King & Spalding’s Journey to Best Law Firm of the Year
King & Spalding, which received The American Lawyer’s Best Law Firm of the Year award in late 2023, has achieved notable success in recent years, growing its revenue and profits, key offices and international presence, all without a merger
Its financial growth was particularly remarkable during the pandemic, as the litigation powerhouse targeted growth across the energy, food and beverage, and health care sectors when other industries were stagnant, according to one analysis.
The Atlanta-founded firm steadily increased its revenues over the years before breaking the $2 billion mark in 2022—and will top that mark and other metrics in 2023, said longtime chairman Robert Hays in an interview this month. The firm’s revenue growth has consistently beaten the Am Law 100 collective growth rate each year for the past several years.
King & Spalding has expanded in major U.S. markets like New York and in growing international regions like Saudi Arabia throughout the year, said Hays, who has served as chairman since 2006 and was reelected earlier this month (January, 2024).
King & Spalding beat out seven other firms for the Best Law Firm of the Year award and also won awards for Attorney of the Year (Sally Yates), and Best Client-Law Firm Team (King & Spalding and Blackstone Credit). It was a finalist for Managing Partner of the Year (Robert Hays), Best Provider Collaboration, Litigation Department of the Year for Product Liability, and Georgia Litigation Department of the Year.
The report also stated that “energy was the only bright spot” in the stagnant economy during the pandemic and King & Spalding was among firms that “made sustained investments in talent depth and market reputation” in that sector.
Regional to Global
Hays, in the interview, cited an award factor mentioned during the presentation ceremony in New York: the firm’s history in recent decades of moving from being a regional firm to a “national
and global firm.”
King & Spalding expanded from its “flagship” Atlanta office in 1989, to 13 U.S. and 10 foreign offices with more than 1,300 lawyers today, according to firm information.
In 2023, after years of operating offices in the United Arab Emirates, the firm’s longtime affiliation with a local firm led to Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Justice awarding King & Spalding a foreign law license.
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