Daily Diary

Kirk-land of opportunity

Posted 3/10/2006 by legalweekblogs.com SU

Kirkland & Ellis continued its Pavarotti-style expansion today after making up a shock 64 partners worldwide (see story).

That’s equal to pretty much the entire partnership of Macfarlanes, for instance, and – by The Diary’s count – represents a record in the US legal market.

Despite hiring half the City in recent months, the Chicago standard-bearer still found room to promote a stunning three new partners in London – representing almost 5% of all new promotions. The move dispels in an instant the notion that partnership at a US firm in Blighty is more elusive than a WMD in the desert.

However, the move seems likely to raise eyebrows across the City, where the current managerial consensus is that the key to global domination is having a partnership slimmer than a supermodel on speed.

For movie buffs, the promotions may also be vaguely reminiscent of a scene in camp crusading epic Kingdom of Heaven where besieged blacksmith-turned-warlord Orlando Bloom knights the entire populace of his castle in a bid to stave off the marauding Saracens. That surprise round of promotions prompted one cynic present to query whether knighting a man makes him a better fighter – a question that may now be on the lips of Kirkland’s rivals.