King & Spalding Hires Ex-Quinn, McDermott Litigator Lazar Raynal

Lazar Raynal, a former Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner who was at one point a candidate to lead McDermott Will & Emery, has joined King & Spalding in Chicago.

Raynal is a trial lawyer who handles commercial disputes including patents, contacts and fiduciary responsibilities. His recent clients include IBM, Ancestry.com and Canadian mining company Barrick Gold Corporation.

He joins a King & Spalding office that has grown to about 40 lawyers since its launch in 2017. The office is led by former U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon and it has a handful of federal prosecutors handling white-collar and criminal defense work.

Raynal’s client base skews more toward the commercial side.

“Two hallmarks of our team are our ability to execute astute, high-stakes trial strategies, and to understand our clients’ overarching business issues. Lazar does both skillfully, and is a great fit for our clients,” Andy Bayman, chair of King & Spalding’s trial and global disputes practice, said in a statement.

Raynal joined Quinn Emanuel in 2017 after Ira Coleman was named chair of McDermott following an election in which Raynal was a candidate. He had been the global chair of McDermott’s litigation department and co-chair of its trust & estate controversy practice.

In one example of a high-profile representation, Raynal advised Robert O’Neill, a Navy SEAL who claimed to have shot and killed Osama Bin Laden. Raynal shepherded O’Neill through government approval processes before the release of his book.

Raynal leaves Quinn Emanuel just weeks after another partner in its Chicago office, Stephen Swedlow, was awarded a $185 million contingency fee in a case involving Obamacare-mandated payments the federal government never made.

“King & Spalding not only offers a fantastic platform for my practice, it also has top-notch transactional and regulatory practices that can serve my clients’ other legal concerns,” Raynal said in a statement.