Kirkland & Ellis LLP Opens Office in Palo Alto, Calif.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP has secured office space for its Silicon Valley office at 950 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, Calif. The office is the Firm's ninth office worldwide, sixth office domestically and third office on the West Coast. The office opens with 15 lawyers who focus their practice in the areas of private equity and intellectual property litigation.

"We are pleased to have secured space in Palo Alto for up to 40 lawyers," says Jeffrey Hammes, the senior partner of Kirkland's Palo Alto and San Francisco offices. "The new office will expand our presence in the Bay Area and enhance our ability to serve our current and future Silicon Valley clients."

Kirkland has one of the most active and highly regarded private equity practices, encompassing all aspects of this rapidly changing field. The team of private equity attorneys has extensive experience in the formulation of innovative strategies for structuring acquisitions and financings of private and public companies, negotiated as well as unsolicited acquisitions, going private transactions, stock-for-stock acquisitions, spin-off transactions and acquisitions of minority interests. Kirkland's private equity practice involves representing clients in many different industries, including buyers and sellers of both private and public companies. Chambers Global, The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2008, an independent legal services rating firm, ranked the Firm's private equity practice number one in the United States and commented, "One of the original market players, this premier outfit boasts a 'first class private equity offering from top to bottom.'"

Kirkland's intellectual property practice is one of the oldest such practices in a full-service firm in the country, having been an integral part of Kirkland since 1925. Kirkland has more than 250 intellectual property lawyers, which include engineers and scientists trained and experienced in a variety of technical disciplines and registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Kirkland's lawyers have been recognized for their experience in litigation, transactions, counseling and administrative matters involving all areas of intellectual property.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a 1,400-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex private equity and corporate, intellectual property and technology, litigation, dispute resolution and arbitration, restructuring and tax matters. The Firm has offices in Palo Alto, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.