Kirkland & Ellis

What Kirkland & Ellis does

Kirkland & Ellis is the world's largest law firm by revenue and a privately held limited liability partnership founded in 1909 in Chicago. In 2025 the firm became the first to surpass $10 billion in annual revenue ($10.6B disclosed) and reported record average equity partner pay of $11.1 million, up 20% year-over-year. The firm operates 24 offices across the United States, Europe (London, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Brussels), and Asia (Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Riyadh), and serves more than 800 private equity clients globally alongside large corporations, financial institutions, and government entities. Practice leadership includes #1 global rankings in private equity transactions by deal value and in M&A by deal volume and count (Bloomberg, Mergermarket FY2024), 47 Chambers USA Band 1 rankings, and representation of 84% of preeminent global PE firms.

The firm's core products are full-service legal offerings organized around high-end transactional and contentious work: M&A, private equity fund formation and secondaries, capital markets, restructuring and liability management, securities and commercial litigation, antitrust, tax, intellectual property, and a recently integrated Real Assets Practice Group covering real estate, infrastructure, energy, and mining with more than 600 lawyers. Underlying technology is anchored by a multi-year partnership with Palantir to deploy a proprietary AI platform across the 1,000+ lawyer Investment Funds Group for fundraising documentation, investor solutions, and compliance workflows, backed by approximately $500 million of investment and supported by on-premise GPU infrastructure and fine-tuned open-source LLMs; an earlier internal tool, SideTrack (2023), already automated work for investment fund attorneys.

The business model is professional services billing on hourly rates (with alternative fee arrangements available), delivered through a partner-led enterprise go-to-market motion. Senior partners lead direct client relationships with no resellers or intermediated channels, supported by cross-practice teams. Customer concentration is greatest in private equity — Blackstone, Clearlake Capital, Align Capital, Reverence Capital, and others are repeat named clients — but is balanced by corporate and restructuring work for large industrials and technology companies. The firm is privately held by its equity partners under a lockstep compensation model, has no parent company, and is not publicly traded.

Name

Kirkland & Ellis

Legal name

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Website

https://kirkland.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1909

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Kirkland & Ellis is the world's largest law firm by revenue ($10.6B in 2025), serving 800+ private equity firms and large corporations globally through 24 offices and 5,001–10,000 employees. It leads global PE transactions and M&A by deal value and count, and is investing $500M in a Palantir-built AI platform for its 1,000+ lawyer Investment Funds Group.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Corporate Legal Services

NAICS

Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (523)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Equity Capital Advisory (Private Equity Placements, Growth Capital) (BPAHAOAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Real Estate M&A / Joint Venture Advisory (Platform Deals, Partnerships) (BPAJANAF), Litigation Support & Expert Witness (Valuation-Related) (BPAHANAG)

Keywords

• Corporate legal services
• Private equity transactions
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Restructuring advisory
• Investment fund formation

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices23 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Transactional: Hourly billing for legal services including M&A, private equity transactions, capital markets, restructuring, and litigation matters. The firm has historically operated on traditional billable hour model with rates varying by practice area and seniority.
2. Legal Services - Alternative Fee Arrangements: Project-based pricing arrangements mentioned in context of AI platform potentially shifting parts of legal service billing from traditional hourly rates toward project-based pricing models.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Kirkland & Ellis is a full-service global law firm providing corporate legal counsel across private equity, M&A, investment fund formation, restructuring, capital markets, litigation, antitrust, intellectual property, tax, and real assets. The firm serves more than 800 private equity clients and major corporations worldwide through 24 offices, delivering integrated advice on complex, high-value transactions. Kirkland is also investing approximately $500 million in a proprietary AI platform developed with Palantir to automate private equity fundraising workflows.

Product overview

Kirkland & Ellis is a full-service law firm offering a comprehensive portfolio of legal services across multiple practice areas. The firm has made a significant investment in proprietary AI technology, developing an AI-powered platform for private equity fundraising built on Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform, alongside its previously developed SideTrack tool for investment fund attorneys. The firm's integrated Real Assets Practice Group unifies real estate, infrastructure, and energy practices. Services span M&A, capital markets, restructuring, private equity, real estate, intellectual property, litigation, tax, derivatives, and specialized AI-powered legal technology solutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI-Powered Private Equity Fundraising Platform Proprietary enterprise AI platform built on Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform to modernize private equity fundraising, centralize institutional knowledge across 1,000+ Investment Funds lawyers, and streamline fund formation, documentation, investor solutions, and compliance workflows.
• SideTrack Internal technology tool developed in 2023 that streamlines work for investment fund attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis, representing the firm's track record in building proprietary legal technology.
• Real Assets Practice Group Integrated platform combining real estate, infrastructure, energy and minerals/mining practices with more than 600 lawyers, providing coordinated advice on capital raising, structuring, financing, development and governance across digital infrastructure, power generation, logistics, mining and real estate private equity.

Quantifiable outcome

• $500 billion+ capital raised or targeted for clients in 2025
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Palantir TechnologiesflagshipTechnology or Integration · 4 June 2026Multi-year partnership to develop proprietary AI-powered enterprise platform for private equity fundraising, built on Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform. The platform centralizes institutional knowledge, streamlines fund documentation, investor solutions, and compliance across the entire fundraising lifecycle for Kirkland's Investment Funds Group of 1,000+ lawyers. Kirkland has invested approximately $500 million in this proprietary AI system, with over $100 million deployed in 2026 alone.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Sullivan & Cromwell: Historic elite law firm with premier M&A, securities, and finance practices. Directly competes with Kirkland for the largest M&A deals, capital markets transactions, and high-end advisory mandates globally.
• Latham & Watkins: One of the world's largest law firms by revenue with a similarly global platform spanning M&A, private equity, capital markets, and restructuring. Directly competes with Kirkland for top-tier PE, M&A, and finance mandates across the US, Europe, and Asia.
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom: Elite US-based law firm with a historically dominant M&A practice and strong private equity and corporate capabilities. Competes directly with Kirkland for high-stakes transactional mandates and serves many of the same PE sponsor clients.
• Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz: Premier M&A and corporate law firm known for representing boards in the largest transactions. While smaller in headcount, it competes with Kirkland at the very top of the M&A market and has been both a source of Kirkland lateral hires and a destination for departing partners.
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett: Leading global law firm with a top-tier private equity practice and strong M&A, capital markets, and fund formation capabilities. Directly competes with Kirkland on PE sponsor work and recently hired David Nemecek from Kirkland to build out its capital structure practice.
• Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison: Elite US law firm with deep M&A, private equity, and litigation practices. Recently hired James Sprayregen from Kirkland to co-lead its restructuring practice, reflecting the head-to-head competition for top partners and clients.
• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton: Premier global law firm with leading M&A, capital markets, and antitrust practices. Competes with Kirkland for cross-border M&A mandates and serves many of the same large corporate and financial institution clients.
• Davis Polk & Wardwell: Top-tier Wall Street law firm with elite M&A, capital markets, and finance practices. Competes directly with Kirkland for the largest corporate transactions and serves many of the same Fortune 500 and PE clients.
• Cravath, Swaine & Moore: Elite US law firm with a top-tier M&A and corporate practice, historically known for setting the market for associate and partner compensation. Directly competes with Kirkland for the highest-end corporate mandates despite smaller headcount.

Broad incumbents

• Hogan Lovells: Major global law firm with broad corporate, finance, and litigation practices. While not at the same revenue scale, it competes with Kirkland in cross-border M&A, energy transition, and infrastructure matters as part of its broader portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/kirkland_ellis
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments4 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kirkland & Ellis