Kirkland & Ellis Knows How To Stay No. 1

No mystery in Kirkland & Ellis, largest US law firm by revenue, talking to White House to avoid Trump’s EO sanctions in war on legal industry. Sucking up to BOTH pol parties is how it got to be No. 1 (along with top atty talent) while many other firms only kiss Dem tush.

The “exclusive” WSJ story tells us, “The firm, which has some 4,000 lawyers & brought in about $9 billion last year, is one of the White House’s next targets for sanctions,” according to its sources. But, don’t hold your breath. As the story also says, “Kirkland [is] a powerhouse in the worlds of private equity & mergers & acquisitions,” meaning, it’s always been uniquely adept at playing ball with whomever is in power (or on the outs wanting to be in) … and needs top legal talent with unique insider pull to pull in if not grease mega- deals together, regardless of politics. In fact, “A number of Kirkland lawyers took top roles in the first Trump administration. Among them were Jeffrey Rosen, who left the firm to serve as deputy transportation secretary & later deputy attorney general, and Brian Benczkowski, who led the Justice Department’s criminal division and then returned to the firm.”

Meanwhile, rather than settle like some of its Am Law 100 peers have already done, a number of other firms like Perkins Coie have always fought Mr. Trump & have reaped the man’s wrath for its efforts. Not surprisingly, Perkins was joined recently by two other reputed “Democratic Law Firms,” Jenner & Block and WilmerHale, in filing lawsuits challenging the Administration’s actions so that “three different [hand-picked liberal] judges have blocked the administration from enforcing the bulk” of the Trump sanctions. Now, which white shoes law firms are going to come out of this scenario without needing a costly shoeshine?

Davd Soul