Anti-consumerist gospel group to perform exorcism on global firm King & Spalding

The London office of King & Spalding is set to receive a public 'exorcism' today from a New York-based radical performance group angered by the firm's involvement in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) litigation.

The international firm has represented several multinational corporations in cases against national governments through the 'investor protection' mechanism which has become increasingly controversial as a result of the proposed TTIP being negotiated between the US and EU.

Under TTIP, the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) would allow corporations to sue governments for introducing legislation or policies that were harmful to corporate profits.

King & Spalding has assisted numerous corporate clients in a series of bilateral trade deals. These have included Enron and Mobil against the Argentinian government, as well as Chevron and Texaco against the Ecuadorian government.

The firm has also recently been representing Veolia in a case against Egypt for increasing the minimum wage from 400 to 700 Egyptian pounds (£34 to £59).

The protest will involve US-based performance activists Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. The group describes itself as 'wild anti-consumerist gospel shouters and Earth loving urban activists who have worked with communities all over the world defending community, life and imagination'.

Reverend Billy is to deliver a sermon relating to the 'huge corporate power grab' that ISDS would generate under TTIP, before performing a stylised 'exorcism' of corporate power on King & Spalding's London office.

Guy Taylor, the trade campaigner from Global Justice Now, which co-organised the protest, commented: 'King & Spalding have represented countless corporate clients in suing governments for making decisions that have benefited workers' rights, public services, or protected the environment.

'The controversial EU-USA trade deal TTIP would massively ramp up the ability of corporations to carry out court cases like this. Governments would start implementing legislation on the basis of whether they were safe from litigious corporations rather than whether it was beneficial to ordinary people. And law firms like King & Spalding would make a fortune through representing even more corporate clients in all the additional court cases.'

In January 2015, the EU's public consultation on ISDS revealed of the 149,399 responses 97 per cent of people voiced either a general rejection of TTIP or opposition to ISDS in TTIP.

Last week it was revealed that half of the EU parliamentary committees that had discussed TTIP were against the inclusion of ISDS in the deal.

King & Spalding have yet to respond to a request for comment.

John van der Luit-Drummond is deputy editor for Solicitors Journal
john.vanderluit@solicitorsjournal.co.uk | @JvdLD