Los Angeles

Kirkland's Los Angeles attorneys have a wealth of experience representing clients in commercial litigation, corporate, intellectual property and white collar criminal defense and securities enforcement matters.  Our partners are consistently ranked as leading lawyers by Chambers in the areas of Commercial Litigation, Private Equity/M&A and Intellectual Property. Kirkland was also ranked first in "Bet the Company Litigation" in GC California's inaugural "Preferred Counsel Poll."

Commercial Litigation

The Los Angeles commercial litigation practice frequently represents clients facing significant exposure and possible business interruption. Our clients span a wide range of industries including aerospace, defense, energy and utilities, computer hardware and software, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, financial services, media and telecommunications, among others. Our representations include complex financial and business disputes, among them consumer and nationwide class action defense, mass tort and products liability, trade secrets, insurance coverage disputes, as well as securities and antitrust matters.

Kirkland's Los Angeles litigators have long been recognized for their achievements in commercial litigation.  In 2010, the Los Angeles litigation team secured notable wins in all five of its matters brought to trial or arbitration, and in 2009 individual Los Angeles partners received honors as "California Lawyer of the Year" in the area of alternative dispute resolution and as a "Top Woman Litigator." Additionally, The Daily Journal selected two of our partners as "Top 100 Lawyers." Our attorneys are also consistently recognized by The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Commercial Litigation and Bet-the-Company Litigation.

In January 2010, The American Lawyer named Kirkland one of five finalist firms for its biennial "Litigation Department of the Year" contest.  Since the competition began in 2002, Kirkland has been named as a finalist—or the ultimate winner (including 2008 Litigation Department of the Year)—in one or more categories in all five contests. Kirkland alone among the nation's law firms can claim to have been so honored.

Representative clients include The Boeing Company, Caltech, DIRECTV, Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, Guardian Industries, Lifelock, Raytheon, and W.R. Grace & Company, to name but a few.

Corporate

Kirkland's Los Angeles transactional practice handles a broad range of corporate matters, including private equity, mergers and acquisitions, securities, debt financing transactions and other complex financing matters. Members of the team have been recognized by Chambers as among the nation's leading lawyers in the area of private equity and M&A and by The Best Lawyers in America for their representation of clients in complex leveraged buyouts. A corporate finance partner was recently honored by the Los Angeles Business Journal in its "Who's Who in the Law" survey, one of only ten corporate attorneys in Los Angeles to be so selected. Firmwide, Kirkland was ranked first in The American Lawyer's "2010 Corporate Scoreboard" for private equity deals by volume and in the top ten among law firms for M&A deals by volume.

Kirkland's Los Angeles corporate department is particularly active in the area of leveraged buyouts, and acquisitions through bankruptcies and restructurings, representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies in mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and related financings. Our attorneys also represent both public and private companies in divestitures, initial public offerings (IPOs) and other public securities offerings and advise on joint ventures, strategic alliances and corporate governance matters.

Representative clients include Brentwood Associates, Caltius, The Carlyle Group, Golden Gate Capital, Oaktree Capital, Platinum Equity LLC, Shamrock Capital Advisors, Star Avenue Capital, Trust Company of the West and VMG .

Intellectual Property

Kirkland's Los Angeles IP department consists of nationally recognized trial lawyers with diverse technical backgrounds. The practice is focused on patent, copyright, trade secret, trademark and advertising litigation and serves clients across various industries including gaming and technology, media and telecommunications, Internet services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Our IP attorneys appear regularly before Federal and Appellate courts throughout the country, as well as before the International Trade Commission.

The Los Angeles IP group has an established record of winning. The group has secured some of the nation's largest IP verdicts, including one that ultimately led to a resolution in excess of $1.3 billion, and in 2010, the group took four significant patent matters to trial and achieved jury verdicts in all four. Additionally, two Los Angeles-based partners were honored in 2009 and again in 2010 as among the "Top 75 IP Litigators in California" by The Daily Journal.

The Los Angeles IP group leverages the vast experience of the Firm's 250 attorney IP practice that is consistently ranked as one of the world's best. In 2010, Chambers USA ranked Kirkland's firmwide IP practice in the top tier for the fifth consecutive year and noted sources' comments that Kirkland is "the firm to choose for the biggest cases."

Representative clients include Biedermann Motech, Honeywell, International Game Technology, Limelight Networks, Inc., Lucent Technologies, Medtronic, Inc., Research In Motion, Ltd., Samsung, The Boeing Company and Teva Pharmaceuticals North America.

White Collar Criminal Defense

Kirkland's Los Angeles-based White Collar Defense and Securities Enforcement practice includes highly experienced former federal prosecutors, one of which was selected as being among the "Top 100 Lawyers in California" by The Daily Journal in both 2009 and 2010 and among "The Best Lawyers in America" for the past several years. Additionally, Chambers, in its 2009 review, ranked Kirkland among the best "White Collar Crime & Government Investigations" litigation practices in the nation.

Members of the office's white collar defense group actively represent Fortune 500 clients as well as individual defendants in significant civil and criminal investigations, including enforcement proceedings brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities & Exchange Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency.