Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
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| Company type | Limited liability partnership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Law |
| Founded | Atlanta, Georgia (1874) |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia with 8 other offices worldwide |
Key people | see Key people section |
| Products | Legal advice |
| Revenue |  $250.5 million USD (2005) |
| Website | www.kilpatrickstockton.com |
Kilpatrick Stockton LLP is a prominent law firm with over 450 attorneys in the eastern United States and Europe. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the firm has U.S. offices in Georgia, North Carolina, New York, and the District of Columbia, with international offices in England and Sweden. The firm is particularly well-known for its intellectual property practice, and has represented clients such as Google in cutting-edge IP cases.
Kilpatrick Stockton has been recognized by American Lawyer magazine as one of the country's best law firms to work for. The firm has won numerous awards for its strong commitment to community service, and it credits fifty hours of charity work per year toward its attorneys' billable hour requirements. In 2006 Kilpatrick Stockton was awarded the Circle of Humanitarians Award, the American Red Cross's highest honor, for work on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims.
History
Kilpatrick Stockton was formed by the 1997 merger of two firms, Kilpatrick & Cody of Atlanta, Georgia, and Petree Stockton of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The firm that would become Kilpatrick & Cody was founded in 1874 by Milton W. Candler and William S. Thomson. The firm became in-house counsel for the Coca-Cola company, and as early as 1893 secured federal registration of the Coca-Cola trademark.
In 1978, the firm counseled The Northwestern Bank in a merger with First Union National Bank. The transaction was a harbinger of the mass bank consolidation that would take place in the next three decades. The next year, the firm took on representation of the town of Triana, Alabama, whose water had been polluted by the pesticide DDT. The firm eventually secured a recovery of $26 million, plus all annual healthcare costs for the injured townspeople.
In 2000, Kilpatrick Stockton successfully represented Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s family in a lawsuit over the CBS network's unauthorized use of the famous "I Have a Dream" speech. In 2001, the firm took on the defense of the Houghton Mifflin Company's parody The Wind Done Gone. In a precedent-setting case, the firm defeated a pre-publication restraining order from Margaret Mitchell's estate.
Also in 2001, the firm secured a groundbreaking win in the case of Cobell v. Kempthorne.[1] Kilpatrick Stockton's client, Elouise Cobell, brought a class-action suit on behalf of tens of thousands of plaintiffs alleging that the United States mismanaged funds entrusted to Native Americans. The plaintiffs prevailed in the first stage of the case, proving that the government mismanaged trust funds. The damages portion of the case has not been resolved (as of July 2006).
In 2002, Kilpatrick Stockton partner Alfred P. Carlton, Jr. was named to a one-year term as President of the American Bar Association. In 2004, the firm opened its newest office, which is located in New York City.
Key people
Partners
Kilpatrick Stockton has approximately 240 partners,[2] including 71 who have been named in 'The Best Lawyers in America® 2006.'[3] Among Kilpatrick Stockton's most notable partners are:
- Miles J. Alexander is a co-chairman of Kilpatrick Stockton.[4]
- Alexander was honored in 'The Best Lawyers in America® 2006' for his prowess in the fields of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Antitrust Law, Corporate Law, and Intellectual Property Law.[5]
- Rupert Barkoff was named one of the top 10 franchise law practitioners in the world by the International Who's Who of Business Lawyers for 2006.[6]
- Joseph M. Beck is known for representing clients in high-profile cases.
- Beck is lead counsel for Google in the Google Print case, and he has represented the family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in intellectual property matters.
- Beck also defended the musical group OutKast in 1999, when OutKast was sued by Rosa Parks over one of the group's most successful radio singles, which bore Parks' name as its title.[7]
- In 2006, Beck was honored as one of 'The Best Lawyers in America®' in the fields of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Entertainment Law, and Intellectual Property Law.[8]
- William H. Brewster is Kilpatrick Stockton's managing partner,[9] and was named one of 'The Best Lawyers in America® 2006' in the field of Intellectual Property Law.[10]
- Keith Harper is one of the United States' leading Native American attorneys.[11]
- Harper has been involved in the Cobell v. Kempthorne case since its inception. He first represented the plaintiffs while working at the Native American Rights Fund, before he joined Kilpatrick Stockton.[12]
- Harper is a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma[13], and serves as an appellate judge on the highest court of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.[14]
- Mark I. Levy is director of the firm's appellate advocacy group.[15]
- Levy has personally argued 15 cases before the United States Supreme Court, and has been involved in litigating the merits of over 100 more Supreme Court cases. He has also argued 17 cases before other federal appellate courts.[16]
- Levy served in the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division at the Department of Justice.[17]
- David M. Zacks is a past chairman of the American Cancer Society.[18]
- Zacks was named one of 'The Best Lawyers in America® 2006' in the fields of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Health Care Law, and Personal Injury Litigation.[19]
Prominent alumni
- Allyson Duncan is the first African-American woman to sit on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.[20]
- Judge Duncan's nomination to the court received unanimous Senate support.[21]
- In 2003, Judge Duncan was elected President of the North Carolina Bar Association.[22]
- Before joining the Fourth Circuit, Judge Duncan was a senior partner at Kilpatrick Stockton's Raleigh office, where she specialized in government relations and utility matters.[23]
High-profile clients
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Practice Areas
Kilpatrick Stockton is a "full-service" law firm,[24] which means that its attorneys work in essentially all areas of law. Its main practice areas are:
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References
- American Lawyer Best Places to Work Rankings
- American Lawyer Trademark Listings
- American Lawyer article about ongoing Google Print case
- Charlotte Business Journal pro bono article
- Client list on Kilpatrick Stockton website
- dBusinessNews article concerning Kilpatrick Stockton's Circle of Humanitarians Award
- Kilpatrick Stockton history site
- Firm practice areas
- NALP Directory of Legal Employers