- Number of partners: : 729
- Number of other lawyers: 875
- International Offices: China, Germany, Hong Kong, United Kingdom
Firm Overview:
Kirkland & Ellis has a 100-year history of providing exceptional service to clients around the world in complex corporate, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, restructuring, tax and counseling matters.
Main Areas of Practice:
Kirkland is a full-service law firm focusing in the following core practice areas:
Corporate:
Kirkland’s corporate lawyers cover the full spectrum of corporate transactions important to businesses in today’s global marketplace. Because of the firm’s consistently high volume of complex transactional engagements, it has developed a broad vision of the issues that confront business organizations and an aptitude for developing novel, creative and constructive solutions. Kirkland’s emphasis on teamwork allows it to synthesize the specialty areas needed to support a top-tier transactional practice for the benefit of its clients. For two years in a row, Chambers and Partners named Kirkland as ‘Private Equity Law Firm of the Year’. In 2010, Kirkland’s Private Funds Group was recognized with an Award for Excellence from Chambers and Partners. In mergermarket’s League Tables of Legal Advisers to Global M&A – Year End, 2011, Kirkland was ranked No. 1 for Global Buyouts by Volume and No.1 for US M&A by Volume. The firm was also one of the five selected M&A and Private Equity ‘2011 Practice Groups of the Year’ by Law360.
Intellectual Property:
Kirkland’s Intellectual Property Practice Group is one of the oldest such practices in a full-service firm in the country, having been an integral part of Kirkland since 1925. Located in the firm’s Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Washington, DC offices, Kirkland has more than 270 intellectual property lawyers who are experienced in a variety of technical disciplines and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Kirkland’s lawyers have been recognized for their experience in litigation, transactions, counseling and administrative matters involving all areas of intellectual property. In 2008, Kirkland was named one of three finalists in The American Lawyer’s ‘IP Litigation Department of the Year’ survey. In 2009, Kirkland’s IP Group was recognized with an Award for Excellence in the IP Litigation Team category by Chambers and Partners. Kirkland was one of five selected IP ‘2011 Practice Groups of the Year’ by Law360.
Litigation & Arbitration:
Kirkland litigators expect – and are expected – to try cases. The firm believes that the best litigation results happen when the lawyers and client form a team that assumes it will try the case. Because of this trial-ready philosophy, the firm is able to offer clients a deep bench of lawyers who have been taking cases to verdict since the early stages of their careers. Whether in the courtroom, at the bargaining table, or by helping clients avoid risks without litigation, Kirkland has a long and proven track record of generating successful results for clients in their most high-stakes cases. In 2011, for the 10th consecutive year, Kirkland was named a ‘go-to’ firm for litigation in the Corporate Counsel survey ‘Who Represents America’s Biggest Companies?’. Kirkland was named as a 2010 finalist and 2008 winner of The American Lawyer ‘Litigation Department of the Year’ competition.
Real Estate:
The members of the Real Estate Practice Group pursue an interdisciplinary approach to sophisticated real estate transactions to offer clients flexible and creative solutions to difficult problems across a broad range of transactions in the commercial real estate industry. In the summer of 2011, Kirkland recruited 10 seasoned real estate partners in New York and Chicago to add depth and breadth to several areas that involve important aspects of the real estate market, including joint ventures, complex debt restructurings, workouts and equity recapitalizations, fund formation, first mortgage and mortgage financings, capital markets and tax, in addition to core real estate transactional and development work. Kirkland was one of five selected Real Estate ‘2011 Practice Groups of the Year’ by Law360.
Restructuring:
By combining sophisticated business advisory and crisis management skills with extensive experience in domestic and international insolvency matters, Kirkland’s Restructuring Practice Group navigates clients through the turmoil of situations involving financially troubled companies. The firm has earned a distinguished reputation by achieving positive results for a wide range of global clients in complex corporate restructuring, workout and bankruptcy planning, negotiation and litigation. The practice was named second in ‘best in practice’ in the 2012 Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms and was one of five selected Restructuring ‘2011 Practice Groups of the Year’ by Law360.
Tax, Benefits & Estate Planning:
The firm’s Tax Practice Group has handled an array of matters for clients in the courtroom and the boardroom, with proven results in the fund formation, merger and acquisition, and tax litigation arenas. Kirkland’s employee benefits lawyers provide traditional employee benefits counseling and creative approaches to issues arising in the transactional, posttransactional and restructuring settings. Through the firm’s trusts and estates lawyers, individual and corporate fiduciaries receive counsel in connection with the preservation, management and transfer of wealth. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, Kirkland was honored as Chicago Tax Firm of the Year, and in 2011 as the North American Private Equity Firm of the Year at the International Tax Review’s Americas Tax Awards.
Kirkland also has lawyers with significant experience in the areas of antitrust and competition, regulatory, and white-collar criminal defense and securities enforcement.