Founded in 1957, the Charlotte office of K&L Gates is one of the city’s largest law offices.  It has a long history of serving industries such as banking and finance, real estate, health care, technology, manufacturing and the services sector.

The Charlotte office has established one of the premier real estate groups in the Southeast.  Experienced in all phases of real estate development, our attorneys represent national, regional and local clients in all areas of real estate, including development, finance, leasing, joint ventures, public/private developments, environmental, land use, and zoning, as well as acquisitions, mixed-use/planned development matters, and real estate-related litigation.  We have handled high-profile complex matters for clients on development projects such as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena, the City of Charlotte ’s successful bid for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and the $125 million museum and cultural facilities being developed by Wells Fargo and the City of Charlotte.  Our real estate attorneys represent clients not only in the Southeast but also in other major markets across the United States. We have 21 LEED-AP certified attorneys in the Charlotte office.

Our corporate lawyers provide comprehensive legal services to clients of all sizes at all stages of development and in many industry sectors.   Our attorneys emphasize integrated team-focused client service (including tax, employee benefits, employment law, estate planning, immigration and other services).  In our mergers and acquisitions practice, we help clients buy and sell businesses in a wide range of transactions, from sales of family businesses to mergers involving large public companies.  Our private equity and mezzanine finance practice in Charlotte is one of the most active in the Southeast.  Our clients include leading firms in the Carolinas, as well as firms and funds based throughout the United States and foreign investors.  Our securities lawyers have a wide range of experience in securities and capital market transactions, including representing issuers, underwriters, selling shareholders, and purchasers in public and private offerings of securities.  In addition, our lawyers represent banks and other lenders as well as borrowers in various commercial finance transactions, including secured and unsecured loans, asset-based lending, syndicated facilities, securitizations and other structured finance transactions.  Our lawyers represent leading underwriters in Ginnie Mae, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage-based securities issuances.

Lawyers in our Charlotte office represent some of the largest employers in the region, many with workforces located throughout the United States and countries abroad, helping them design, document, communicate, and administer all types of qualified retirement plans, nonqualified retirement and deferred compensation plans, incentive and equity compensation plans, and medical, disability, and severance plans. We provide advice in connection with mergers and acquisitions, executive agreements, benefits issues in connection with executive severance and broad-based workforce reductions, IRS, DOL, PBGC, SEC, and CMS regulatory matters, ERISA fiduciary conduct, and in defending ERISA-based litigation.  Our employee benefits lawyers have worked with companies to freeze or terminate defined benefit plans, implement consumer-driven health care plans, and assess the impact of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code on existing and new executive employment arrangements.  We have helped private companies and companies in transition design and implement all types of employee benefit programs.

Intellectual property lawyers in our Charlotte office are registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office and provide patent, trademark and copyright services to clients ranging from large international corporations to regional companies.  These lawyers also negotiate complex technology transactions and software licensing arrangements and provide legal counsel regarding e-commerce and Internet issues.  In 2009 our Firm tied for first in Corporate Counsel magazine’s list of “go to” firms used for intellectual property matters by America ’s largest companies and was ranked #2 in IP Today’s survey of top trademark firms.

Our tax lawyers in Charlotte support our other practices and serve clients with specific tax issues, including tax controversies.  Our estate lawyers assist our clients in planning for and implementing wealth transfers, often as part of strategic business planning for family-owned businesses, as well as estate administration.  They also provide counsel on tax-exempt organizations (including private foundations, supporting organizations and donor advised funds) and charitable giving.

The litigators in the Charlotte office handle complex litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country, as well as arbitration, mediation, and other alternative dispute resolution.  The office's litigation group has extensive experience in financial services litigation, complex business disputes, and employment law matters, intellectual property matters, and real estate disputes.  They have successfully managed a wide range of disputes, including commercial and contractual disputes of all descriptions, class action litigation, products liability and warranty litigation, pension fund and ERISA litigation, securities litigation, lender liability and other financial institution litigation matters, employment litigation, construction litigation, environmental litigation, trademark, copyright and patent matters, defense of catastrophic tort cases, significant personal injury matters for plaintiffs, professional liability litigation, including representation of professionals in disciplinary proceedings, and white collar criminal defense.  Our litigators also regularly conduct internal investigations for many of the firm's clients in advance of litigation being filed.  Several of our litigation partners are regularly called upon to serve as arbitrators and mediators in disputes of all types.

The Charlotte office's financial restructuring practice is predominantly a creditor-oriented practice, involving consensual loan restructuring and workout transactions, non judicial and judicial enforcement actions, and representation of creditor entities and committees in business bankruptcy cases, both in local and national jurisdictions.  Charlotte restructuring lawyers are engaged in a wide range of restructuring activities involving senior and mezzanine debt, equity investments, and a number of other financing and investment transactions.  The financial restructuring lawyers also regularly represent landlords with tenants in bankruptcy and business clients in bankruptcy M&A transactions, whereby clients seek to purchase assets or businesses of insolvent entities, both before and during bankruptcy.  Lawyers in the Charlotte office also regularly represent a major global contractor in a wide range of owner and subcontractor insolvency matters.

In addition, we have lawyers licensed in South Carolina.  We serve the needs of South Carolina clients through our branch office in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and our South Carolina-licensed attorneys focus on real estate, employment law and corporate services.