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THATS the harsh reality on this side of the pond.
Kirkland partners hit the jackpot
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Alt text for picture which came with the original version of the email newsletter: ‘FT author’
Suzi Ring
Legal Correspondent
PREMIUM
March 19 2026
Hello! As someone who has been writing about lawyers on and off for more than 15 years, I long ago accepted the ocean that existed between my pay packet and those of the lawyers I was writing about.
This week, however, Kirkland & Ellis has taken this to new heights. Equity partners at the world’s highest-grossing law firm have pocketed an average $11.1mn each for last year’s work, marking a record for the Chicago-founded outfit.
The firm also posted a record $10.6bn in revenue in 2025, becoming the first law firm to break through the $10bn barrier for annual revenues.
The results further secure Kirkland’s place as the most envied law firm in Big Law, said Scott Gibson, founder of legal recruiter Edwards Gibson.
“Over the past 15 years, Kirkland & Ellis has set the pace in Big Law. It is both disliked and envied in equal measure by its peer and near‑peer rivals — many of whom once regarded it as a poor cousin, but who were long ago eclipsed by it,” he added.
“Kirkland has industrialised the premium end of the market; today’s numbers merely show how far in front it now is.”
Kirkland is among the first US firms to report their financial results this year. So far, things are looking pretty healthy all round.
Cooley posted an 18 per cent increase in profit per equity partner (PEP) for 2025, handing partners an average $4.57mn, while Goodwin passed the $4mn PEP mark for the first time.
“The elite law firms are continuing to deliver consistent year-on-year double-digit growth,” said Siobhán Lewington, a partner at legal recruiter Macrae. “This is the result of a laser focus on taking greater market share by hiring the best talent . . . [and] the increasing adoption of a two-tier partnership structure also allows firms greater flexibility.”
That is the text of the Financial Times' dedicated law newsletter for Thursday, 19 March 2026, delivered to FT subscribers in the United Kingdom at precisely 7am London Time. Gentle suggestion to have a read, might be of interest, so that we can, to use a promotional phrase of the FT's newspaper competitor in the UK market, The Times of London, "cut through the crossfire".