Kirkland & Ellis

London office at 30 St Mary Axe, popularly known as the Gherkin

In 1909, two attorneys, Stuart G. Shepard and Robert R. McCormick, formed the Chicago-based partnership that would eventually become Kirkland & Ellis. McCormick was the grandson of Joseph Medill, the founder of the Chicago Tribune. By 1920, McCormick left the firm to take over as the publisher of the Tribune.

Weymouth Kirkland and his associate Howard Ellis joined the firm in 1915. Kirkland served as chief counsel to the Tribune and other newspapers in various free speech and defamation cases, including Near v. Minnesota. In 1938, Kirkland and Ellis hired young trial lawyer Hammond Chaffetz from the U.S. Department of Justice. Chaffetz spent six decades with the firm, during which it grew to about 780 lawyers, making it one of the 30 largest in the country.[6] As of 2017, Kirkland has 13 offices internationally.[7]

New York office at 601 Lexington Avenue

According to a 2016 study, which evaluated the political ideology of the top 20 American law firms, Kirkland & Ellis was among the most conservative.[8]

The American Lawyer ranked Kirkland as the 2018 Law Firm of the Year.[9] "Mergers & Acquisitions" ranked Kirkland as the 2019 Law Firm of the year for advising on 400 U.S. based-deals (more than twice as the firmed ranked second) and for advising on the largest number of global deals, in each case, in 2019. [10] As of 2020 Kirkland is the largest law firm in the US in terms of gross revenue, with US$4.16 billion in revenue, with an estimated profit per equity partner of US$5.20 million. [11] Kirkland was ranked second in the 2017 ATL Power 100 law firm rankings.[12] Vault ranks Kirkland as the most prestigious firm in Chicago and the number-one firm in the U.S. for private equity, restructuring and business outlook.[13]

• Bristol-Myers Squibb in its US$90 billion acquisition of Celgene, the largest biopharmaceutical deal in history by terms of transaction value. [14]
• GLP in its sale of its U.S. Logistics Business to Blackstone for US$18.7 billion, the largest ever private real estate transaction globally in terms of transaction value. [15]
• BP in relation to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill;[16] secured a summary judgment ruling in favor of BP that it had no duty to report the Deepwater Horizon oil spill under the U.S. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
• Volkswagen in relation to the Volkswagen emissions scandal[17]
• General Motors in relation to the General Motors ignition switch scandal[18]
• Defended Nike, Inc. against trademark infringement claims regarding the Jumpman logo, protecting $2 billion in annual business for the company[18]
• AbbVie Inc., a pharmaceutical giant in a royalty dispute with MedImmune; won a $93.8 million jury award [18]
• MedTronic in a patent suit win against Atlas IP, LLC[18]
• Miller UK Ltd., scored a $73.6 million trade secrets misappropriation jury award against Caterpillar Inc.[19]
• Jeffrey Epstein in a case of sex-trafficking with minors; gained a reduced charge plea bargain and limited penalties[20]
• Toys R Us restructuring[21]

• A group of major investors in the international fishmeal industry, in connection with their claims against China Fishery.[22]

• Brett Kavanaugh – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States[23]
• Neil Eggleston – former White House Counsel under President Barack Obama[24]
• Dan Bress – Associate Justice on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit[25]
• Robert Bork – former Judge of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and former Solicitor General under President Richard Nixon[26]
• Jeff Wall – Principal Deputy Solicitor General under President Donald J. Trump and former acting Solicitor General[27]
• Paul Clement – former Solicitor General under President George W. Bush[28]
• Ken Starr – Whitewater special prosecutor and former Solicitor General under President George H. W. Bush[29]
• William Barr – 85th United States Attorney General under President Donald Trump and former 77th United States Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush.[30]
• Pat Cipollone – White House Counsel under President Donald Trump[24]
• Alex Azar – Secretary of Health and Human Services[31]
• Alexander Acosta – former Secretary of Labor under President Donald Trump[32]
• John R. Bolton – former National Security Advisor under President Donald Trump[33]
• Jeffrey A. Rosen – Deputy Secretary of Transportation and Deputy Attorney General[34]
• Nathan Sales – Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Acting Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights[35]
• Mark Filip – former Judge of the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and former Deputy Attorney General under President George W. Bush [36]
• Viet D. Dinh – Chief Legal Officer at 21st Century Fox,[37] former Assistant Attorney General under President George W. Bush and chief architect of the USA PATRIOT Act[38]
• Robert S. Khuzami – Deputy United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,[39] former Director of the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission and former General Counsel of Deutsche Bank[40]
• Jay Lefkowitz – former Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea and Director of Cabinet Affairs under President George W. Bush [23][41]
• Dallin H. Oaks – First Counselor of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[42]

The firm has endowed professorships in its name at four law schools: Harvard Law School,[43] Northwestern University School of Law,[44] University of Michigan Law School,[45][46] and University of Chicago Law School.[47]

• Stewart, James (1983). The Partners: Inside America's Most Powerful Law Firms. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-42023-2.

• Firm website