backWASHINGTON, February 27, 2015—Global Arbitration Review today published its annual ranking of the world's busiest international arbitration practices, with King & Spalding taking the fifth spot, a rise of three places over last year.
The ranking of the top 30 firms appears in the 2015 edition of the GAR 100, which is now in its eighth year.
GAR said that King & Spalding rose to fifth place partly on the back of an increase in bet-the-company hearings. Its number of hours billed to arbitration increased by 35 per cent over last year, and it also has more pending arbitrator appointments than any other firm in the top five, GAR reported.
"We are grateful to GAR for this recognition, said Ed Kehoe, leader of King & Spalding's international arbitration practice group. "Our team has worked harder than ever over this past year and has achieved some terrific results for our clients, for which we are very proud."
In further commentary, GAR said that "King & Spalding built its name on results." In recent years, the firm obtained US$8 billion for Anadarko and Maersk (and Eni) in a dispute with Algeria, and US$2 billion for Dow Chemicals from a Kuwaiti state-owned petrochemicals company. Another triumph, GAR said, was the long-running ICSID case against Romania. Also, King & Spalding helped Swedish brothers Ioan and Viorel Micula win an estimated US$250 million in damages and interest over Romania's withdrawal of economic incentives.
GAR also listed a more recent eye-catching result: U.S. enforcement proceedings on behalf of Commissa, a subsidiary of U.S. engineering firm KBR. King & Spalding persuaded a district court to uphold a US$465 million award against Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, even though it had been set aside by a court in Mexico. The result was hailed as a departure from more than a decade of U.S. case law that has given primacy to the courts of the arbitral seat when deciding on enforcement. King & Spalding is also acting for KBR in a NAFTA claim against Mexico, where it alleges that the Mexican courts' actions breached its investment protection rights.
The GAR 30 ranking is based primarily on the number of arbitral hearings that a firm is involved in as counsel over a two-year period. The research assesses merits and jurisdictional hearings and the amount of money at stake in each case, as well as the number of hours billed to arbitration by the firm's lawyers.
In addition, the ranking takes into account the number of pending cases in which the firm's lawyers are sitting as arbitrator; and the number of individuals who feature in GAR's sister publication, Who's Who Legal: Arbitration—a guide to the leading practitioners in the field as recognized by their peers.
"The same criteria apply to all firms and we try to ensure there are enough categories of data in the mix to suit all firms," says GAR managing editor David Samuels: "The difficulty is that we're attempting to compare apples and oranges – high-volume practices that turn over small and medium-sized cases, with those that only go after very high value, complex, often multi-dimensional disputes—in a way that gives everyone an equal chance to shine."
The GAR 30 commentary and analysis can be viewed here. The full GAR 100 survey is accessible here.
About King & Spalding
Celebrating more than 125 years of service, King & Spalding is an international law firm that represents a broad array of clients, including half of the Fortune Global 100, with 800 lawyers in 17 offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm has handled matters in over 160 countries on six continents and is consistently recognized for the results it obtains, uncompromising commitment to quality and dedication to understanding the business and culture of its clients. More information is available at www.kslaw.com.