LONDON--(Marketwire - June 16, 2010) - King & Spalding, a leading international law firm, today announced the addition of a team of five prominent energy transaction lawyers from Hogan Lovells to its London office, the latest move in its plan of aggressive expansion in key global markets, industries and legal specialties.
The team includes partners Garry Pegg and Hywel Jones; Nina Howell, who joins as counsel; and associates Leon Sosnowski and Susanna Marshall. Pegg will also serve as co-managing partner of King & Spalding in London, joining John L. Keffer in leading the office.
"This significant addition to our London office and our global energy team is yet another demonstration of our unwavering focus on building in our areas of strength and of our adding new capabilities and the best lawyers in their respective areas of expertise to provide our clients with the deep global insight and legal skill they demand," said Robert D. Hays, Jr., King & Spalding's chairman. "We are delighted to welcome Garry, Hywel and their colleagues to King & Spalding."
Other components of King & Spalding's strategic growth plan in recent months have included the opening of offices in Paris and Geneva, as well as the significant expansion of its professional liability and securities litigation team with lateral hires in the United States. The firm has also continued to bolster its Middle East practice with the appointment in April of two senior lawyers to its projects and construction practices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Since opening offices in the Middle East in 2007, King & Spalding's offices have grown to more than 20 lawyers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
"We are delighted to welcome this group of outstanding lawyers to King & Spalding," Keffer said. "This is a significant addition to our team in London and demonstrates the firm's ongoing commitment to investing in key practices and jurisdictions. Garry, Hywel and their colleagues are one of the most respected energy teams in the market and will both strengthen and complement our highly regarded global energy practice. They are a truly collegial group and an excellent cultural fit with our firm. We very much look forward to working with them."
Consistently ranked among the top energy practices in the world, King & Spalding advises clients on a broad spectrum of transactions, including project development and finance, construction and procurement, joint ventures, investments, mergers and acquisitions, privatizations and capitalizations, and marketing and trading across the oil and gas, power, natural resources and marine transportation industries. The more than 150 lawyers who comprise the group are resident in the majority of the firm's offices and virtually all of its practice groups, giving King & Spalding one of the broadest and deepest benches of energy lawyers in the world.
Philip R. Weems, co-leader of King & Spalding's global energy group, said: "Energy is one the firm's core strengths and a strategic driver of our growth. We are continually broadening the range of legal services we provide to our energy clients, and our new colleagues, with their strong power pipelines development practice and expertise, enhance our energy transactional capabilities for both energy companies and the financial institutions that invest in them."
Pegg, who was the co-chair of the global energy and natural resources practice at Hogan Lovells as well as the London office managing partner of its predecessor firm, Hogan & Hartson, said: "King & Spalding is a dynamic, ambitious firm with an immensely appealing vision for its future. I really look forward to starting with the firm. The global energy platform of King & Spalding is superb for me and the team, and the ability to play a leading role in growing the office plays to my strengths and I enjoy it."
Jones practices in the corporate and commercial area, with a particular emphasis on the energy and natural resources sector, international project development and finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and corporate finance. He is a specialist in international project finance, particularly the financing of power projects in developing countries such as Africa and India, pipeline projects, as well as airport and port developments, and has extensive experience representing developers, borrowers, and lenders in structuring and executing project financed transactions.
Howell brings experience in international project development, project finance, and joint ventures in the energy sector. Her knowledge of the energy sector extends to oil and gas in both the upstream and downstream sectors, as well as electricity, renewables, power, and liquefied natural gas projects. While working for a leading natural gas company in 2007, she was involved in a regasification project in Chile and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Nigeria.
About King & Spalding
Celebrating 125 years of service, King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers in Abu Dhabi, Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Houston, London, New York, Paris, Riyadh (affiliated office), San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. The firm represents half of the Fortune 100 and, according to a Corporate Counsel survey in August 2009, ranks fifth in its total number of representations of those companies. For additional information, visit www.kslaw.com.
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Les Zuke
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lzuke@kslaw.com