Partner, King & Spalding PLLC
Will Barnette is a partner in the Atlanta office of King & Spalding, where he is a member of the firm’s business litigation practice and class action defense group. During his 30-year career, Will has consistently led clients to successful outcomes in their most sensitive and high exposure class action, MDL, and related regulatory matters. From litigating high-stakes tobacco class actions at the turn of the century, to defending massive data breach litigation in the last decade, and winning several lucrative antitrust opt-out settlements more recently, Will has played a key role in much of the leading complex litigation of the era and led clients to tremendous success on both sides of the “v.” In particular, he has deep experience in litigating consumer, products, and antitrust class actions, commercial disputes, and managing internal investigations.
Prior to rejoining King & Spalding, where he worked earlier in his career, Will served as Associate General Counsel for The Home Depot and was a member of the company’s Legal Senior Leadership Team. As leader of The Home Depot’s commercial litigation team for more than ten years, he was responsible for the company’s most significant commercial and business litigation, which frequently challenged core aspects of the company’s business. During his 21-year tenure with The Home Depot, Will led the successful defense of several hundred class actions, created and led the company’s recovery litigation program, and successfully managed multiple high-profile investigations and favorably resolved significant related regulatory matters, including with the United States Department of Justice, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and multi-state Attorney General groups.
A recognized thought leader in complex litigation, Will argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2019 term—one of the few in-house counsel to do so. He received the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Corporate Counsel Award for Advocacy in 2016 and has authored seven law review articles. His recent works, Misunderstanding Original Jurisdiction and There Is No Conservative Case for Class Actions, ranked among the top SSRN downloads in Federal Courts and Jurisdiction. He frequently lectures on class actions, MDL litigation, and internal investigations, and teaches Complex Litigation at the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law, where he earned the Harold C. Warner Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award in 2025.
Will chairs the Board of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform, which was instrumental in passing Georgia’s 2025 tort reform legislation. He also serves as Chair of the Class Actions Section for the State Bar of Georgia and is a former President of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. Will played varsity college basketball at Sewanee.
Wendy Keefer is an attorney at Barnwell, Whaley, Patterson, and Helms in Charleston, SC.
Legal Director & General Counsel, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
Kent S. Scheidegger has been the Legal Director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation since December 1986. He also served as Chairman of the Criminal Law Practice Group of the Federalist Society 2003 to 2005. His articles on criminal and constitutional law have been published in law reviews, national legal publications, and congressional reports. Legal arguments authored by Mr. Scheidegger have been cited and incorporated in several precedent-setting United States Supreme Court decisions.
After receiving a degree in physics with honors from New Mexico State University in 1976, Mr. Scheidegger served for six years in the United States Air Force as a Nuclear Research Officer. He took his law degree with distinction from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1982 and practiced civil law in Northern California. He was general counsel of California Cooler, Inc. from 1984 until 1986, when he joined the Foundation.
Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP
Mass Torts in Mississippi
Paige Jones, Terry Williamson
Introduction The landscape for the litigation of mass tort claims in Mississippi has undergone a...
The Run for the Roses Meets the First Amendment: An Overview of Desormeaux v. Kentucky Racing Commission
William P. Barnette
In addition to an upset winner and nationwide sensation in Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky...
New Limit on Punitive Damages? A Look At State Farm v. Campbell
Wendy Keefer
In April of 2003, the United States Supreme Court again undertook to define what limits...
Bar Watch Bulletin June 2004
--ABA President Dennis Archer, in remarks to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Open Judicial...
Bar Watch Bulletin January 2004
--The American Bar Association Midyear Meetings are scheduled from February 5-10 in San Antonio. Once...
Money Laundering and Terrorism: A Failed Past and a Bleak Future
John Pickering
By: John PickeringNow more than ever, national security requires that the people of the United...
The ABA and Criminal Justice Issues
INTRODUCTION In 1996, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies launched fifteen legal...
ABA Death Penalty Resolution
Kent Scheidegger
On February 3, the American Bar Association adopted a resolution calling for a moratorium on...
A Practitioner's View of Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. Federal Election Commission
Charles H. Bell
The Supreme Court decision in Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee v. Federal Election Commission may...