Kirkland & Ellis LLP is one of four law firms defending BP in its trial for the role it played in the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and oil spill back in 2010. Despite representing BP in litigation, the firm is seeing most of its profits come from transaction-related work, according to Chicago Business.
The firm is playing a role in the $28 billion bid for H.J. Heinz Co. by 3G Capital and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The profits per partner increased at the firm in 2012 by 6.5 percent. The number increased to $3.25 million. The firm’s revenue jumped to $1.94 billion, an increase of 11 percent.
When you look at law firm using dollar volume of U.S. merger and acquisition assignments, the firm jumped from number 52 in the country to number six in the past three years. Corporate Control Alert magazine said that the firm came in first with 92 U.S. deals of over $100 million for the second straight year.
The firm is also representing the board transaction committee at Office Depot Inc. for its bid of $1.2 billion for Office Max Inc.
“Kirkland has effectively exploited that handicap in a number of cases recently,” said Chicago-based legal consultant Kent Zimmermann. “They are doing what many over the years have thought and found to be impossible: building a public-company M&A practice with laterals.”