King & Spalding Takes 8-Partner Arbitration Team Led by Gary Born from WilmerHale in Major Transatlantic Lateral Move
King & Spalding has recruited an eight-partner international arbitration team from WilmerHale in a significant transatlantic lateral hire. The team is led by Gary Born, widely regarded as one of the world's leading international arbitration practitioners, who spent 38 years at WilmerHale and served as chair of its international arbitration practice. The hire consolidates King & Spalding's international arbitration capabilities and represents one of the largest single-team lateral moves in the London arbitration market in recent years. International arbitration at Gary Born's level spans investment treaty disputes (where states are respondents to investor claims), commercial arbitration under rules such as the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) or LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration), and complex multi-jurisdictional enforcement proceedings. The move is reported against a backdrop of continued volatility in the London lateral hiring market, with Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Hastings also frequently cited as active participants in senior partner recruitment. No financial terms for the hire are disclosed in the available sources.
Why this matters
The departure of an eight-partner team — including a practitioner of Gary Born's stature — from WilmerHale is a material disruption to that firm's international arbitration practice and a significant strengthening of King & Spalding's London and global offering. For the international arbitration market, team moves of this scale shift client relationships, case pipelines, and the competitive positioning of the firms involved almost immediately. The 'why now' context is the sustained pressure on US and transatlantic firms to build out international dispute resolution capabilities as geopolitical uncertainty and cross-border investment disputes multiply. For law students, this illustrates the premium placed on elite international arbitration talent and the role that London plays as the global hub for the practice area.
On the Ground
A trainee supporting an international arbitration lateral integration would assist with coordinating cross-border legal opinion letters confirming the transferred practitioners' standing in relevant jurisdictions, preparing choice-of-law summaries for pending matters transferred to the new firm, and drafting local counsel instruction letters where ongoing proceedings require in-country representation.
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