SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - February 9, 2011) - King & Spalding continued its focused growth with the announcement today of the addition of a 14-member team of trial lawyers from Filice Brown Eassa & McLeod to its West Coast litigation practice.
The team includes partners Gennero A. (Gus) Filice, III, Peter A. Strotz and Nicholas D. Kayhan, experienced trial lawyers specializing in the areas of energy, pharmaceuticals and toxic torts who share deep ties to several long-time King & Spalding clients. The team will be resident in the firm's San Francisco office.
"This significant increase to our San Francisco office and our global litigation team is yet another demonstration of our focus on building in our areas of strength," said Robert D. Hays, Jr., King & Spalding's chairman. "We are delighted to welcome Gus, Peter, Nick and their colleagues to King & Spalding."
Filice, a founding partner of his former firm, brings to King & Spalding considerable experience as a trial and appellate lawyer. He has tried many cases to jury verdict in both state and federal courts and argued appeals in various appellate jurisdictions, including the United States Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court. He regularly represents companies involved in the chemical and petro-chemical industries in a variety of litigated matters covering environmental, toxic tort, personal injury and commercial concerns. A number of these cases have been brought as class actions and many have been brought by foreign claimants. He has served as the national counsel for the chemical product line of a large multi-national chemical company and in that capacity has been involved in litigation throughout the United States. Filice received a J.D. degree from University of California, Hastings College of Law and an A.B. degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Strotz formerly was the managing partner of Filice Brown. He has over 20 years' experience litigating complex matters, which principally involve novel medical, scientific and legal issues. In his representation of Fortune and Global 1000 companies, he has acted as national, regional and local counsel in a variety of pharmaceutical, products, commercial, antitrust and toxic tort cases. He received a J.D. degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law and an A.B. degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Kayhan is a litigator with extensive experience in a wide variety of civil litigation matters. His primary focus is defense of toxic tort and environmental claims. He has worked extensively with petrochemical clients in the defense of environmental, personal injury and property damage claims involving a variety of chemicals, substances and products. He also has handled general personal injury and business litigation. He has considerable experience at the trial and appellate levels. He received a J.D. degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Filice said: "We are excited to join King & Spalding. We have worked with several members of the litigation team in the past as co-counsel and through mutual clients, and we know firsthand this move is a good cultural fit for us. King & Spalding's platform provides us with an exceptional opportunity to expand our practices, be selected more frequently as national counsel and fully represent clients in multiple jurisdictions."
In addition to Filice, Strotz and Kayhan, the other 11 former Filice Brown trial lawyers joining King & Spalding are
- Paul R. Johnson, counsel, is experienced litigating complex cases in trial and appellate courts, including matters involving antitrust, intellectual property, employment, environmental, land use, product liability, reputation and constitutional issues.
- Richard V. Normington, counsel, is a litigator who has extensive experience in a wide variety of civil litigation matters, with a particular emphasis in the areas of toxic tort defense, class actions, Superfund, environmental litigation, environmental law and general civil litigation.
- Richard H. Poulson, counsel, is a trial lawyer specializing in complex litigation, toxic torts, and environmental contamination claims.
- William E. Steimle, counsel, is a trial lawyer with significant litigation experience. He has represented clients in California state and federal courts in a variety of complex litigation, including pharmaceutical, toxic tort, commercial and antitrust lawsuits.
- Oliver Q. Dunlap, associate
- Melanie Griswold, associate
- John P. Lawless, associate
- Megan R. Nishikawa, associate
- Sara G. Noel, associate
- Steven D. Park, associate
- Amber Trincado, associate
"Gus, Peter, Nick and their team are outstanding lawyers whose significant trial experience and strong reputations give additional depth and breadth to our litigation practice on the West Coast and across the United States, especially in the areas of energy, pharmaceuticals and toxic torts," said Fritz Zimmer, managing partner of King & Spalding's San Francisco office. "We welcome their group to our litigation practice."
King & Spalding opened offices in Silicon Valley and San Francisco in early 2008. These offices are focused on the firm's strengths in intellectual property, FDA/healthcare, product liability and toxic tort, government and internal investigations, business litigation, energy litigation, private equity, international arbitration and real estate capital markets. Filice, Strotz and Kayhan join California-based litigation partners Paul J. Andre, Charles C. Correll, Jr., Geoffrey M. Ezgar, Lisa Kobialka, Ross Nadel, Courtland L. Reichman, Timothy T. Scott and Zimmer in the firm's litigation practice.
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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Contact:
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Les Zuke
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lzuke@kslaw.com