l gates headquarters k & l gates center pittsburgh 1 no . of offices 46 no . of attorneys over 2000 major practice areas general practice key people peter kalis chairman date founded 1883 seattle u.s.a. company type limited liability partnership website www.klgates.com k & l gates llp is a us based international law firm with offices in asia australia europe the middle east south america and the united states . 2 measured by headcount it is the 8th largest law firm in the united states 3 and the 11th largest among law firms worldwide . 4 the firm delivers legal services at both an individual office level and through nine broad firmwide practice areas corporate and transactional ; energy infrastructure and resources ; finance ; financial services ; intellectual property ; labor employment and workplace safety ; litigation and dispute resolution ; real estate ; and regulatory and policy each of which also include a number of subject matter and industry based practice groups . 5 contents 1 corporate governance 2 history 3 political contributions 4 notable lawyers and alumni 5 references 6 external links corporate governance edit as of 2016 update the chairman and global managing partner of the firm is peter kalis . 6 he has held that position since 1997 . 7 in 2013 kalis was named both one of the top legal innovators of the past 50 years by the american lawyer magazine 8 and among the legal industry s most innovative and groundbreaking thinkers on the national law journal s inaugural list of top 50 legal business trailblazers & pioneers 9 history edit 1858 london based nicholson graham & jones ltd is founded 1883 preston gates & ellis is founded in seattle 10 emerging out of the private law offices of harold preston . 1946 pittsburgh based kirkpatrick & lockhart is founded 2005 kirkpatrick & lockhart and nicholson graham merge to become kirkpatrick & lockhart nicholson graham 2007 on january 1 k & l gates is formed in a merger between kirkpatrick & lockhart nicholson graham and preston gates & ellis to form kirkpatrick & lockhart preston gates ellis . 11 the name was later shortened to k & l gates . 2008 in january k & l gates combined with hughes & luce a dallas based firm of 150 attorneys with offices in austin dallas and fort worth 2008 in july k & l gates combined with kennedy covington lobdell & hickman llp a north carolina based firm of 200 attorneys with offices in charlotte raleigh and research triangle park . 12 march 1 2009 k & l gates merged with bell boyd & lloyd a chicago based firm with approximately 215 attorneys with offices in chicago san diego and washington d.c. 2013 k & l gates combined with australian national firm middletons with offices in melbourne sydney perth and brisbane political contributions edit according to the center for responsive politics k & l gates was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle donating 1.29 million 52 % to democrats . 13 by comparison during that same period akin gump strauss hauer & feld donated 2.56 million 66 % to democrats 13 while oil conglomerate exxonmobil donated 2.66 million 88 % to republicans . 14 since 1990 k & l gates contributed 10.26 million to federal campaigns and spent 1.25 million on lobbying since 1999 . 15 notable lawyers and alumni edit dick thornburgh former attorney general of the united states and two term governor of pennsylvania 16 17 18 bart gordon former twelve term u.s. congressman slade gorton former two term u.s. senator 19 20 charles j. queenan jr. chairman emeritus of firm ; served as firm chairman from 1975 to 1990 2014 recipient of lifetime achievement award from the american lawyer . 21 peter j. kalis current chairman and global managing partner craig w. budner current global integration and strategic growth partner former administrative partner of dallas and houston offices william h. gates sr attorney and philanthropist . one of the founders of preston gates & ellis 22 which merged to become k & l gates bill neukom former american bar association president and managing partner of the san francisco giants 23 michael s. greco former american bar association president 24 michael c. ormsby u.s. attorney for the eastern district of washington jack abramoff former lobbyist writer 25 26 eric schneiderman the current new york attorney general 27 rick santorum former two term u.s. representative former two term u.s. senator and 2012 republican presidential candidate 28 29 pittsburgh portal references edit 1 http www.klgates.com places the nlj 250 our annual survey . the national law journal . alm media properties llc . retrieved 24 may 2012 . the 2011 global 100 most lawyers . the american lawyer . alm media properties llc . retrieved 24 may 2012 . http www.klgates.com aboutus xpqgc.aspx xpst aboutusgeneral & key ec9cb923 6322 4cc9 838c bda359f6626e & activeentry 7cc28745 1d6a 44fc 8d41 33be565591ac smith jennifer 2012 12 10 with cross border mergers law firms enter arms race the wall street journal paper format requires url help p. b1 ; b6 kalis elected to fifth terms as head of k & l gates pittsburgh post gazette sept. 25 2012 http www.post gazette.com stories business news kalis elected to fifth terms as head of kl gates 654825 http www.bizjournals.com pittsburgh news 2013 07 30 peter kalis among top 50 innovators.html http pdfserver.amlaw.com nlj lbtp2013web.pdf riggio jim 3 november 2005 . former congressman judge james rogan joins orange county firm . metropolitan news enterprise . retrieved 24 may 2012 . james andrea 14 december 2006 . preston gates & ellis oks merger . seattle pi . retrieved 24 may 2012 . press release from k & l gates a b lawyers & lobbyists top contributors to federal candidates parties and outside groups . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . energy natural resources top contributors to federal candidates parties and outside groups . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . retrieved 9 june 2016 . organizations k & l gates . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . retrieved 9 june 2016 . thornburgh shares lessons from three mile island crisis k & l gates people dick thornburgh testimony of dick thornburgh former attorney general of the united states counsel k & l gates llp congress is on a health reform path that will raise premiums k & l gates people k & l gates http www.americanlawyer.com id 1202667573523 lifetime achiever charles queenan jr http support.wilsoncenter.org page.aspx pid 429 aba journal aba president to replace magowan as managing partner of san francisco giants k & l gates people michael s. greco nelson robert t. january 27 1995 . democratic firm learns to do business with new congress . the seattle times . postman david ; bernton hal 2006 02 07 . how scheming lobbyist operated in seattle firm . the seattle times . retrieved 2012 08 26 . eric schneiderman 10 things you didn t know about rick santorum 9 things you need to know about rick santorum external links edit buzzfile profile post gazette interview with chairman and global managing partner peter kalis post gazette article george sodini post gazette news of kalis being re elected business times article on peter kalis retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title k % 26l gates & oldid 743626875 categories law firms established in 2007law firms based in pittsburghforeign law firms with offices in hong kongforeign law firms with offices in japanamerican companies established in 2007hidden categories pages using citations with format and no urlarticles containing potentially dated statements from 2016all articles containing potentially dated statements navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 13 09 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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