Kilpatrick Townsend Announces New Leadership Team

ATLANTA, Sept. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP announced today that Managing Partner Henry Walker has been elected as the firm's Chair and that Susan Spaeth will serve as firm Managing Partner.  The leadership team was finalized September 23^rd and has commenced serving the firm in its new capacity.

Mr. Walker succeeded Paul Aguggia who announced on September 4^th that he will become Chair, Chief Executive Officer, and President of long-time Kilpatrick Townsend client Clifton Savings Bancorp, Inc. Mr. Aguggia will remain with the firm as a partner until the end of the year.

"We have a remarkable pool of talent at Kilpatrick Townsend which is a luxury you like to have when electing a new chair," said Paul Aguggia, outgoing Kilpatrick Townsend Chair. "Henry's deep experience as a firm, legal, and business leader made him the preeminent choice. Having worked closely with Henry the past 15 months while he served as firm Managing Partner, I have been impressed not only with his strong leadership and management skills, but also with his dedication to client service."

Paul Aguggia added, "Henry and Susan know this firm inside and out. Henry has been associated with Kilpatrick Townsend either as a firm attorney or as a firm client for nearly 30 years and Susan for almost 25 years.  I look forward to working with them during this seamless transition period. Henry and Susan will make an outstanding leadership team. Congratulations to both on this tremendous honor and responsibility."

Henry Walker, located in Atlanta, has been the firm's Managing Partner since June 2012. Mr. Walker focuses his legal practice on large complex litigation matters, including class actions, technology, and telecommunications cases.  Based on his involvement in thousands of cases, Mr. Walker has also provided extensive client counseling on the best ways to minimize risks and prevent litigation in business initiatives. After clerking with the firm as a summer associate, Mr. Walker joined the firm in 1986 and became a partner in 1994.  In 1996, he joined a firm client, BellSouth Corporation, as in-house counsel where Mr. Walker served in a number of positions, including the Chief Litigation Counsel.  At BellSouth, he worked on a number of high-profile litigation matters including two United States Supreme Court cases. (Trinko and Twombly).  Mr. Walker rejoined Kilpatrick Townsend in 2007 as a partner on the Technology Litigation Team.  In addition to other honors, he is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® and has been named a Georgia "Super Lawyer."

A native Georgian, Mr. Walker is active in the State Bar of Georgia, currently serving on the Board of Governors and is a former President of the Young Lawyers Division.  He is a member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and serves as the Vice Chair of the Georgia Chamber's Law and Judiciary Committee. Mr. Walker is a member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He graduated from Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law and earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia.  For more information, please click here.

"At Kilpatrick Townsend, it always has been and always will be about our clients," said Henry Walker, Kilpatrick Townsend Chair.  "Susan and I will continue the firm's legacy and promise of delivering the highest quality legal work and exceptional client service. I am honored to lead Kilpatrick Townsend, a firm that has been a big part of my life and one at which I literally grew up in as a lawyer." 

Henry Walker added, "I want to thank Paul for his outstanding leadership as Chair, on the Executive Committee and on the Financial Institutions Team.  His commitment to the firm's growth and success will be missed but we look forward to working with him as a client."

Susan Spaeth, located in Silicon Valley, focuses her legal practice on intellectual property and complex/technical litigation, particularly patent litigation, licensing and counseling. Ms. Spaeth has represented biotechnology, medical device and high technology companies in various federal district courts, the United States International Trade Commission and European patent litigation. In addition to litigating patent and complex technology disputes, she regularly assists clients in their patent portfolio development, product analyses to determine patent infringement, negotiation of agreements related to intellectual property and establishing strategies to exploit the use of intellectual property.

A native Californian, Ms. Spaeth graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Valparaiso University.  She is a member of the firm's Executive Committee. Prior to the merger between Kilpatrick Stockton LLP and Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP, Ms. Spaeth served as firm Managing Partner of Townsend and Townsend and Crew between 2001-2007. For more information, please click here.

"I greatly appreciate this opportunity to serve our clients, attorneys and staff in a truly meaningful way," said Susan Spaeth, Kilpatrick Townsend Managing Partner. "It is a privilege to be a part of a firm that for more than 153 years has not only been counseling some of the world's top companies and organizations but has been at the forefront of providing pro bono services to those in need. I am confident that we will continue to successfully build on the firm's solid foundation."

For more information about Kilpatrick Townsend and its more than 620 attorneys, please visit: www.kilpatricktownsend.com.

Follow the firm on Twitter: @KTS_Law.

SOURCE Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP