Kirkland & Ellis Enters Miami, Adding to Hot Big Law Market

Kirkland & Ellis is opening a Miami office, transplanting four partners to the hot South Florida market as Big Law continues to pour into the state.

Kirkland corporate partners Jeremy Liss, Matthew Arenson, Jeffrey Swatzell, and Eduardo Leal will start the office, which the firm said will officially open this summer. The world’s largest law firm by revenue is currently recruiting lawyers for the office, it said.

Kirkland’s chairman, Jon Ballis, said Miami is a “vibrant and growing” market where “talent and capital are moving at a rapid pace.”

“Kirkland’s ability to attract, train and retain the best legal talent is key to our continued success, and being present where that talent wants to be is critical,” Ballis said in a statement.

Kirkland has opened a string of offices in popular cities since the onset of the pandemic, moving to Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Miami has attracted a handful of Big Law firms in recent months, including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, King & Spalding, and Winston & Strawn.

Most of the Kirkland partners moving to Miami are from the firm’s Chicago office. Leal is the lone partner moving from New York.

“The Miami office will help us get closer to existing clients in Florida and attract top lawyers who are excited about the career opportunity that Kirkland’s global platform offers,” Liss said in a statement. “The feedback so far has been very positive and we are eager to start putting the pieces in place.”