Ex-Thelen Chairman, Howrey Vet Is Latest Hire for Fast-Growing King & Spalding
Stephen O'Neal is the 13th lateral partner King & Spalding has added this month, a streak that includes six mass tort litigators from Orrick and a trio of international arbitrators from Kirkland & Ellis.
February 27, 2020 at 04:39 PM
3 minute read
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King & Spalding continued its hiring streak Thursday, announcing that it's bringing on a veteran of Howrey and Thelen for its construction disputes and international arbitration practice.
Stephen O'Neal is joining the firm's San Francisco office after a nine-year stint at Jones Day. He is the 13th lateral partner King & Spalding has added this month, including six mass tort litigators from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and a trio of international arbitrators from Kirkland & Ellis.
O'Neal's practice centers on construction disputes and international arbitration. During the past nine years at Jones Day, O'Neal said he has noticed that he's been involved with more and more construction disputes overseas. That's because the largest infrastructure projects tend to be located abroad, he added.
"Jones Day is a great firm. King & Spalding has an extraordinary international arbitration practice. I think many people would say the preeminent international arbitration practice, so that was very attractive," O'Neal said, regarding his decision to join the firm.
O'Neal's first day at King & Spalding was Wednesday. He said he hopes to bring his clients over and declined to say whether there will be any other departures from Jones Day.
Stephen O'NealO'Neal's work at Jones Day was inadvertently a part of a high-stakes legal dispute between Jones Day and Howrey, which went bankrupt in 2011. The Chapter 7 trustee overseeing Howrey's estate sued a group of firms that included Jones Day, saying the firm owed the estate money because lawyers such as O'Neal brought their "unfinished business" with them to new firms.
Jones Day fought back against those claims in California federal court. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that a bankrupt law firm estate like Howrey's is not entitled to any money stemming from the work former lawyers bring to another firm.
The Ninth Circuit's decision essentially adopts a ruling made by the D.C. Court of Appeals earlier this month.
"A law firm does not have a 'legitimate claim of entitlement' to hourly billed client matters because it is the clients who retain the right to control the representation," Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby of the D.C. Court of Appeals wrote for the D.C. panel.
O'Neal was one of seven Howrey construction partners who joined Jones Day's construction office in 2011. Before that, O'Neal was the former chairman of Thelen, which collapsed in November 2008 during the Great Recession. O'Neal was one of 40-plus lawyers who migrated from Thelen to Howrey.
Read More:
King & Spalding Extends Lateral Hiring Tear With 2 More From Orrick
DC Court Shoots Down Bankrupt Howrey's 'Unfinished Business' Claims
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