The Legal 500 U.S.

The Legal 500 U.S. aims to provide independent, unbiased commentary on the leading law firms in the U.S. legal marketplace in various areas of corporate, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and tax law. In this fourth edition, Kirkland was ranked among the "best of the best" in the following areas:

Finance
Corporate Restructuring - Tier 1
Capital Markets: Debt Offerings - Tier 3
Capital Markets: Equity Offerings - Tier 3
Capital Markets: High-Yield Debt Offerings - Tier 3
Bank Lending: National - Tier 5
Structured Finance - Tier 5

Intellectual Property
Patent Litigation: Full Coverage - Tier 1
Patent Litigation: Hi-Tech Electronics and IT - Tier 2
Patent Litigation: Life Sciences/Chemical - Tier 3
Trademarks: Litigation - Tier 3

Investment Fund Formation & Management
Private Equity Funds - Tier 1

Litigation
Trade Secrets - Tier 1
Energy - Tier 2
Environment - Tier 2
Product Liability & Mass Tort Defense: Consumer Products (including Tobacco) - Tier 2
Supreme Court and Appellate - Tier 3
Securities: Shareholder Litigation - Tier 4
White-Collar Criminal Defense - Tier 6

Media, Technology and Telecoms
Technology: Outsourcing - Tier 3

Mergers, Acquisitions & Buyouts
M&A: Large Deals ($1bn-$bn) - Tier 1
Private Equity Buyouts - Tier 1
Antitrust - Tier 2

Real Estate
Central - Tier 4

Tax
Domestic Tax: Central - Tier 1
Tax Controversy - Tier 3
International Tax - Tier 4
Domestic Tax: East Coast - Tier 5
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation - Tier 5