Litigation Department of the Year Finalist: Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland was named a finalist for “Litigation Department of the Year” as part of Texas Lawyer's Texas Legal Awards, and participated in this Q&A.

Kirkland & Ellis is among the finalists for Texas Lawyer's 2025 Litigation Department of the Year Award. Read a Q&A with them below.

What was your department’s most significant achievement in 2024, and why?

Several matters demonstrate our grit, creative thinking, and tremendous cross-practice and multi-generational strength. As highlighted in this submission, Kirkland has secured significant victories for clients including Bayou City Energy, Constellation Energy Generation, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., Meta Platforms, Primexx Energy Partners, Samsung, and SpareBox Self Storage.

It has been particularly rewarding to see our younger partners taking lead roles at trial, successfully arguing key motions, whittling away at claims, defeating class certification and securing case dismissals. Recent example includes Gabrielle Olubanke Howells and Lizeth Badillo Garcia, recent graduates of the University of Texas School of Law and incoming litigation associates at Kirkland & Ellis, argued their first-ever case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Supervised by Kirkland partner Zack Ewing, the duo represented pro bono client Stephon Eric James, a Louisiana prisoner alleging deliberate indifference to medical needs and falsification of records (see Texas Lawbook coverage “New UT Law Grads Make Courtroom Debut in Federal Appeals Arguments.”)

One of the most significant developments in the Texas market is the enactment of HB 19, officially creating the hotly anticipated Texas business court. Arguably the most transformative change to the Texas judiciary since tort reform, the bill has potential to reshape the way businesses in Texas resolve complex disputes. Kirkland has been a thought leader on the topic, with Houston partner Nick Brown providing his market leading insights to The Texas Lawbook (see “Texas Business Court Countdown: Time to Update Your Forum Selection Clause?,” “Countdown to Business Courts: Six Must-Know Rules”), Law360 (see “Texas Biz Court Will Be A Brave New World For Energy Cos.”) and serving on the Texas Business Law Foundation's Texas Business Courts Committee.

At Kirkland, our top priority is training and providing our lawyers with significant responsibility early in their careers and with many opportunities to learn and grow. At some other firms, junior associates may be assigned to a large team with minimum responsibility and client interaction. But at Kirkland, our associates take ownership of the direction of their careers by being able to choose their assignments through our open assignment system. Through KITA, the firm’s litigation training program, we prepare our associates for real-world trials through comprehensive training, including an annual mock-trial experience in which actors play the roles of fact witnesses, genuine experts are retained, and firm partners serve as judges and provide ongoing critique and feedback. Through both the open assignment system and training curriculum, attorneys develop skills and assume various responsibilities early on, such as defending depositions, directly engaging with clients, and even presenting oral arguments. Attorneys at other firms are typically not allowed to undertake these responsibilities until much later in their careers.