King & Spalding announced today that Paul Watford, who served for 11 years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, has joined the firm’s Business Litigation practice group as a partner. He is based in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Watford served as a Ninth Circuit judge from 2012 to 2023. During his tenure on the court, he decided more than 2,000 appeals and drafted more than 600 dispositions. His published opinions addressed numerous areas of federal and state law, including arbitration, bankruptcy, class actions, constitutional, copyright, environmental, immigration, labor and employment, securities and tax.

Watford has also worked in private practice, most recently at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Previously, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, where he prosecuted a wide range of federal criminal cases in the Criminal Division, including complex white-collar criminal cases as a member of the Major Frauds Section.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Paul to the firm. Paul is a perfect fit for our collaborative culture, and his experience as a prosecutor, in private practice, and on the Court of Appeals brings a new dimension to the counsel we provide to our clients,” said Damien Marshall, co-leader of the firm’s Business Litigation practice group. “California is a significant market for King & Spalding and our litigation practice in particular, and Paul will be an important contributor to our continuing growth in the state and beyond.”

Watford earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California Berkeley and his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where he was an editor of the UCLA Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. After graduating from law school, Watford was a U.S. Supreme Court law clerk for Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, after previously clerking on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“King & Spalding has an impeccable litigation brand and a strong focus on collaboration and integration across practices that is very appealing to me,” said Watford. “I’m looking forward to helping the firm continue to build out its elite litigation practice and to be part of its growth story in California.”