Alli Brown Leads Kirkland's Philadelphia Office to Exponential Growth
Alli Brown was profiled as an "Attorney of the Year" finalist as part of The Legal Intelligencer's 2026 Pennsylvania Legal Awards, where she discussed the growth of Kirkland's Philadelphia office and the litigation practice at large.
Philadelphia, a mature legal market best known for massive plaintiff’s verdicts, is often a secondary location for the most profitable firms in the country.
So when star defense litigator Allison Brown joined Kirkland & Ellis, the highest-grossing law firm by revenue in the country, and launched the firm’s Philadelphia office, it made waves locally and nationally.
“The sky is the limit for us in Philadelphia,” said Brown, who has lived in Pennsylvania since 2005 despite working at multiple New York-based Big Law firms. “We’re getting a very good reception from the community and from the client base that there is a need for us to be here. I am very confident that we are here in Philly to stay for a very long time.”
Brown, who ultimately led a group of 30 attorneys from Skadden Arps Slate Meager & Flom to join Kirkland & Ellis, launched the firm’s flagship Philadelphia office in January 2025 with only two other litigators at her side. Yet in the roughly 18 months since launch, the location has grown to 25 attorneys, with Brown expanding the office beyond litigation and hiring on corporate practitioners, including former Dechert partner Stephanie Haas and ex-Morgan Lewis & Bockius partner Adam Prince.
“We were very small when we started … One thing we learned in interviewing folks is that a lot of people who have Philly roots would otherwise go to New York to work at some of the larger firms or firms of our caliber,” Brown said of her recruitment process. “What I love about the office is that almost everybody has a Philly connection. It is a very nice group of people who are very, very well connected to the community generally.”
The office’s growth trajectory has been exponential and is ultimately rooted in Brown’s personal and client relationships across the market; Brown's relationships with other teams across the country also played a role in convincing them to join Kirkland, albeit in different office locations, such as a group of litigators from King & Spalding led by Kim Bueno and Kristen Fourtnier.
“One of the things that I did early on was reach out to people I have been in court with, whom I have sat side-by-side with on behalf of some of our clients, to see if they’d be interested in coming over,” said Brown, recalling the immediate aftermath of her move to Kirkland. “Then we went to connections that I had in the Philly marketplace of folks that I had heard from clients or other friends and co-counsel that were really superstar lawyers and met with those folks.”
That was how former Dechert partners Bert Snell and Caroline Power came to join Kirkland in Philadelphia. Brown had previously developed a relationship with Snell during her own time at Dechert, while clients highly recommended Power.
Among Brown’s clients are Uber, Snap Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and Bayer—all major corporations involved in mass torts litigation. In addition to opening the new office, Brown’s impact extends into her ability to secure substantial defense verdicts for clients in multiple jurisdictions, including a California victory in the first bellwether trial in over allegations that Uber failed to protect passengers from crimes perpetrated by drivers.
Yet Brown and her team also try cases in Philadelphia’s Court of Common Pleas, with Brown noting that Kirkland’s office is just down the street from the city’s civil court.
“We see many of our mass torts with trial dates right down the street,” Brown said. “We do have a lot of products liability work, and so we have clients that are either directly in Philadelphia or very close-by, in New Jersey … we had a good feel for the judiciary, the local counsel and clients in the area.”
Brown added that Kirkland is continuing to put down roots in Philadelphia. The firm has entered the major law firm committee in the Philadelphia Bar Association, she said, and she and the rest of Kirkland’s Philadelphia team are working on building out their pro bono practices in the city. Brown said that she has worked with the Support Center for Child Advocates for roughly two decades, and she is currently in the midst of rebuilding that partnership as well as identifying other local pro bono opportunities.
That’s in addition to the Kirkland's current talent outreach efforts. The firm brought on three summer associates for its 2026 program, and Brown is already thinking about what the Philadelphia summer associate program will look like in the years to come, hoping to add on some summer associates interested in corporate work next year and further entrenching Kirkland in Philadelphia’s talent market.
“The local law schools have been terrific in terms of reaching out to us, so we’re trying to get that community built as well,” Brown said. “We’re going to continue to partner with local law schools that have folks who are interested in the work that we do and expand the summer class, to that folks ultimately look at Philadelphia as a place they want to be part of the Kirkland firm.”
In the long term, Brown said, she's most excited about the growth and mentoring opportunities she expects as the Philadelphia office continues to mature and expand.
"I'm so excited about the potential of this office," Brown said. "I'm excited to see this new wave of lawyers that we've hired grow, and I'm grateful for the talented lawyers that have decided to join us here. I'm excited to watch some of their successes over the next several decades."
