Crain's List: 2004's Big Deals

For its first annual law firm feature, Crain's Chicago Business compiled a list of 25 of the biggest corporate transactions in which Chicago lawyers played a prominent role. The mergers and acquisitions deals were ranked by deal value that was either announced or closed in 2004, and six of the 25 deals were worked on by Kirkland & Ellis attorneys.

#3 First Data Corp. -- $6,900,000,000

• Seller: Concord EFS Inc.
• Firm: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Concord), Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP (First Data)
• Lead Chicago Attorneys: R. Scott Falk (Kirkland & Ellis LLP)

#7 Madison Dearborn Partners LLC -- $3,700,000,000

• Seller: Boise Cascade Corp.
• Firm: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (MDP), Bell Boyd & Lloyd LLC (Boise)
• Lead Chicago Attorney: William Kirsch

#13 Mervyn's Holdings LLC (Sun Capital Partners and Cerberus Capital Management) -- $1,650,000,000

• Seller: Target Corp. (Mervyn's LLC)
• Firm: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Sun and Cerberus)
• Lead Chicago Attorney: Douglas Gessner

#14 Madison Dearborn Partners LLC -- $1,600,000,000

• Seller: Cinemark Inc.
• Firm: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (MDP)
• Lead Chicago Attorney: Edward T. Swan

#21 GTCR Golder Rauner LLC -- $825,000,000

• Seller: MidOcean Partners LLP (Prestige brands and related acquisitions)
• Firm: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (GTCR Golder Rauner)
• Lead Chicago Attorney: Kevin Evanich

#24 Kingpin Holdings LLC -- $670,000,000

• Seller: AMF Bowling Worldwide Inc. (Code Hennessy & Simmons)
• Firm: Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Kingpin)
• Lead Chicago Attorney: Kevin R. Evanich

The "Focus: Law Firms" feature of  Crain's Chicago Business appeared in is entirety on November 15, 2004.