King & Spalding today announced that Raphael Larson and Gary Adamson have joined the firm as partners on the Special Matters and Government Investigations team. As leading practitioners representing accounting and consulting firms and their professionals in high-stakes regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, the pair adds strength to the firm’s world-class Professional Liability practice. Larson will be based in the Washington, D.C., office and Adamson in the New York office. Larson and Adamson both join King & Spalding from McDermott Will & Emery.

Larson represents U.S. and international accounting firms and their professionals in regulatory and enforcement matters before the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and other regulatory and licensing bodies. Larson’s extraordinary expertise and depth of knowledge includes 12 years on the enforcement staff at the PCAOB, ultimately as Associate Director of Enforcement. He also has extensive experience in matters involving corporate governance, securities regulation, commercial and civil litigation, due diligence, and fraud. He earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center, and received his undergraduate degree with honors from Portland State University.

Adamson also represents U.S. and international accounting firms and their professionals in federal and state litigation, arbitrations, and regulatory investigations by the SEC, PCAOB, and state licensing authorities. He also represents clients in an array of complex commercial litigation disputes, such as breach of contract, civil RICO, fiduciary relationships, fraud, and fraudulent conveyance. Fluent in Spanish, Adamson has an additional specialty in Latin American investigations and enforcement actions. Adamson earned his JD from Cornell University. 

“Raphael and Gary are strategic hires for our firm’s renowned professional liability practice and will provide clients with unique insights into the enforcement process at the PCAOB and beyond,” said Zach Fardon, who leads King & Spalding’s Government Matters practice, which includes the Special Matters and Government Investigations team. “Both are well known to many of our partners and to mutual clients for the extraordinary quality of their counsel. We are confident they share the firm’s sense of collaboration and entrepreneurial spirit.”

“King & Spalding’s experience representing every type of accounting and consulting firm in the hardest cases, and the reach of its international platform, including Latin America, were appealing to us both,” Larson said. “We are excited to work with the K&S colleagues we have known for years, and to help grow the global Professional Liability practice.”