Kirkland & Ellis International LLP

Kirkland & Ellis Profile & Stats

Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis employs more than 1,500 lawyers, ranked seventh for average profit per partner in the US in 2010, was ranked in the top 10 of the Legal Business Global 100 in 2011, and is amongst the world’s top-grossing law firms. Kirkland has cemented its status and global position through its four core areas of expertise: corporate and tax, intellectual property, litigation, and restructuring. In the City, the firm’s office in the Gherkin is home to approximately 120 lawyers.

Kirkland & Ellis was founded in 1909 by Stuart Shepard and Robert McCormick. As the grandson of the founder of the Chicago Tribune, McCormick eventually left the firm to become the newspaper’s publisher. However, as a result of his outspoken editorial policy, he soon required a defamation defence team – in steps the eponymous Weymouth Kirkland, who had joined the firm in 1915. Together with a young associate, Howard Ellis, the duo played parts in many prominent trials, setting the firm on course to become one of the most powerful litigation practices in the US.

In the ‘90s, Kirkland’s largest private equity clients, the likes of Bain Capital and Madison Dearborn, were starting to invest their vast chests in assets on the continent – setting up their own London offices and European funds. So in 1994, Kirkland & Ellis followed them to the City to assist in structuring their investments. Even before the firm added UK law capability to its London practice in 2001, Kirkland would advise these American institutions on their deals, calling on local lawyers to help out where necessary. Additional offices followed, with the firm opening its second European office in 2004 in Munich, and expanding to Asia with a Hong Kong office just two years later, before cracking the bubbly again in Shanghai in 2009.

Half of Kirkland’s lawyers are litigators, so it probably shouldn’t come as any great surprise that their work accounts for half of the firm’s revenue. Kirkland is known for its doggedly aggressive approach, and while settlement is always an option, this is a firm that is ready, eager and confident to go to trial. The firm boasts an impressive private equity practice, with some 300 lawyers practising in the US alone. And while the firm’s M&A practice may get overshadowed by the renowned PE team, it doesn’t invalidate the fact that it does top-notch work. Some of Kirkland’s high-profile clients include Bain Capital, Motorola and General Motors.

In 1982, the firm established the Kirkland & Ellis Foundation, for the purpose of providing financial support to not-for-profit, charitable and law-related organisations – serving a wide range of communities, initiatives and people. Although focussing predominantly on groups that help improve legal services, the foundation actively seeks to partner with organisations committed to enhancing quality of life – through improved health care, educational opportunities, cultural awareness, emergency relief and humanitarian efforts, youth programs, public policy and community outreaches.

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