“Kirkland & Ellis, a perennial presence in the legal adviser rankings for top M&A deal value, fell from the No. 1 spot at the end of Q1 in 2019 to No. 7 so far this year for global deals, watching its deal value totals plummet from over $210 billion in Q1 of 2019 to just over $55 billion in 2020, a 74% reduction year over year.”
https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2020/04/02/ma-activity-fell-off-in-2020s-first-quarter-even-at-kirkland/?slreturn=20200305101710
Says it all really
Nothing those at Kirkland did not know already!!!!
“Slaughters and Kirkland Slide Down European Rankings as M&A Collapses“
“Freshfields has topped the European rankings against a backdrop of depressed M&A activity.”
“Kirkland & Ellis and Slaughter and May slipped down the European M&A rankings in the first half of 2020, according to data from Mergermarket which shows the extent of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on dealmaking activity.”
https://www.law.com/international-edition/2020/07/03/slaughters-and-kirkland-slide-down-european-rankings-as-ma-collapses/
“Loss for Kirkland in UK Supreme Court 'David vs Goliath' Battle Over Mice Antibody Patents - The top UK court has invalidated two pharmaceutical patents, after a seven-year court battle.”
https://www.law.com/international-edition/2020/06/25/loss-for-kirkland-in-supreme-court-battle-over-mice-antibody-patents/
Well done to this judge for calling out Kirkland & Ellis for what it truly is. If only he/she knew what Kirkland claims during its recruitment processes and how that matches up with what really goes on...
Judge says Kirkland & Ellis 'should be embarrassed' by its subpoena response
“If anyone should know better than to act this way one would think it would be a law firm that touts itself as having ‘lawyers [who] employ innovative pragmatic strategies,’ ” Austin said. “There was not a single thing that K&E did to respond to this subpoena that was ‘pragmatic.’ ”
https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/judge-says-kirkland-ellis-should-be-embarrassed-by-its-subpoena-response
Above the Law reported this on Aug 9, 2019 ———>> “The managing partner of an elite Biglaw firm once told me, “you have no idea how many resumes I get from Kirkland partners… people are desperate to get out of there.”“
Can Above the Law please speak to that same Managing Partner again to compare the volume of applications to the current levels? I’m sure that exercise would be VERY telling in the current environment.
More “positive” news for K&E, this time from the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/business/victorias-secret-sycamore-coronavirus.html
April 29, 2020
*
The Victoria’s Secret Contract That Anticipated a Pandemic
“But Sycamore faces unusually daunting odds, thanks to clever drafting by L Brands’ lawyers at Davis Polk & Wardwell. In the acquisition agreement, the lawyers carved out specific exceptions to those acts of God, including a pandemic. That meant that even if a pandemic struck, Sycamore would be legally obligated to complete the deal.
[…]
By all accounts, the L Brands-Sycamore contract was the product of hard-fought negotiations, but there’s no evidence that Sycamore’s lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis pushed back against the pandemic language. Should they have?
[…]
“It’s hard for Sycamore to argue they should be excused from the deal,” said Gail Weinstein, a partner at Fried Frank who has written about “material adverse event” clauses in contracts. “The pandemic was at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Even before that, it was public knowledge that a pandemic was likely to happen sometime.”
[…]
“Mr. Elson noted, “I’d say Davis Polk really earned its fee.””
[…]
“A spokesman for Kirkland & Ellis declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for L Brands.”
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COMMENT:
Kirkland sure knew the pandemic was on its way given the fast pace at which it started to fire people.
Very telling that this firm’s PR machine is in override at the moment to try to hide the very dark truth.