King & Spalding Lands a Big Fish: Paul Clement

The bidding war is over: Former Solicitor General Paul Clement, one of the most highly prized legal catches coming from the Bush Administration, has decided to return to the D.C. office of Atlanta-based King & Spalding. 

"We are very pleased to welcome our former colleague and friend Paul Clement back to King & Spalding," said J. Sedwick (Wick) Sollers, managing partner in the D.C. office, in a statement this morning. "Our clients and growing appellate practice will benefit greatly from Paul's vast knowledge and experience before the U.S. Supreme Court, and before appeals courts nationwide." Clement headed the firm's appellate practice before becoming deputy solicitor general in 2001.

"It feels great to be back," said Clement, 42, from the King & Spalding offices this morning. Clement, who argued 49 cases before the high court during his tenure at the solicitor general's office. His nimble, notes-free argument style won wide applause, including from the justices. Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom Clement clerked, said in a 2006 tribute that Clement was the Court's "sentimental favorite" to replace Theodore Olson in 2005. "I am so glad he is solicitor general, because he makes my job easier," Scalia said. Clement left in June and has been teaching at Georgetown University Law Center while entertaining offers from firms. We profiled Clement here last year. 

The move to King & Spalding is something of a surprise. Kirkland & Ellis, where Clement had worked before King & Spalding, was also in the running, as were other firms including Latham & Watkins and New York City's Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Some of them, according to one competitor, made "eye-popping" bids for Clement's talent. 

One person knowledgeable about the negotiations says that in the end, it came down to K&S versus K&E, and that the idea of "coming home" to King & Spalding sealed the deal. "He really loved his time there," says this lawyer.

Clement this morning did not deny that scenario. "I talked to a number of firms, all of which were great," he said. But he added that the sense of homecoming was "a big plus for both of those firms," referring to both King & Spalding and Kirkland & Ellis. Clement did not discuss the size of the package offered by King & Spalding, though rumors of $5 million are circulating around town. "It's a little more than my last job," he says.

Skadden's interest in Clement was seen as an opening gambit by New York firms that have been slow to view Supreme Court-oriented appellate practices as worthy of their interest -- even as many other firms from D.C. and elsewhere have invested heavily in what seems to them to be a prestige practice with firmwide benefits. Supreme Court veteran Roy Englert Jr. of Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber, says the fact that Clement did not wind up at a New York firm may be a sign of "belt-tightening" in the Big Apple triggered by the financial turndown.

"Paul apparently felt some loyalty to King & Spalding, and they obviously did things that made him feel comfortable about returning," says Englert. 

Clement said the New York firms he talked to did not withdraw any offers because of the downturn, but he added that because of the current climate, "Does a litigation-heavy firm look better than a transaction-heavy firm?" Yes was his answer. 

Another veteran of the Supreme Court bar said King & Spalding may be a "tough platform." As prestigious as Supreme Court practice has become, a large percentage of the cases still comes from existing clients, and the K&S client base may not provide enough work, says this lawyer.

Clement disagrees with this view of his new firm. "There's a very broad client base," he says, including 50 of the Fortune 100 firms. One of King & Spalding's strengths, Clement says, is its strong regional base in Atlanta and the Southeast. The firm has a long history in Atlanta and counts former attorney general and appeals judge Griffin Bell as senior counsel. Though Bell is currently in poor health, Clement said today, "I'm pretty sure I have his blessing."