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K&L Gates LLP

At a Glance

Uppers

“Firm culture, the ability to take on as much responsibility as I want, being able to work on many different things with different partners consistently.”

“Excellent work-life balance paired with interesting, high-level work and kind, respectful colleagues.”

Downers

“Non-billable work not getting recognized, and lack of transparency about bonuses and compensation (only as a senior associate or partner).”

“I wish we had more opportunities to engage in person with other associates at the firm.”

About K&L Gates LLP

With nearly 2,000 lawyers on five continents, K&L Gates is one of the largest law firms in the world. The firm’s top-notch practices include corporate; energy and infrastructure; finance; intellectual property; labor, employment, and workplace safety; litigation and dispute resolution; policy and regulatory; real estate; and asset management and investment funds.

Multiplicity

At the dawn of the new millennium, a flurry of mergers led to the formation of K&L Gates. In January 2007, Seattle’s Preston Gates & Ellis hitched itself to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham (itself the product of one of the largest U.S.-U.K. mergers in legal history: the 2005 pairing of Pittsburgh-based Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and London’s Nicholson Graham & Jones). A year later, the new firm merged with Texas-based Hughes & Luce, increasing K&L Gates’ presence in the Lone Star State. In July 2008, the firm merged with Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, a household name in Carolina legal circles, expanding K&L Gates’ influence to the Carolinas. The addition of Chicago firm Bell, Boyd & Lloyd’s 250 lawyers and lobbyists in March 2009 bolstered K&L Gates’ ranks in Chicago and DC. In 2013, K&L Gates merged with the Australian firm Middletons, thereby extending its practice to the Land Down Under. The firm has also added offices in Nashville, Luxembourg, Dublin, and Kansas City, MO.

Diversifying

K&L Gates takes a full-service approach with clients across many industries. Unlike some big firms that rely on a few key clients for the bulk of their billings, K&L Gates’ diversification policy means that its revenues are realized through relationships with many clients. Among its reputable practices, K&L Gates’ impressive Renewable Energy department serves clients across solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, and other sectors. The firm uses the experiences of its attorneys in these and other industries to provide counsel on acquisitions, financing, IP, licensing, regulatory, tax, and many other matters.

The firm is home to a large corporate practice—in fact, its M&A practice alone has 500 lawyers. The firm’s corporate clients include Global 500, Fortune 100, and FTSE 100 companies, as well as startups, investment funds, and individuals. The firm’s corporate lawyers work in a myriad of industries, such as the energy, financial services, healthcare, infrastructure, life science, manufacturing, technology, telecommunication, and transportation sectors. Notably, the firm rode out the pandemic with increases in cross-office and cross-practice work, interoffice revenue, and profitability.

The Best Place

K&L Gates is dedicated to pro bono work: Over the past few years, the firm has devoted more than 46,000 hours to pro bono matters. This effort has been completed through firmwide programs, including K&L Gates for Equal Justice, which focuses on voting rights, criminal justice reform, and justice for indigenous people; the Cyber Civil Rights Legal Project, which assists victims of nonconsensual pornography; and the Anti-Human Trafficking Initiative, which helps victims of human trafficking. The firm also partners with dozens of community organizations, and all employees are encouraged to volunteer and provide services on an individual basis within their own communities.

News & Awards

NOTABLE CASES
  • Advised Microsoft Corp. on its further investment in San Francisco-based OpenAI, the artificial intelligence laboratory behind the experimental online chatbot ChatGPT. Assisted Microsoft on its initial US$1 billion equity investment in OpenAI in 2019 and later investment in 2021.
  • Assisted Focus Financial Partners Inc., a leading partnership of independent, fiduciary wealth management firms, on its acquisition by funds affiliated with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC and Stone Point Capital LLC in an all-cash transaction with an enterprise value in excess of US$7 billion.
  • Represented Abu Dhabi’s Invest AD in the establishment and licensing of a fund management subsidiary, which was the first manager authorized by the Securities and Commodities Authority under its new regulations. In another first under the new regulations, the firm also acted as sole legal counsel in the formation and approval of the Invest AD Blackstone Private Debt Fund, the first UAE-based private credit feeder fund for professional investors.
  • Represented Carnegie Mellon University in its long-standing patent infringement suit against chipmaker Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and Marvell Semiconductor Inc. that culminated in a $US750 million settlement for CMU.

     

AWARDS & ACCOLADES
  • Law Firm of the Year 2024, Corporate Law - Best Law Firms®
  • 48 practice rankings, including 9 nationwide rankings, and more than 135 lawyers recognized, 2023 - Chambers USA
  • 2023 Top Performer and 2023 Compass Award designations from Leadership Council on Legal Diversity
  • Mansfield Rule 6.0 Certification Plus status, 2022-2023
  • IP Litigation Powerhouse 2024 – BTI Litigation Outlook
K&L Gates LLP

K&L Gates Center
210 6th Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2613
Phone: (412) 355-6500

Firm Stats

Chairman of Management Committee: Michael S. Caccese
Global Managing Partner: James R. Segerdahl
Co-United States Managing Partners: Pallavi Mehta Wahi and Thomas J. Smith
Total No. Attorneys (2024):
1.5K - 2K
No. of Partners Named 2024:
22

Base Salary

First Year: $180k to $225k, depending on practice area and location.
Summer Associate: The average summer associate weekly salary is $3,980 and the range is $3,654 - $4,327.

Employment Contact

Amy J. Horn
Chief People Officer
(817) 347-5031
amy.horn@klgates.com

No. of U.S. Offices: 25

No. of International Offices: 23

Major Office Locations

Austin, TX
Boston, MA
Charleston, SC
Charlotte, NC
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
Fort Worth, TX
Harrisburg, PA
Houston, TX
Kansas City, MO
Los Angeles, CA
Miami, FL
Nashville, TN
New York, NY
Newark, NJ
Orange County, CA
Palo Alto, CA
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Raleigh, NC
Research Triangle Park, NC
San Francisco, CA
Seattle, WA
Washington, DC
Wilmington, DE
Beijing
Berlin
Brisbane
Brussels
Doha
Dubai
Dublin
Frankfurt
Hong Kong
London
Luxembourg
Melbourne
Milan
Munich
Paris
Perth
São Paulo
Seoul
Shanghai
Singapore
Sydney
Taipei
Tokyo

Major Departments

Antitrust, Competition and Trade Regulation
Asset Management & Investment Funds
Capital Markets
Corporate
Environment, Land and Natural Resources
Finance
Government Contracts and Procurement Policy
Health Care and FDA
Energy, Infrastructure & Resources
IP Litigation
IP Procurement and Portfolio Management
White Collar Defense and Investigations
Labor, Employment and Workplace Safety
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Private Equity
Payments, Banking Regulation and Consumer Financial Services
Public Policy and Law
Real Estate
Restructuring and Insolvency
Technology Transactions and Data Protection
*See firm website for complete list of practice areas and industries.