King & Spalding Adds Six Partners to Expand Human Capital Group

King & Spalding is adding six partners from three different law firms to a global human capital and compliance group that operates across practice areas to advise corporate clients on workforce matters.

The six new partners—joining from competitors Seyfarth Shaw, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Barnes & Thornburg—will advise on a range of employment-related matters, from those stemming from mergers and acquisitions to privacy and trade secrets.

Darren Gardner, the group’s global head, said its lawyers have been advising companies on how to deal with Covid-19 on a global basis, covering areas such as vaccines, testing, remote work. and returning to the workplace.

“There are many issues including intellectual property, compensation and benefits that are becoming more central, and the issues arising from them are becoming much more material,” Gardner told Bloomberg Law. The practice also advises on a range of regulatory and compliance issues.

The Atlanta-founded firm’s clients include Coca-Cola, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to King & Spalding’s website, as well as Johnson & Johnson and The Progressive Corporation, court filings show.

The addition of a six-member team “brings deep human capital experience across all of the critical issues that U.S. and global multinational companies are facing,” Todd Holleman, head of the firm’s corporate, finance and investments practice, which includes the human capital group, said in a statement.

The new partners include Tom Ahlering, who had been the co-chair of Seyfarth Shaw’s biometric compliance group. He, along with Anne Dana, Gina Merrill, and Jesse Pauker, come from Seyfarth Shaw.

Pete Wozniak is joining from Barnes & Thornburg and Jenny Neilsson will be joining from Simpson Thacher later this month. Ahlering, Neilsson, and Wozniak will work from the firm’s Chicago office, and Dana, Merrill, and Pauker will be in New York.

King & Spalding has more than 1,200 lawyers in 22 offices in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The firm reported $1.5 billion in revenue in 2020, placing it among the largest 25 law firms in the country, according to data compiled by the American Lawyer.

Gardner joined King & Spalding in early September 2020 as one of three partners in the firm’s new global human capital practice. Earlier, he had been at Seyfarth Shaw as chair of its international practice.