Firm Profiles

Kilpatrick Townsend was born from the January 2011 merger between Atlanta’s Kilpatrick Stockton and San Francisco’s Townsend and Townsend and Crew. While this union might seem yet another megamerger between large established firms (at the time of the merger, Kilpatrick ranked just outside The Am Law 100 on revenue, and Townsend toward the rear of The Am Law 200), this deal involved two very different—and very complementary—firms: Townsend focused on intellectual property and class action work; Kilpatrick on business law and the financial institutions industry with a strong IP practice, especially in copyright, as well.

The combined firm numbers about 650 lawyers working out of 18 offices in the United States and overseas. Here, too, the predecessor firms filled each other’s gaps: Kilpatrick had a significant East Coast presence, as well as offices in the Middle East (Dubai) and Europe (Stockholm); Townsend had offices in key West Coast markets (San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Diego, Denver, and Seattle), as well as the Asia–Pacific region (Tokyo). Not surprisingly, patent work is a key strength of Kilpatrick Townsend; other practice areas include litigation, corporate and securities, construction, mergers and acquisitions, environmental and land use, labor and employment, financial institution regulatory matters, and real estate.

The firm frequently participates in headline transactions. Name partner David Stockton helped take public Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. Copyright partner Joseph Beck has been involved in a series of high–profile matters from the sale of Martin Luther King’s papers to the dispute over the satirical novel The Wind Done Gone. And the firm represents PepsiCo, a serious matter in Atlanta, the corporate home of Coca Cola.

The merger also brought together a leader on pro bono (Kilpatrick Stockton, which finished twenty–ninth of 200 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Pro Bono Report) with a leader on diversity (Townsend and Townsend, which ranked tenth of 194 firms on our 2011 Diversity Scorecard). Combining the best of both firms could create something special indeed.

—Updated as of 1/1/12