Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland & Ellis, one of the world’s most elite law firms, is known for its corporate, intellectual property (IP), litigation, M&A, private equity, and restructuring work. With more than 4,000 lawyers, the firm is regularly recognized as one of the most successful in the world.

From Tribune to Trial

In 1909, fresh-faced attorneys Stuart Shepard and Robert McCormick struck up a partnership in Chicago. McCormick’s grandfather founded The Chicago Tribune, and McCormick left the firm in 1920 to become the paper’s publisher—a move that he used to send more business the firm’s way, tapping Kirkland trial lawyer Weymouth Kirkland to defend The Tribune in defamation suits. Kirkland soon eclipsed the firm founders as the face of the outfit, carving a legacy defined by his defense of newspapers in significant free speech and libel cases. As for the other half of the current firm’s nameplate, Howard Ellis came on board in 1915. Ellis was a champion of the “fair comment” defense, a privilege that protects published or spoken opinions directed at public officials and figures.

Tops at Trials and Transactions

Kirkland lawyers work across more than 60 practice areas. Some of the biggest names, including Abbott Laboratories, Ares Management, Bain Capital, Blackstone Group, BP, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dow Chemical, Eli Lilly, General Motors, KKR, Samsung, Uber, and Vista Equity Partners, call on the firm for help with their most complex issues.

Kirkland has a booming transactional practice. The firm is a private equity powerhouse—with more than 800 private equity firms among its client list—and is the No. 1 firm in Vault’s Private Equity rankings. The firm handles all aspects of deals, from fundraising to exits. Its M&A lawyers are among the best in the industry. Nestled among the top five firms in Vault’s M&A rankings, Kirkland advises on some of the biggest deals. The practice brings interdisciplinary experience, with lawyers from antitrust, executive compensation, finance, IP, regulatory, and tax groups collaborating with the M&A team.

The firm is also home to an all-star restructuring team that works in wide-ranging industries such as automotive, energy, entertainment, healthcare, manufacturing, media, real estate, retail, telecommunications, and transportation. The firm’s litigation department is a force as well. The firm has more than 1,000 litigators around the globe, handling everything from commercial litigation, consumer fraud and product liability, to securities litigation and so much more.

Colleagues for Life

Lawyers who retire or pursue outside opportunities in business or with clients are considered “colleagues for life.” The firm’s career support program CareerLink—which was recognized by the Financial Times with the North America Innovative Lawyers Awards—provides the firm’s lawyers and qualifying alumni access to one-on-one, confidential career coaching. CareerLink also provides job-searching tools for those looking to exit, including search strategy guidance, a job board, resume and interview support, and offer negotiation tools. Eligible alumni also have access to a comprehensive directory, networking events, and CLE and PLI opportunities.

• A Kirkland litigation team devoted 38,000 pro bono hours to a 12-year case for Maryland’s HBCUs, resulting in a landmark $577 million settlement and remedial plan to help dismantle vestiges of segregation in the state’s higher education system and develop new programming.
• Kirkland’s renowned litigators win hundreds of high-stakes matters every year, such as two multibillion-dollar judgments for Dow Chemical, two multidistrict litigation wins for Eli Lilly, and a precedent-setting win for Abbott in a false labeling class action.
• Kirkland leads many cutting-edge transactions, including advising PIF, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners on the $55 billion acquisition of video game company EA—the largest leveraged buyout in history—and AI Infrastructure Partnership, GIP, and MGX on the $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers.
• Kirkland’s restructuring team, which routinely tops industry league tables, had nearly twice as many company-side engagements as the next-closest law firm in 2025, including a precedent-setting liability management transaction for Warner Bros. Discovery in June that earned the firm the Innovative Lawyers in Restructuring award from the Financial Times.

• America's Greatest Workplaces, 2025—Newsweek
• Firms of the Year, 2025—Law360
• Best Companies to Work For: Law Firms, 2025—U.S. News & World Report
• America's Top Law Firms of 2024—TIME and Statista
• Prestige Leaders, 2025; Most Desirable Firm to Summer At (as ranked by summer associates), 2022-2025—Law360