King & Spalding
141-year-old Atlanta-founded law firm serving Fortune Global 100 clients worldwide.
On the record
Checkpoint: Am Law 100 2027 rankings release, showing whether revenue and PEP growth continue or stall
The call
King & Spalding keeps growing revenue and profit for a 17th straight year while AI reshapes the junior-associate work its profit pyramid has long relied on.
King & Spalding is a large law firm that handles complicated international disputes, government investigations, and complex legal fights for Fortune 500 companies. It is hard to replace because it has 140-year-old relationships with powerful clients, ex-government lawyers with insider networks, and licenses that require human lawyers to sign off on cases. But here is the catch: AI is getting better at the grunt work junior lawyers used to do, like reading documents and summarizing legal research, which is how law firms traditionally made money by billing clients for young lawyers' time. If AI keeps improving and law firms switch to it, King & Spalding may have fewer billable hours to sell from junior staff, which could slow down how much profit each partner makes in a few years, even if the company stays busy.
Why
01
AI pressure: GenAI legal-drafting tools like Harvey and CoCounsel. AI handles document review and research, the billable work junior associates traditionally did, squeezing that layer of the profit model. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Big Four firms (Deloitte Legal, EY Law) via loosened non-lawyer ownership rules. Arizona and Utah already allow non-lawyer law-firm ownership; if the US or UK follow, price-based entrants could target complex work directly. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.
03
What protects it. Licensure rules, decades-long Fortune Global 100 relationships, and premium arbitration/investigations work that AI cannot perform or replace.
What would change this call
K&S's spring 2027 Am Law revenue/PEP figures versus Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins. Shows whether AI-driven margin compression is catching up to K&S's growth trajectory.
Any Trump-administration executive order or investigation naming King & Spalding directly. Would signal the firm faces the same political targeting that hit Paul Weiss and WilmerHale.
US or UK regulators loosening non-lawyer law-firm ownership rules (as Arizona and Utah did). Would open the door for Big Four or AI-native entrants to compete on price for complex legal work.
Any Trump-administration executive order or investigation naming King & Spalding directly. Would signal the firm faces the same political targeting that hit Paul Weiss and WilmerHale.
US or UK regulators loosening non-lawyer law-firm ownership rules (as Arizona and Utah did). Would open the door for Big Four or AI-native entrants to compete on price for complex legal work.
Key numbers
- FY2025 revenue $2.68B, up ~13% YoY
- Profit per equity partner ~$7M in 2025
- GenAI adoption among lawyers rose 31% to 69% in a year
Named risks
- AI compression of associate-leverage billing model could pressure PEP growth over years 4 to 5.
- Trump administration could target K&S with executive action as it did Paul Weiss and WilmerHale.
- Aggressive lateral hiring pace (27 partners since 2026 start) raises integration and compensation-model risk.
- Loosening of non-lawyer ownership rules in major markets could open door to Big Four or AI-native price competition.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Kirkland & Ellis | contesting | K&S revenue $2.68B vs Kirkland's $10.556B in 2026 Am Law 100 rankings |
| Latham & Watkins | contesting | K&S revenue $2.68B vs Latham's $8.3B as of April 2026 |
| WilmerHale | gaining on | K&S took its eight-partner arbitration team led by Gary Born in June 2026 |
| Proskauer Rose | gaining on | K&S hired ex-Proskauer fund-finance practice leader in June 2026 |
Questions people ask
- Is King & Spalding profitable in 2026?
- Yes. King & Spalding reported its 17th consecutive year of revenue and profit growth as of April 2026, with FY2025 gross revenue of $2.68 billion and profit per equity partner around $7 million, up from roughly $6 million in 2024.
- Could AI replace King & Spalding lawyers?
- Unlikely for core work. As of June 2026 K&S deploys Harvey, CoCounsel, and Microsoft Copilot and is hiring a dedicated GenAI Platform Specialist, but licensed trial advocacy, regulatory judgment, and client relationships remain outside AI's reach; AI mainly displaces document review and research tasks.
- Who is King & Spalding's biggest competitor?
- By scale, Kirkland & Ellis ($10.556B revenue) and Latham & Watkins ($8.3B) dwarf K&S's $2.68B in the 2026 Am Law 100 rankings, but K&S competes by poaching talent, taking an eight-partner WilmerHale arbitration team in June 2026.
- Who owns King & Spalding?
- King & Spalding is a private partnership owned by its equity partners with no external investors, chaired by Robert D. Hays as of 2026. In March 2024 its chairman stated a merger was 'not being considered,' and the firm has grown organically and through lateral hires instead.
- Was King & Spalding targeted by Trump administration executive orders?
- No. Unlike Paul Weiss, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Skadden, and Susman Godfrey, K&S was not hit by Trump executive orders; as of February 2026 this non-participation in settlement deals was cited by a lateral partner joining Dallas.
- How big is King & Spalding compared to the largest law firms?
- K&S posted $2.68 billion in FY2025 revenue, ranking around 21st by revenue on the Am Law 100 and #20 on Lexology's Global Elite list as of 2026, well behind Kirkland & Ellis ($10.556B) and Latham & Watkins ($8.3B), but still growing double digits.
Timeline
- 2026-07-20Expands London office at 8 Bishopsgate for second time in two years
- 2026-06-16Posts hiring for Legal GenAI Platform (Harvey) Specialist role in London
- 2026-06-15Eight-partner international arbitration team from WilmerHale led by Gary Born joins
- 2026-04-13Jim Richardell appointed new CFO, joining from Hogan Lovells
- 2026-03-04FY2025 revenue reaches $2.68B, 17th consecutive year of revenue and profit growth
- 2026-02-06Nine-partner trial team led by Melsheimer and Stodghill joins Dallas office
- 2025-10-29Profit per equity partner rises to roughly $7 million
- 2025-03-28Acquires Saudi Arabian firm Al Fahad & Partners
- 2024-12-09Wins Financial Times Innovation in Digital Legal Products award for AI cybersecurity work
- 2024-03-05FY2023 revenue reported at $2.137 billion, PEP at $5.3 million
Revision history
24 July 2026
First assessed. Hard to displace. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- King & Spalding homepage (2025-06-03)
- Law Firm Profile (2026-05-21)
- Lexology Global Elite rankings
- King & Spalding LLP, USA 2026
- King & Spalding Sees PEP Spike 12% (2024-03-05)
- King & Spalding Credits Investment in Talent (2025-03-28)
- King & Spalding Welcomes Jim Richardell as New CFO (2026-04-13)
- American Lawyer ranks K&S 21st (2025-04-14)
- Greater Demand, U.K. Increases Guide K&S (2026-03-04)
- AJC, 140th anniversary (2025-10-29)
- Texas Lawbook (2026-02-06)
- K&S press release (2026-06-15)