Marcella Burke of King & Spalding. (Courtesy photo)

Marcella Burke has joined King & Spalding as a partner in the firm's government matters practice in Washington, D.C., from the U.S. Department of the Interior. She was most recently senior counselor and deputy solicitor at the Interior Department, after serving as deputy general counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2017 to 2018.

"I'll be putting my experience in corporate energy transactions to work with my background in emergency planning and incident response, crisis management, enforcement, congressional investigations, and environmental and natural resources regulation, to help energy companies not only grow, but also achieve their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals," Burke said in an email. "There is a lot of good work being done in sustainable and responsible energy development, and I plan to remain in the forefront."

Burke said she would divide her practice between D.C. and Houston.

Before entering government work, she spent five years as a corporate energy attorney at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, and previously was a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Texas for then-Justice Don Willett, now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She has also previously served as member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops national advisory committee.

"Marcella has a stellar background advising on critical environmental and energy matters, both in the administration and in private practice," said Wick Sollers, head of King & Spalding's government matters practice, in a statement. "She has led key legal functions in the DOI, including representing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation. That experience is a great fit for our energy clients and their operations."

Granta Nakayama, head of King & Spalding's environmental, health and safety practice, added in a statement that Burke was a welcome addition to the firm whose senior-level governmental experience "can provide us with a new edge across transactions, enforcement proceedings, regulatory, and litigation matters."

King & Spalding's government matters team has grown rapidly in recent weeks, with the addition of several federal government alumni. Since the start of September, King & Spalding's government matters team added former Federal Bureau of Investigation chief of staff Zack Harmon and former FBI senior counsel Sumon Dantiki.

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