Kirkland & Ellis LLP Wins Chambers USA Award for Excellence in Investment Funds

International legal rating firm Chambers & Partners honored Kirkland & Ellis LLP with an Award for Excellence in Investment Funds at its Chambers USA Awards dinner held June 10, 2010, in New York.

Kirkland was selected from seven finalists, including Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Dechert LLP; Ropes & Gray LLP; Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP; Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.

In Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2010, Chambers said, "This midmarket focused practice has been well positioned throughout a difficult economic time, with a broad spread of work across private equity, hedge and real estate funds. It also has significant recent experience of the issues connected with infrastructure funds and a sizable secondaries team, which advises on both the buy and sell side."

According to Chambers, clients said that the Firm's Private Funds Practice Group "provides sophisticated advice on a real-time basis."

"We are honored to be recognized by a preeminent group like Chambers & Partners and to be selected from an impressive group of finalists," said Bruce I. Ettelson, partner in Kirkland's Private Funds Practice Group. "We thank the 200+ private equity firms that we are privileged to serve for the opportunities that they continue to provide to our Firm."

The Chambers USA Awards honor excellence in legal services in jurisdictions around the world. Chambers determined finalists based on independent research carried out during the prior 12 months compiling the Chambers USA directory. A panel of corporate buyers of legal services selected the winning firms. Chambers & Partners, based in London, produces the internationally recognized guides to the legal profession described by The New York Times as "the gold standard," in legal rankings.

Kirkland has been recognized by Chambers & Partners in the past:

• 2009: The Firm received the Award for Excellence in IP Litigation.
• 2008: Kirkland received the Award for Excellence in the Bankruptcy Team category.
• 2006: The Firm was honored as the USA Law Firm of Year.
• 2004: Chambers selected Kirkland as the USA Litigation Law Firm of the Year.
• 2003 and 2002: the Firm took home honors for its private equity practice.
  
  

The private funds practice at Kirkland is one of the largest and most experienced sponsor-side practices in the world. The group includes 75 lawyers worldwide dedicated exclusively to the practice and more than 150 lawyers with considerable experience in fund formation. The group boasts almost three decades of experience representing a variety of funds in their investments, counseling principals on limited partner relations, and assisting funds with regulatory and tax compliance. The private funds team has represented more than 240 unique private fund sponsors in raising approximately $319 billion of new capital for more than 465 funds since 1995, and regularly represents leading institutional investors in connection with their investments in private funds.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a 1,500-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex corporate and tax, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, intellectual property and technology, restructuring and real estate matters. The Firm has offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington, D.C.