Kirkland & Ellis Partners Honored as California Lawyer “Attorneys of the Year”
Kirkland & Ellis LLP partners Michael Baumann and Rebecca Wahlquist have been named recipients of California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) awards. The awards, presented by California Lawyer magazine, honor 43 attorneys who have made a significant impact on the California legal market in 2008 in 13 areas of legal practice. Mr. Baumann and Ms. Wahlquist are both recognized in the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) category for their work on a landmark arbitration case for DIRECTV.
The honored attorneys include sole practitioners, attorneys from international law firms and government attorneys. The CLAY awards will be presented at a ceremony in March, and the recipients will be featured in the March 2009 issue of California Lawyer.
"Mike and Becca's skill and resolve produced a very successful outcome for our client, DIRECTV, in a challenging matter" said John Weissenbach, partner in Kirkland's Los Angeles office and member of the Firmwide Management Committee. "We appreciate the legal community's recognition of their work, and congratulate them on being selected for this prestigious award."
Mr. Baumann, one of the co-founders of Kirkland's Los Angeles office, has served as trial and appellate counsel advising and representing major corporate clients in federal and state courts and in arbitration. His practice focuses on commercial litigation involving complex issues and high stakes and on class-action defense. Mr. Baumann holds a J.D. from the College of William and Mary and an A.B. from Princeton University.
Ms. Wahlquist has a wide-ranging complex commercial litigation practice, including contract and business tort disputes, Section 17200 and traditional class action cases, and putative class-wide arbitrations. She has authored appellate briefs in a number of federal circuits and states, and has successfully argued before the California Court of Appeal. She holds a J.D. from the New York University School of Law, an M.A. from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a B.A. and M.A. from Brigham Young University.
Kirkland partner Robert Krupka also received a CLAY award in the intellectual property category in 2005.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a 1,500-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, corporate and tax, restructuring, real estate, and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
