Kirkland & Ellis today announces the formation of a plaintiff-side trial group focused on alternative fee arrangements for commercial cases, including pure contingent fees.

For years, Kirkland has been routinely delivering verdicts for its clients in the largest trials around the nation and world. On the heels of a string of plaintiff-side successes, including an $80 million jury verdict for a company two weeks ago in Delaware, the Firm has decided to offer clients an easy, accessible resource for all plaintiff commercial cases in the form of a group of litigators specializing in this sort of work.  

No firm can match the depth and breadth of Kirkland's trial and litigation resources. Kirkland is now deploying those resources to form a group of some of its leading trial lawyers to help clients protect their rights and monetize their assets in plaintiff commercial matters — with the Firm's full litigation resources and support behind it.

"We are not changing who we are. We will continue to focus our core on large-scale commercial defense work, but we will be breaking into the plaintiff-side commercial market in a more aggressive way," said Andrew Kassof, a litigation partner and a member of Kirkland's Global Management Executive Committee. "We believe we can be a market leader on this side of the 'v' as well."

Jim Hurst, one of the leading trial lawyers in the country and also a member of Kirkland's Global Management Executive Committee, added: "We have a diverse, dynamic and incredibly talented group of trial lawyers at the Firm. They are hungry to try more cases, and we view this as a way to open up our resources to new and existing clients to monetize their litigation assets through creative fee arrangements on the plaintiff side."  

For over 20 years, Kirkland has been a market leader on alternative fee arrangements, but mobilizing the Firm's resources and litigators to try more of these types of plaintiff cases will reinvigorate the Firm's special fee arrangement program said Reed Oslan, a litigation partner and chair of Kirkland's Special Fee Arrangement Committee. "We are perfectly positioned to partner with our clients and share risk on plaintiff cases. I'm incredibly excited about the opportunities ahead."