Legal Business

King & Spalding partner Wray discloses $9.2m earnings before confirmation as FBI head

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Salaries King & Spalding

King & Spalding litigation partner Christopher Wray, nominated as FBI director, earned $9.2m for his partnership share over the last eighteen months, according to documents.

Washington DC-based Wray, who joined the US firm in 2005 after serving as assistant Attorney General in charge of the US Department of Justice’s criminal division, detailed his salary and client connections before his confirmation hearing. On 13 July, he will replace former FBI director James Comey, whom Trump fired.

Following his exit from King & Spalding, Wray will receive his final partnership share distribution, a payment returning capital he paid into the firm. He will also receive a further lump sum distributing his cash pension plan balance with the firm, the documents stated.

In a separate document, Wray said he anticipated receiving an estimated $880,000 partnership distribution from King & Spalding on July 17, reflecting his share for June. If he continues as a partner for the rest of July, it is expected he will receive an estimated $815,000 before his exit.

The document also details he expects the return of his paid-in capital at King & Spalding to be $1.27m if he leaves the firm at the end of July.

Wray disclosed a list of clients from which he has received more than $5,000 including Credit Suisse, Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo, Chevron Corp. and two online sports betting groups, FanDuel and DraftKings. Four clients were kept confidential. Wray disclosed that three were subject to non-public investigations and one was subject to DC Bar Rule 1.6 regarding confidentiality of information.

Wray’s confirmation hearing before the Senate panel comes more than two months after Trump fired Comey. Trump announced his intention to nominate Wray in early June, with the nomination sent forward three weeks later at the end of last month.

Madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Remarkable deal’ for tech: King & Spalding, SullCrom line up Delivery Hero’s €1bn IPO

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Corporate Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerKing & SpaldingSullivan & Cromwell

King & Spalding and Sullivan & Cromwell are leading one online food-delivery service Delivery Hero’s planned initial public offering (IPO) €1bn target, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advising the underwriters. 

The IPO would value Delivery Hero at €4.4bn. The Berlin-headquartered company said it will sell up to 39m shares with pricing set at €22 to €25.50.

Freshfields’ team, acting for the underwriters on the deal, is led by financial institutions global co-head Christoph Gleske.

King & Spalding is advising Delivery Hero on the US law side while Sullivan & Cromwell is acting on German delivery service laws. King & Spalding is advising Delivery Hero on the US law side while Sullivan & Cromwell is acting on German delivery service laws. King & Spalding’s team includes London based-capital markets partner Markus Bauman (pictured) and tax partner John Taylor. 

Sullivan & Cromwell’s Frankfurt based partners Carsten Berrar and Krystian Czerniecki are advising.

The company’s online and mobile platforms reach customers across 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East & North Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. Its brands include Pizza.de, Foodora and Foodpanda. The company was set up in 2011.

Bauman told Legal Business: ‘It is a remarkable deal for the tech ecosystem in Europe generally, Berlin specifically. There are any number of push and pull factors that may see these companies go to market or stay private a little bit longer’, he said

‘The wealth of private money that is available to them is one thing that keeps them off the market but many of these companies will find their way over the next few years’ Bauman added.

King & Spalding has been advising Delivery Hero since 2015, when Berlin-based e-commerce group invested $586m in Delivery Hero.

Madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

A tale of two firms: K&S London turnover drops by 8%, while Covington ups City revenue by 9%

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Financial results 2015 Covington & BurlingKing & Spalding

King & Spalding‘s London revenue dipped by 8%, while Covington & Burling‘s City turnover went the other way, improving by 9% for the calendar year 2016.

King & Spalding’s City income is down to $42.6m from $46.5m in 2015, despite the firm’s global turnover increasing by nearly 4% to $1.1bn.

The lawyer headcount of the firm in London also dropped from 53 to 47, as the US firm’s London revenue per lawyer (RPL) increased by 3% from $877,358 the year before to $906,382 in 2016.

The firm’s London head Garry Pegg said: ‘While we saw a modest reduction in headcount last year and therefore an expected decrease in revenue, we continue to prioritise efficiency and productivity.’

Key mandates for King & Spalding in 2016 include representing Aldersgate Investments on the £2.4bn Global Switch deal in December last year, as well as GlaxoSmithKline on its strategic collaboration with Germany-based Miltenyi Biotec in March 2016.

Last year King & Spalding also hired Jones Day’s head of employment Jules Quinn, and relocated disputes partner John Savage QC to London from Singapore. Savage was made a Queen’s Counsel last month.

Meanwhile, Covington’s London revenue, which accounts for 8% of the firm’s global turnover, increased by 9% from $63.6m to $69.5m. Lawyer headcount at Covington also decreased marginally in the US firm’s London office from 85 to 83, including one less partner.

Globally, Covington’s RPL hit $1m for the first time last year, while revenue was up by 13%, around $96m, to $838.5m.

Covington recently hired five partners from King & Wood Mallesons’s collapsed EUME arm including KWM’s high-billing head of litigation Craig Pollack.

Pollack was one of the biggest billers at KWM’s City office and advises investment banks, hedge funds, public companies and high net worth individuals.

Major mandates include advising a major Russian telecoms provider in post-LCIA arbitration enforcement proceedings across various jurisdictions, and defending a star hedge fund manager in a Financial Conduct Authority investigation into regulatory breaches.

Other former King & Wood Mallesons partners to move to Covington include Alex Leitch, Greg Lascelles, and Elaine Whiteford.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

King & Spalding takes key role on $12bn Saudi public-private partnership

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Middle East and Africa King & Spalding

King & Spalding (K&S) has won a lead role on a $12bn public-private partnership as Saudi Arabia moves to privatise the construction and management of school buildings.

The deal will see HSBC act as financial adviser for the state-owned firm Tatweer Building Co, which is associated with the Saudi Ministry of Education, in its efforts to privatise the management and construction of school buildings.

K&S is providing legal advice to Tatweer with a team led by partner Leroy Levy. The firm had previously advised the national shipping company of Saudi Arabia, Bahri, on its framework agreement with the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation to establish an investment fund to acquire large crude carriers.

Other projects the firm has contributed to in the Middle East include advising Arabian Company for Water and Power Development on the Islamic financing for a new $2bn industrial gases project in Saudi Arabia.

K&S has a significant background in large-scale social infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia, but the deal will mark the first of its kind for the Arabic state.

Levy (pictured) said: ‘The education programme is one of many key infrastructure schemes that form part of Vision 2030 as Saudi Arabia looks to diversify its economy beyond oil.

He added: ‘The next plan is a US$50 billion-plus water privatisation programme, with others in the pipeline. Law firms are anticipating that Vision 2030 will have huge legal input, covering everything from construction to project finance to PPP agreements.’

Fahad al-Hammad, the chief executive of Tatweer Building Co said: ‘We aim to boost private sector participation in providing educational buildings, which is a model implemented worldwide.

‘This will minimise government burdens, as the private sector will take over building, maintenance and operation.’

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Read more in: ‘Price of debt – austerity and the plight of a project finance partner’


Legal Business

Freshfields, HSF and Skadden heavyweights among 113 new QCs in latest record round

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The Bar Herbert Smith FreehillsKing & Spalding

Senior disputes partners from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), King & Spalding and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom have taken silk in the latest round of QC appointments, where 113 were selected out of a round of 254 candidates.

In the City, HSF’s Adam Johnson (pictured) has made silk. Johnson has been at the firm for 30 years, specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration, in particular cross-border litigation and cases involving the conflict of laws.

King & Spalding arbitrator John Savage has also taken silk, and is the third in the firm’s London office since 2015 when Tom Sprange was made a QC.

At Skadden, global co-head of litigation and arbitration David Kavanagh, who lead the US firm to win Legal Business Disputes Team Of The Year in 2012, has also made silk.

Based in Paris, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Ben Juratowitch has also been made a silk. Juratowitch   is head of the Magic Circle firm’s public international law practice.

This year’s appointments mark an increase in solicitor appointments to the bench. The number has doubled since last year’s figures, with six taking silk this year in comparison to last year’s three. Bird & Bird sports lawyer Jonathan Taylor will also be made a QC, alongside Allen & Overy’s Michael Young.

In this year’s appointments, the gender ratio is heavily slanted in favour of men, with 73% of all the new appointees being male. However, women tended to be successful on average, with 55% of female applicants succeeding in comparison to only 41% of males.

Despite the gender disparity, there was a slight incline in the total number of female QCs from the previous year. A growth of 2% was seen in the increase from 25 in 2015/16 to 31 in 16/17.

Ethnic minorities made up 14% of total appointments, a pronounced improvement on 2015/16’s figure of 8%. This hike in percentage was accompanied by a wider growth in the number of ethnic minority applications, a jump from 32 to 37.

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

The full list of appointments: (in alphabetical order)

Catherine Joanne Addy

Tana Marie Therese Adkin

Colin Christopher Aylott

Kate Bex

Gerard James Boyle

Phillip James Bradley

Richard Brent

Samantha Broadfoot

David Michael Graham Brooke

Hannah Beatrice Brown

Louis Bartholomew Anthony Browne

Edward Norman Burgess

Gideon Saul Cammerman

Alexis Anne Campbell

Caroline Rosemary Carberry

Matthew James Chapman

Serena Huey-Ning Cheng

Timothy Elwyn Clark

Sarah Anne Clarke

Simon David Colton

Ben Michael Cooper

Thomas James Cosgrove

Mark James Cotter

James Henry Counsell

Edward Davies

Edward Mark de Breteuil Devereux

Simon Christopger Dyer

David Elias

Martin Alan Langham Evans

Abiodun John Femi-Ola

Sarah Louise Ford

Caoilfhionn Anna Gallagher

Jeremy John Gauntlett

Karim Raouf George Ghaly

Orlando John Gledhill

William George Henry Godwin

Caroline Tracy Goodwin

Nina Soraya Goolamali

William Martin Philip Goudie

Katherine (Kate) Elizabeth Grange

Dakis Steven Hagen

Jacob William Hallam

Ivan Charles Hare

Christopher Mark Heather

Michelle Louise Heeley

Joshua Peter Frederick Holmes

Penelope Anne Macgregor Howe

Jane Allison Hunter

Matthew Howard Olsen Hutchings

Ben William Jaffey

Adam Martin Johnson

Schona Kaur Jolly

Gillian Hunter Jones

Benjamin Juratowitch

Sheikh Mohammed Samiul Karim

David Edward Kavanagh

Dominic Matthew Kay

Simon Thomas Kealey

Henry George John King

Geoffrey Llewelyn Woodward Kingscote

Marie Louise Kinsler

Sara Lucy Jane Lawson

Richard Thomas Leiper

Christopher David Lewis

Louis Asa Luke Alexis Dylan Mably

Alison Catherine Macdonald

Maxwell James Mallin

Anna Louise McKenna

David Robert McLachlan

Michael Joseph McParland

Naeem Majid Mian

Dianne Middleton

Stephen Brian Midwinter

Jonathan Keith Moffett

Brenton John Molineux

Sam Momtaz

Thomas Christopher Montagu-Smith

Andrew James Morgan

Akash Verdant Nawbatt

Stefanno Nuvoloni

Robert Peter O’Donoghue

Aidan Mark Sebastian O’Neill

Colin Yee Cheng Ong

Gareth Thomas Patterson

Matthew James Phillips

Debra Ann Powell

Mary Prior

Sadeqa Shaheen

Matthew Robert Reed

David Benjamin Rees

Deok Joo Rhee

Oliver Tschanz Sanders

Robert John Savage

Fiona Kate Scolding

Paul Shadarevian

Peter Maurice Shaw

Matthew John Sherratt

Dapinderpaul Singh

John Stevenson Snowden

Brian Lloyd St. Louis

Jason Ashley Sugarman

Andrew Daniel Tabachnik

Jonathan Peter Taylor

Robert-Jan Temmick

Alexander Lambert Thorpe

Mark James John Twomey

Edmund Benedict Blyth Vickers

Anna Lilian Vigars

Andrew George Wheeler

Alisdair George James Williamson

Natasha Wong

Michael James Young

Adam David Russell Zellick


Legal Business

King & Spalding accounts for London and France show revenue up 11%, while profit dips 10%

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Financial results 2015/16 King & Spalding
legal-business-default

Revenue at the London and Paris outposts of US firm King & Spalding surged 11% in 2015 to £41.9m as the firm continues expanding, but profit dropped by 10%.

Turnover rose in London, up by 12% to £30.5m from £27.2m in 2014, according to recent filings at Companies House. In Paris revenue rose by 9% to nearly £11m from £10.1m in 2014.

Despite improved revenues operating profit across the two outposts decreased to £15.6m in the 12 months to 31 December 2015 from nearly £17m in 2014.

Operating expenses were also up by more than 25% to £25.8m from £20.3m in 2014, and the total number of staff increased by 2, which is nearly 3% up from last year’s increase of 34%.

Amounts owed to creditors within one year rose by a hefty 40% to £19.5m from £13.9m, although this included group undertakings rising by approximately £5m.

There was also a continued increase in partner headcount, rising by 30% from 23 in 2014 to 30 in 2015. Total profit share to key management personnel sat at £2.4m.

London managing partner Garry Pegg said in the City, the firm had seen growth across the board.

Pegg (pictured) said: ‘This has been encouraging because the pressure on oil & gas prices in recent years has shaken confidence. Indeed, energy-related work in Africa has remained active, especially for new innovations and technology, such as gas-to-power plants. Our corporate and disputes teams have also been busy working on both UK and international matters.’

Pegg added that the firm accounts as a single, international entity and not on the basis that each office is a separate profit centre.

He said: ‘So much of our work is cross-border and not all revenues funnel neatly through specific offices. In general though, the firm has been expanding as a whole and this often requires investment. We do this strategically but, of course, it involves costs.’

The firm hired Latham & Watkins’ former European vice chair of tax Daniel Friel in March 2015, as well as Stuart Isaacs QC formerly Berwin Leighton Paisner’s lead of the advocacy unit, Allen & Overy’s former European head of US law Thomas Jones and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson’s head of international disputes Nick Cherryman.

georgiana.tudor@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

King & Spalding’s London revenues up 16% as legal headcount lifted by 40%

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Financial results 2015 King & Spalding
legal-business-default

Revenue at the London branch of US firm King & Spalding (K&S) surged 16% to £27.2m in 2014 as the firm rapidly expanded its legal team.

The rise in revenue in London, up to £27.23m from £23.43m in 2013, helped the firm increase profits across its UK and France partnerships by 10% according to recent filings at Companies House. Profit increased to £13.06m in the 12 months to 31 December 2014 from £11.8m in 2013.

London outpaced its Paris counterpart as the firm’s French office experienced a 6% drop in revenue to £10.15m in 2014.

Revenue growth in the City was spurred by a sharp increase in the number of lawyers. Lawyer headcount across Paris and London rose by 40% from 35 in 2013 to 49 in 2014. A big contributor to this was the arrival of several high profile partners, which included Linklaters capital markets partner Tom O’Neill. The number of partners across the two offices from 23 to 29, while the total number of staff employed by K&S rose by 34% to 87.

K&S has continued its rapid expansion into 2015 with the addition of Berwin Leighton Paisner’s head of advocacy Stuart Isaacs QC in January, Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson’s London head of disputes Nick Cherryman in April and Allen & Overy’s former European head of US law, Thomas Jones earlier this month.

The firm’s managing partner Garry Pegg said ‘The firm is committed to its growth strategy in London and last year’s performance shows that we are progressing, which is encouraging in one of the most competitive legal markets in the world.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk


Legal Business

King & Spalding steps up aggressive City push with A&O partner hire

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Strategic recruitment King & Spalding
legal-business-default

King & Spalding has recruited Allen & Overy’s former European head of US law, Thomas Jones, as its raid on Global 100 firms in London this year continues.

The US firm, which in the last year has hired capital markets partner Tom O’Neill from Linklaters as well as the head of BLP’s advocacy group, Stuart Isaacs QC, has added Jones as a partner to its City office. His arrival brings the firm’s City partner count up to 22, after making seven senior hires in 12 months.

A&O confirmed the departure of derivatives and structured finance partner Jones today (9 October) after 20 years at the Magic Circle firm, having joined as an associate from Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s London office in 1995.

Jones made partner at A&O in 2000, and subsequently spent five years in Hong Kong during the mid-2000s as US financing infiltrated the Asia markets. He returned to London in 2008 and served a stint as European head of the firm’s US law practice.

Jones’ hire continues a recent lateral hiring spree by King & Spalding’s City office, with Latham & Watkins’ former European vice chair of tax, Daniel Friel, and disputes partner Nick Cherryman from Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, also joining the firm this year.

International expansion has not been restricted to London, with the firm taking a four-partner team from Ashurst in June to launch its second Asia office in Tokyo, led by the Ashurst Tokyo managing partner, John McClenahan.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

King & Spalding lands $12bn arbitration case against Russia for Pugachev

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Litigation King & Spalding
legal-business-default

King & Spalding’s London office has been instructed on a $12bn arbitration brought against the Russian government by Sergei Pugachev, a tycoon once dubbed ‘Putin’s banker.’

The founder of Mezhprombank, Pugachev is taking Russia to arbitration after his business empire was carved up after falling out of favour with the country’s president Vladimir Putin. He alleges that government investigations against the bank were constructed because of ‘political motivations’.

Pugachev, who struck up a close friendship with Putin during his early years as president, was accused of embezzlement and fraud by Russian authorities and later fled to London. An English court has since ordered Pugachev to give up his Russian and French passports and remain in the UK while the Russian government’s Deposit Insurance Agency case against him continues. Pugachev, who lives in Battersea with his socialite partner Alexandra Tolstoy, a descendent of the novelist Leo Tolstoy, has had his assets frozen.

Arbitration partner Nick Cherryman, who joined King & Spalding’s London office from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in April, is leading Pugachev’s $12bn claim. Fried Frank were acting for Pugachev in litigation brought in the English courts by the Deposit Insurance Agency but stopped after Pugachev could no longer pay for the work.

The case has been filed the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands, where Shearman & Sterling won Yukos shareholders a $50bn arbitration award in July 2014 after the Russian government systematically destroyed the energy company after its chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky became a political rival. Cherryman is being supported by Tom Sprange QC, who is also based in London. It is likely that the case will be filed for arbitration through Russia’s bilateral investment treaty with France, given Pugachev has a French passport.

tom.moore@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

King & Spalding secures four-partner Ashurst team for Tokyo launch

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Strategic recruitment AshurstKing & Spalding
legal-business-default

Withers makes further Asia push with Japanese opening

King & Spalding chose Tokyo last month as its second base in Asia, hiring a team of Ashurst partners led by Tokyo managing partner John McClenahan to spearhead its launch, while private client specialist Withers also made moves in the region by establishing a Japanese tax practice.