it pertains to asbestos exposure. San Francisco-based Matthew Blaschke  co-heads the toxic and environmental team alongside Fournier and has experience of handling both private litigation alongside governmental investigations and enforcement actions. Robert Meadows has retired.

King & Spalding LLP is a name to note for environmental and climate change litigation for its special focus on matters related to air pollution, toxic chemicals and industrial disasters. The team is co-headed by Washington DC’s Granta Nakayama, who handles a spread of environmental health and safety matters, in addition to New York’s Kristen Fournier and San Francisco’s Matt Blaschke, who jointly lead the firm’s toxic and environmental torts team, and are recommended for their product liability work. Tracie Renfroe , of the Houston office, attracts clients from across the energy and industrial sector for her national and international arbitration expertise, especially those relating to contamination, toxic tort and product liability, while Atlanta’s Douglas Henderson is well versed in dealing with property rights disputes to do with chemical exposure, groundwater contamination and the Clean Water Act. Over in Los Angeles, Peter Hsiao heads the West Coast environmental, health & safety practice, his wide experience covers natural resources and climate change litigation, in addition to toxic tort work.