Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

Kilpatrick Stockton already has significant appellate experience. In the past five years, Kilpatrick Stockton attorneys have appeared in all 13 federal circuit courts of appeals, as well as in the highest courts of 25 states. Since 1995, the firm has served as lead counsel on approximately 125 such appeals, as well as more than 200 appeals before intermediate state appellate courts. The firm also has an active practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, and has filed numerous petitions for certiorari, briefs in opposition to certiorari, and briefs amicus curiae in the Court. Many of the cases were, of course, appeals from decisions in which the firm was involved as trial counsel. Additionally, a substantial number were cases in which the firm had no lower court involvement, but was retained solely for the purpose of pursuing appellate relief or defending the result obtained in the court of first instance. About 60 firm lawyers previously were law clerks for federal or state judges.

Kilpatrick Stockton's Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group augments and expands the firm's established litigation capability and formalizes the role and organization of our appellate lawyers. With the combination of our appellate and trial litigators, clients know that all of their litigation needs can be fully met by the firm, from the filing of a complaint to the presentation of oral argument in the Supreme Court. This is a firm-wide resource available for all KS lawyers and clients. Kilpatrick Stockton is now among the small group of leading law firms that can provide this important service.

Clients, law firms, and judges increasingly have recognized that appellate litigation is a specialized area of practice that requires its own set of skills and experience. As Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the D.C. Circuit has observed, "The skills needed for effective appellate advocacy are not always found - indeed, perhaps are rarely found - in good trial lawyers." In making a "plea for reliance on specialists for appellate advocacy," Judge Silberman explained:

"Appellate advocacy is, in short, a specialty all to itself. . . . Persuading juries takes different forensic and analytical skills than persuading appellate judges. . . . There may be some who think that the quality (in most cases, that means expense) of counsel [for an appeal] really does not matter that much. They are quite wrong. . . . [T]he boost given a case by a thoughtful, elegantly written brief and polished oral argument cannot be overstated."

Particularly in major cases, clients now frequently retain appellate counsel in the Supreme Court and courts of appeals.

The firm's commitment to diversity as a core value leads us to pursue initiatives that make every aspect of our work environment more open and fulfilling for everyone. We have adopted as our guiding principle the following statement about what diversity means to us, which we refer to as the Kilpatrick Townsend diversity principle:

"At Kilpatrick Townsend, all persons, without regard to differences among them that do not matter in the workplace, shall be respected and valued fully, so that each person may maximize his or her potential to contribute to the common good of our firm and to benefit fairly from doing so."

Our Legacy

Kilpatrick Townsend has a 135-year history of leadership in inclusiveness -- hiring and promoting diverse attorneys and staff and fostering an environment in which the best legal minds can thrive. It's one of the most important elements of our legacy, and it has contributed directly to our firm's success.

Kilpatrick Townsend:

• was one of the first large firms in the Southeast to have a female partner;
• led the major regional law firms in recruiting and hiring African-American attorneys
• was the first AmLaw 100 firm headquartered in the South to have a female co-managing partner;
• represented Martin Luther King, Sr. when the IRS unfairly targeted his church in the 1960s; and
• provided pro bono counsel to Atlanta’s first black mayor Maynard Jackson’s mayoral re-election campaign in 1989.

For us, diversity in our workplace is about action and continually seeking better ways to empower and energize our diverse personnel for success. Their individual successes enhance both our ability to provide world-class services to clients and our collective and individual contributions to the strength and vitality of the communities in which we work and live.

Our Vision and Values

Commitment is the foundation of a successful effort to build and maintain a diverse and inclusive environment. We are working to attract the widest possible pool of top talent; provide opportunities for all attorneys and staff to maximize their potential and fully contribute to accomplishing our firm’s mission, and ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Promoting diversity and its social imperative for fair treatment in our workplace without regard to racial, ethnic, religious, gender, sexual orientation and other self-defining factors is a core value of the firm -- a part of the fabric for our institutional life. We recognize both the social responsibility and the business opportunity of promoting diversity. It is the right thing to do, and it is good for business.