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 the fifth edition, Kirkland was ranked among the "best of the best" in the following areas:

Finance
Corporate Restructuring - Tier 1
Capital Markets: High-Yield Debt Offerings - Tier 2
Capital Markets: Debt Offerings - Tier 3
Capital Markets: Equity Offerings - Tier 3
Bank Lending: National - Tier 4
Structured Finance - Tier 4

Industry Focus
Environment: Litigation - Tier 1
Environment: Transaction and Regulatory - Tier 1
Energy: Litigation - Tier 2

Intellectual Property
Patent Litigation: Full Coverage - Tier 1
Trademarks: Litigation - Tier 3
Patent Licensing and Transactional - Tier 4
Patent Litigation: International Trade Commission - Tier 4

Investment Fund Formation and Management
Private Equity Funds - Tier 1

Litigation
Product Liability & Mass Tort Defense: Toxic Tort - Tier 1
Trade Secrets - Tier 1
Supreme Court and Appellate - Tier 2
Product Liability & Mass Tort Defense: Consumer Products (including Tobacco) - Tier 3
Securities: Shareholder Litigation - Tier 4
White-Collar Criminal Defense - Tier 7

Media, Technology and Telecoms
Technology: Outsourcing - Tier 2
Marketing and Advertising - Tier 3

Mergers, Acquisitions and Buyouts
Antitrust - Tier 1
M&A: Large Deals ($1bn-$5bn) - Tier 1
Private Equity Buyouts - Tier 1

Real Estate and Construction
Real Estate - Tier 3
Construction (including Construction Litigation) - Tier 5

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