Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on King & Spalding LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
King & Spalding
- Designation: Atlanta
- Head Count: 838
- Gross Revenues: $827,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $990,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,985,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
For most of its history—and it’s a long one, stretching back to 1885—King & Spalding was a regional leader, one of the Southeast’s top law firms. Sure, it had built a top–flight litigation group (largely thanks to clients from the automotive, pharmaceutical, and tobacco industries), and even opened a Washington, D.C., office in the late 1970s to support its growing food and drug practice. But for the most part, you didn’t think King & Spalding without thinking Atlanta.
That changed as the millennium came to a close and the firm’s strategy—and ambitions—shifted. To support more transactional work, King & Spalding opened a New York office in 1990. To expand its energy, finance, and corporate practices into Europe, it opened a London office in 2003. More outposts came in short order, including three in the Middle East, where King & Spalding now has its highest concentration of clients outside of the United States and has developed major practice areas in Islamic finance, international arbitration, and private equity (in all, King & Spalding has 17 offices across the globe, with nearly 800 lawyers, including some 150 equity partners).
The growth hasn’t come without some hiccups. The firm—thirty–third on the 2011 Am Law 100 list with $718 million in gross revenue—laid off over 100 people (including several dozen associates and counsel) at the height of the recession in 2009. Its rankings on The American Lawyer’s Midlevel Associates Survey have left ample room for improvement—coming in 116th in 2010 and ninety–sixth in 2011—as has its finish on the magazine’s pro bono scorecard (ninety–second of 200 firms in 2011). It also suffered some very public hits—from all sides of the political spectrum—when it took, then withdrew from, a 2011 assignment from the U.S. House of Representatives to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. (After the firm’s withdrawal, Paul Clement, the head of the firm’s appellate practice, resigned in protest.) There have been bright spots, too. King & Spalding’s product liability practice has grown into one of the nation’s largest, and accounted for 19 percent of the firm’s revenues in 2010. It was a finalist as The American Lawyer’s top product liability department in both 2004 and 2012 (for overall litigation the firm earned honorable mentions in 2006, 2008, and 2012). The health care law group, too, has shone. Numbering more than 200 lawyers, it is one of the nation’s largest such departments and has helped to shape recent health care reform laws. In the process, it has kept the firm healthy, too.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 30 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 30 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 36 | 1 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 92 | 6 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | NR | N/A | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 96 | no change | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 29 | 5 | Summer programs |
In the News
The Score: Dentons Partner Doubles as Fantasy Sports Pro
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 17, 2013
Like many lawyers, Glenn Colton is a baseball fan. But the Dentons white-collar and government investigations practice head has taken his love for America's national pastime to the next level, scoring his own fantasy baseball column and SiriusXM radio show. In June, Colton will be inducted into the Fantasy Sports Trade Association's Hall of Fame. Also: Covington advises the U.S. Open on a new $770 million TV deal with ESPN and Bracewell & Giuliani and Loeb & Loeb get involved in two high-profile memorabilia fights in our regular look at sports and the law.
Quinn Emanuel to Open in Hong Kong
Anthony Lin : The Asian Lawyer : May 16, 2013
Former Kim & Chang senior foreign attorney John Rhie will relocate from Seoul to head the U.S. litigation firm's Asia international arbitration practice.
DISH Selling Debt Ahead of Possible Sprint Deal
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 15, 2013
A month after shaking up the telecommunications industry by making a $25.5 billion bid to acquire Sprint Nextel, DISH Network has announced a $2.5 billion debt offering meant to help finance part of the proposed deal. Sullivan & Cromwell has been brought in to advise DISH on the debt offering while White & Case is working on the takeover.
Large Firms' Ethical Screens Jeopardized by Ruling, Two Say
Kathleen Baydala Joyner : Daily Report : May 14, 2013
The Georgia attorney general and a private lawyer are asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that prohibits public defenders within the same circuit from representing co-defendants, arguing it would place large law firms in jeopardy.
At the Podium: In Case of 'Tough Noogies,' Oracle Stuck With Arbitration
Scott Graham : The Recorder : May 10, 2013
In Case of 'Tough Noogies,' Oracle Stuck With Arbitration
Scott Graham : The Recorder : May 10, 2013
Cast All the Lawyers: Bard Show Prepares For Its 10th Production
Mary Smith Judd : Daily Report : May 7, 2013
Daily Report readers know all too well what Shakespeare's Dick the Butcher suggested be done with lawyers.
Widower Of Dead Smoker Gets $1.2 Million Award
Adolfo Pesquera : Daily Business Review : May 6, 2013
A West Palm Beach jury awarded $1.2 million to the widower of a smoker who died of lung cancer.
Mandamus Challenges DeKalb's K&S Contract
: Daily Report : May 6, 2013
A DeKalb County public schools activist and a Heery International Inc. executive have asked a DeKalb Superior Court judge to order the county school system to end what has become a multimillion-dollar legal contract between the schools and King & Spalding in a suit against the construction firm and its partners.
INADMISSIBLE
: The National Law Journal : May 1, 2013
Reply hazy, try again; Breuer returns to Covington; new D.C. boutique; Supreme peeps; Nancy Pelosi thinks it oh-over; Lamberth won't stop working; and a sealed ruling in this week's column.
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- Ashurst
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- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
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- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Denton Wilde Sapte
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Downey Brand
- Duane Morris
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- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
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- Herbert Smith
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- Husch Blackwell
- Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro
- Jones Day
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- Katten Muchin Rosenman
- Keker & Van Nest
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- Kutak Rock
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- Linklaters
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- Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
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- O'Melveny & Myers
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- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
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- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
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- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
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- Steptoe & Johnson LLP
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- Sullivan & Worcester
- Thompson Hine
- Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard
- Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
- White & Case
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
