King & Spalding’s prior legal work for WhatsApp Inc. should not disqualify the firm from representing an adversary that was sued by the popular text messaging service in California federal court, lawyers for the firm told a judge Friday.

WhatsApp, represented by Cooley LLP, sued King & Spalding client NSO Group Technologies last year over claims the Israeli cybertechnology company exploited the messaging platform in an effort to gain unauthorized access to user communication. NSO has denied the allegations.