Global law firm K&L Gates LLP announced that it has established its fortieth office worldwide with the launch of a Charleston office. This also marks the firm’s 24th location in the United States.
The office launch follows the addition of seven partners, all from Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP. The partners are Matthew J. Norton, J. Walker Coleman IV, Joshua W. Dixon, Theodore B. Manuel, Bryan L. Walpole III, Jason P. Walton, and James S. Bruce.
The new Charleston office will strengthen the firm’s regional, national, and international capabilities in practices including resort and hospitality, labor and employment, litigation, banking, tax, corporate/M&A, and real estate, among others.
K&L Gates Chairman and Global Managing Partner Peter J. Kalis was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “With its expanding port and with South Carolina’s distinctive business-friendly climate,Charleston is uniquely well positioned to continue to attract U.S.and international businesses. The practices of our new partners, moreover, nicely complement our firmwide resources and add leadership-caliber lawyers to our firm. As but one example, we expect that Matt Norton will be a leader in our global resort and hospitality practice.”
With a practice focusing on commercial real estate, resort development, hotels, golf, and real estate financing, Norton advises clients on projects and transactions throughout the southeastern United States, Caribbean, and Latin America.
Norton was quoted as saying: “K&L Gates is the first law firm to establish an office inSouth Carolinathat also has significant offices in world financial centers such as New York, London, Frankfort, Tokyo, Dubai, Hong Kong, and São Paulo. As a result, K&L Gates is the ideal platform for Charleston and South Carolina’s growing and dynamic economy and our international resort and hospitality practice.”
Coleman is an experienced litigator, focusing his practice on complex, high-stakes litigation with an emphasis on employment, intellectual property, commercial disputes, and class actions. He represents regional, domestic, and multinational companies in industries ranging from athletic equipment and aviation to banking, health care, manufacturing, telecommunications, and textiles.
Coleman is joined in the employment and commercial litigation areas byDixon, whose practice also includes white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, and appellate litigation.
Coleman was quoted as saying: “The breadth and depth of K&L Gates’ practices, in combination with its global reach in a single integrated firm, uniquely suits the broader needs of our existing clients doing business around the world, as well as the firm’s multinational clients doing business inSouth Carolina.”
Manuel, Walpole, and Walton work in the banking and tax group, where they represent lenders, servicers, and borrowers in a variety of financing transactions and agreements; banks, investment funds, and private equity firms in the acquisition, workout, and disposition of distressed assets; and real estate and resort developers in the financing, sale, and acquisition of properties, in addition to advising on the tax aspects of such transactions.
Bruce is a corporate transactional lawyer, and represents Fortune 500, middle-market, and emerging growth companies across a variety of industries in transactions including mergers, stock and asset acquisitions and dispositions, and strategic joint ventures. He also has substantial experience handling distressed debt acquisitions and representing real estate developers and owners and operators of golf, hotel, and resort properties.
Global law firm K&L Gates has over 2,000 attorneys in 40 offices located in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and theMiddle East. The firm counts as clients numerous GLOBAL 500, FORTUNE 100, and FTSE 100 corporations, as well as growth and middle market companies, entrepreneurs, capital market participants and public sector entities.