Kirkland Launches West Coast Real Estate Practice with Hire of Kevin Ehrhart
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce that Kevin M. Ehrhart has joined the Firm’s Los Angeles office as a partner in the Real Estate Practice Group.
“Kevin is a dynamic lawyer who has built an impressive national reputation representing sophisticated clients on complex real estate transactions,” said Jeffrey C. Hammes, Chairman of Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee. “He has the experience and drive to extend our in-demand real estate group to the West Coast, and shares our enthusiasm for building the finest global real estate transactions practice.”
Mr. Ehrhart represents private equity funds and investment advisors, publicly traded REITs, privately held real estate companies and international investors in all aspects of real estate related transactions. His practice focuses on capital investment directed to real estate and real estate operating companies, financings within all segments of the capital stack, joint ventures, and property and operating company acquisitions.
He has been recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. and Chambers USA each year since 2006. He was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of California’s “Top 30 Real Estate Attorneys” and was honored by the Los Angeles Bar Association’s Real Estate Section as its “Young Lawyer of the Year” in 2006. In 2010, Mr. Ehrhart was recognized as one of the country’s “Top 40 Real Estate Professionals” by Real Estate Forum.
Mr. Ehrhart earned a law degree from the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
“Our clients’ interests have become more global and demand for real estate transaction experience has grown. We have invested to meet that demand by adding outstanding lawyers in key jurisdictions, including London and now the West Coast,” said Kirkland real estate partner Daniel Perlman. “We are thrilled to welcome Kevin to the team, and are excited about the expert counsel he can bring to our clients.”
Other recent additions to the Firm’s real estate practice include debt finance lawyer Jonny Birks, who joined Kirkland’s London office last month from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and focuses on UK and pan-European real estate finance transactions, and former Managing Director and Funds Counsel at Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) Thomas Laverty, who joined the Firm’s London investment funds group last year. Mr. Ehrhart joins Kirkland from the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins LLP, where he was a partner.
The members of the Real Estate Practice Group at Kirkland & Ellis pursue an interdisciplinary approach to sophisticated real estate transactions to offer clients flexible and creative solutions to difficult problems across a broad range of transactions in the commercial real estate industry. Law360 has recognized Kirkland’s group as a “Real Estate Practice Group of the Year.”
About Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis is a 1,900-attorney law firm representing global clients in real estate, private equity, M&A and other complex corporate transactions, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, restructuring, and intellectual property matters. The Firm has offices in Los Angeles, Beijing, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington, D.C.
