Will Barnette

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT WILL BARNETTE

Will Barnette is a Partner on King & Spalding\'s Business Litigation team in Atlanta. His practice focuses on class actions, internal investigations and related regulatory matters, recovery matters, and appeals. Previously, he was Associate General Counsel for The Home Depot and was a member of the Company\'s Legal Senior Leadership Team. Mr. Barnette led the Company\'s Commercial Litigation team, which is responsible for The Home Depot\'s most significant commercial and business litigation. During his 21-year tenure, Mr. Barnette led the successful defense of over 250 class actions challenging all aspects of The Home Depot\'s business. Mr. Barnette also created a recovery project through which The Home Depot identified significant opportunities to participate in class settlements or pursue opt-out litigation, resulting in a number of lucrative recoveries for the Company. He also founded and co-chaired, with the Company\'s General Counsel, The Home Depot\'s Investigations Council. Mr. Barnette successfully managed a number of high profile investigations for the Company, including ones involving the DOJ, EPA, and multi-state Attorney General groups.Mr. Barnette is a thought leader on the defense side in complex and class litigation. He is one of the few in-house counsel to have argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, which he did in the 2019 term. Mr. Barnette has also argued and won before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Barnette is the author of seven law review articles and lectures frequently on all aspects of class action and complex litigation. His two most recent articles (Misunderstanding Original Jurisdiction and There is No Conservative Case for Class Actions) were both featured on Instapundit.com and ranked in the top ten Federal Courts and Jurisdiction downloads on SSRN. In addition, Mr. Barnette teaches Complex Litigation at the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law. In 2016, Mr. Barnette won the Atlanta Business Chronicle\'s Award for Advocacy and then, in 2024, he was selected as a Senior Fellow by the Litigation Counsel of America.Mr. Barnette is also a leader in his community, serving as the Board President for the Atlanta Legal Aid Society in 2020 and as an elder for his church, Morningside Presbyterian. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Georgians for Lawsuit Reform, which played a key role in ensuring passage of tort reform legislation in Georgia in 2025. Mr. Barnette played varsity college basketball at Sewanee.