Macky O'Sullivan is a Partner in King & Spalding's Corporate, Finance and Investments practice, where he advises clients across a broad spectrum of investment funds, technology, and venture capital matters. He also serves as Co-Head of the firm's Africa practice.
Widely recognized for his legal expertise, Macky has been ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, Euromoney Expert Guides, and Who's Who Legal. He was named a Rising Star in Fintech by Law360, as part of its annual list of top legal talent under 40. He received the ‘Rising Star of the Year' Award at the Chambers Awards 2025, the ‘Rising Star – Lawyer of the Year' Award at the IFLR Middle East Awards 2020 and was honored as ‘Rising Star – Private Practice' by Legal Week at the Middle East Legal Awards 2020.
His commitment to inclusion and impact has also been recognized: he received the ‘Inclusion Advocacy Leader of the Year' Award at the Legal Benchmarking Group Social Impact Awards EMEA 2024, and the ‘Rising Star in Professional Services' Award at the Black British Business Awards 2019. He has also been featured by Yahoo Finance and EMpower as a Future Leader in their 2021 Future Leaders list.
Macky holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Intellectual Property Law from Oxford University, and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the London School of Economics.
FIRM PROFILE
Founded in 1885, King & Spalding has long combined legal excellence with a deep commitment to client service. The firm's growth over more than a century has mirrored the evolution of the industries it serves-rooted in a tradition of strategic counsel and a culture of personal engagement.
Today, King & Spalding advises many of the world's leading companies on complex business matters in over 160 countries. With a fully integrated platform of more than 1,300 lawyers across 25 offices worldwide, the firm delivers commercially focused legal solutions with an unwavering commitment to quality and client outcomes.
King & Spalding streamlines its legal advice to focus on what is essential to achieving its clients' business goals-delivering counsel efficiently and cost-effectively, without compromising quality.
As a Global 50 law firm, it has grown in step with the needs of its clients-offering cross-border capabilities and coordinated service across key global markets.
The firm's culture is defined by a pursuit of excellence and a dedication to service. Clients frequently highlight this culture as a differentiator-one that contributes directly to the firm's consistent results across offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
King & Spalding operates according to a clear set of client service principles, reflecting its outward-focused and solutions-driven approach. The firm is committed to delivering world-class work that addresses the most challenging business issues-holding itself to the highest standard and delivering with precision the first time, every time.
Recognizing the firm's commitment to excellence, in November 2023, The American Lawyer honored King & Spalding with three top awards at its annual American Lawyer Industry Awards, including "Best Law Firm of the Year".
DEAL REPORT:
King & Spalding advised e& (formerly Etisalat) on its participation in a landmark artificial intelligence joint venture with SK Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Singtel, and SoftBank Corp. The founding members have established the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA), a collaborative initiative to develop and launch multilingual Large Language Models (Telco LLMs) specifically designed for the telecommunications sector.
The joint venture involves equal investment from all founding parties and aims to enhance telco customer engagement through advanced AI applications. These applications will be tailored to the unique requirements of each party's market, collectively serving a global customer base of approximately 1.3 billion users across 50 countries. The Telco LLMs will support multiple languages, including Korean, English, German, Arabic, and Bahasa, among others. The formation and operation of the joint venture remain subject to customary regulatory approvals.
A cross-office King & Spalding team from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and London advised e& on the transaction. The team was led by Macky O'Sullivan, Nabil A. Issa, and Mohammed Basama, with support from Kim Roberts and Damien Bailey.
