headquarters 300 north lasalle chicago 1 illinois united states no . of offices 12 total 5 international no . of attorneys 1 517 2012 major practice areas general practice revenue 2.30 billion 2015 2 date founded 1909 company type limited liability partnership website www.kirkland.com kirkland & ellis llp is an international law firm founded in chicago . kirkland is widely considered to be one of the world s most elite law firms and their private equity restructuring and intellectual property groups are largely regarded as industry leaders . 3 kirkland & ellis is also known for a globally recognized litigation practice aimed mainly at corporate clients that go to trial . kirkland has offices in beijing chicago hong kong houston london los angeles munich new york palo alto san francisco shanghai and washington d.c. . the firm had gross revenue of approximately 2.30 billion in 2015 . 4 as of 2015 it was the sixth largest law firm by headcount in the united states and the fifth largest by revenue . kirkland is the sixth most profitable law firm per partner with estimated profits per equity partner of 3.6 million . 5 kirkland is also known for paying associates above market salaries through performance based bonuses that exceed those offered by peer firms . 6 the starting salary for first year associates is 180 000 . 7 vault s 2015 rankings placed kirkland as the most prestigious firm in chicago and the 7 most prestigious firm in the united states each as rated by law firm associates . 8 contents 1 notable clients 2 political contributions 3 endowed professorships 4 references 5 external links notable clients edit the firm was the primary outside law firm representing bp in litigation related to the deepwater horizon oil spill . volkswagen also hired kirkland & ellis after volkswagen emissions scandal started . 9 political contributions edit kirkland through its employees was a top 20 contributor to barack obama in 2008 giving at least 493 735 . 10 the firm s attorneys leaned heavily 77 % democratic in their political contributions during the 2008 election cycle which were substantial 579 976 as of 10 29 07 . 11 the firm has its own political action committee pac which gave 97 % of its contributions to democrats during the 2008 election cycle as of 12 7 07 . the firm s members have given more money to illinois senator dick durbin by some measures the most liberal democrat in the senate 12 since 1989 than donors from any other company or organization . 13 according to the center for responsive politics kirland & ellis was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle donating 2.49 million 59 % to republicans . 14 by comparison during that same period akin gump strauss hauer & feld donated 2.56 66 % to democrats 14 while oil conglomerate exxonmobil donated 2.66 million 88 % to republicans . 15 since 1990 kirkland & ellis has contributed 9.83 million to federal campaigns . 16 endowed professorships edit the firm has endowed professorships in its name at four of the leading law schools in the united states 1 500 000 endowment of the kirkland & ellis professor of law chair at harvard law school currently michael klarman . 17 1 250 000 endowment of the kirkland & ellis professor of law chair at northwestern university school of law currently david a. dana . 18 1 175 000 endowment of the kirkland & ellis professor of law chair at the university of michigan law school currently sherman j. clark . 19 20 1 000 000 endowment of the kirkland & ellis professor of law chair at the university of chicago law school currently eric posner . 21 references edit kirkland & ellis llp . lawyer.com . retrieved november 20 2015 . . americanlawyer.com & ellis llp profile http www.americanlawyer.com law firm profiles result firmname kirkland % 26 ellis & slreturn 20160806114122title kirkland & ellis llp profile check url value help . retrieved september 6 2016 . missing or empty title help kirkland & ellis vault profile . vault . retrieved 2 september 2016 . . americanlawyer.com & ellis llp profile http www.americanlawyer.com law firm profiles result firmname kirkland % 26 ellis & slreturn 20160806114122title kirkland & ellis llp profile check url value help . retrieved september 6 2016 . missing or empty title help kirkland ellis keeps revenue rising . the american lawyer . retrieved 23 september 2015 . associate bonus watch cravath scale blown away by rival firm . above the law . retrieved 4 september 2016 . guess which biglaw leader is raising salaries now . above the law . retrieved 2016 06 09 . kirkland & ellis llp . vault.com . retrieved 23 september 2015 . volkswagen hires bp oil spill lawyers to defend emissions cases . www.theguardian.com . retrieved 18 october 2015 . sen. barack obama campaign finance money top donors senator 2008 opensecrets . opensecrets.org . retrieved 23 september 2015 . agribusiness . opensecrets.org . retrieved 23 september 2015 . national politics chicago tribune . swamppolitics.com . retrieved 23 september 2015 . dick durbin campaign finance money contributions 1989 2006 a b lawyers & lobbyists top contributors to federal candidates parties and outside groups . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . energy natural resources top contributors to federal candidates parties and outside groups . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . retrieved 9 june 2016 . organizations kirkland & ellis . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . retrieved 9 june 2016 . klarman taking kirkland & ellis chair examines racial equality in american history video harvard law today . harvard law today . retrieved 23 september 2015 . permanent . northwestern.edu . retrieved 23 september 2015 . chicago firm endows law school professorship . umich.edu . retrieved 23 september 2015 . clark sherman j. university of michigan law school . umich.edu . retrieved 23 september 2015 . eric posner . uchicago.edu . retrieved 23 september 2015 . external links edit firm website v t e illinois based corporations fortune 500 corporations by size 2013 walgreens boots alliance archer daniels midland boeing caterpillar inc. state farm insurance abbott laboratories sears holdings united continental holdings deere & company mondel z international allstate mcdonald s exelon kraft heinz illinois tool works baxter international navistar international rr donnelley cdw hillshire brands discover financial w. w. grainger motorola solutions dover corporation tenneco officemax ingredion anixter cf industries holdings telephone and data systems united stationers old republic international other major public companies alphabetically abbvie acco brands accretive health allscripts amcol international corporation arthur j. gallagher & co. beam inc. brookdale senior living brunswick corporation calamos career education corporation catamaran corporation cboe holdings cme group cna financial continental materials corporation equity residential fortune brands home & security general growth properties hospira hyatt hotels corp. integrys energy group jones lang lasalle kemper corporation nalco holding company nicor rli corp. rubicon technology stericycle titan international tribune media tronc tootsie roll industries ulta beauty usg corporation westell zebra technologies other major private companies alphabetically ace hardware baker & mckenzie blue cross blue shield association claire s country financial danfoss power solutions dot foods eby brown electro motive diesel flex n gate follett corporation gardner denver grant thornton llp health care service corporation heico cos. hendrickson international hub international jenner & block kirkland & ellis marmon group mayer brown medline industries molex nestl frozen pizza osi group pactiv reyes holdings ryerson inc. sidley austin skidmore owings & merrill solo cup company tellabs transunion true value us foods wirtz corporation related topics breweries in illinois companies in the chicago metropolitan area food manufacturers of chicago newspapers in illinois retailers on the magnificent mile wineries in illinois retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kirkland % 26 ellis & oldid 743337846 categories law firms based in chicagolaw firms established in 1909insolvency and corporate recovery firmshidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlspages with url errors navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch fran ais edit links 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