King & Spalding Follows Wall Street’s Lead to Open Miami Office

King & Spalding is entering the Miami market, relocating 12 partners to the city that has become an alternative Wall Street workplace during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Randy Bassett, who heads the tobacco and consumer products trial practice, will relocate from Atlanta headquarters to serve as managing partner for the new office. He represented United Parcel Service Inc., General Motors Co., and Mercedes-Benz in Florida federal courts, Bloomberg Law data show.

“The Miami office will be an important hub,” King & Spalding chairman Robert Hays said in a statement. He cited “Florida’s rapidly expanding economy and strategic importance more broadly in the U.S. and Latin America.”

Miami has seen an influx of private equity and venture capital firms as South Florida became an destination for Wall Street during the height of the pandemic, with companies seek lower taxes and warmer weather.

Law firms are starting to follow. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan opened a Miami office in May, hiring lawyers from Hogan Lovells and Greenspoon Marder. Armstrong Teasdale, a St. Louis-based firm, this month acquired 12-lawyer Miami litigation boutique Waldman Barnett.

King & Spalding’s 23rd office, set to open in early February, will handle work including mass tort, consumer class action, healthcare, international arbitration, government and public policy.

With more than 50 King & Spalding lawyers licensed to practice in Florida, the Miami outpost will also service the firm’s private equity, fintech and healthcare technology practices, the firm said.

The firm said it has represented hundreds of litigation clients in Florida, including more than 100 jury trials in the past decade. Its healthcare practice advises several large Florida hospital systems and healthcare providers.

So far, only a handful of Big Law firms have made the move King & Spalding is making. Miami has yet to draw interest from high-profit Wall Street firms in the way Silicon Valley has in recent years.

King & Spalding, where partners earned on average about $3.5 million in 2020, would be among the most profitable firms with a Miami outpost, according to AmLaw data. It would rank behind Quinn Emanuel’s $4.7 million average profits per partner and Weil Gotshal & Manges, where partners earned $4.5 million.

The largest firms in the Miami legal market include Greenberg Traurig, Holland & Knight and Akerman—all firms with long histories in the city. Other firms with large presences there include White & Case, McDermott Will & Emery and DLA Piper.