King & Spalding's environmental lawyers regularly square off against plaintiffs' attorneys who have made their careers suing companies in industries in which the firm's clients operate. Its successful track record in litigating groundwater and other contamination cases against those attorneys has made King & Spalding a “go-to” firm for high-stakes environmental litigation.

The firm's attorneys have been asked to represent clients in a wide range of environmental litigation, from the novel coastal erosion lawsuits filed by the state of Louisiana to matters involving hydraulic fracking. Houston partners Bruce Hurley and Elizabeth Taber have served as national counsel for a major oil services company on multiple fracking cases across the country.

“There are several factors that set our environmental practice apart,” said Carol Wood, a Houston partner and leader of King & Spalding's toxic tort and environmental practice. “We're not just environmental lawyers,” Wood said. “We have significant experience and bench strength as trial attorneys. Having handled so many of these cases, we have a real depth of knowledge of the science and are able to communicate our clients' position in a simple and understandable way to the fact finder, be it a jury, judge or administrative panel.”