Kirkland to stop sharing financial results with the media

Kirkland & Ellis will stop sharing its annual financial performance with the media, breaking with a long-running Big Law tradition.

The firm informed The American Lawyer - which produces the flagship ranking of US law firm financials - that sharing the figures no longer provided “meaningful value” to clients and said inclusion in financial rankings could encourage a focus on quantitative measures over qualitative strengths, according to the Financial Times.

Firms voluntarily submit data including revenue and profit per equity partner to the publication each year.

Kirkland’s decision also applies to other media outlets reporting on the business of law, Bloomberg Law reported.

Citing people familiar with the decision, the publication said firm leaders had become wary of how clients viewed its headline partner profit figure, which can give a misleading impression of what many of its more junior lawyers earn.

Big Law’s biggest numbers

Kirkland has pulled further ahead of much of the Big Law market in recent years.

The firm generated revenue of $10.6 billion last year, with average profit per equity partner of $11 million. Latham & Watkins, the second-largest firm by revenue, reported $8.3 billion.

Kirkland is known for having a large tier of non-equity partners, many of whom can reach partner level from around six years after qualification and are paid salaries rather than sharing directly in the firm’s profits. As many as two-thirds of its partners are thought to be non-equity.

Less disclosure

The move follows another change in Kirkland’s approach to public reporting. Last year, the firm opted not to announce its annual partner promotion round. Subsequent analysis found that it had promoted at least 224 lawyers, a record for the firm.

Kirkland has traditionally announced its partner round in the first week of October. No announcement has been made so far this year.

The firm is not alone in stepping back from financial disclosures. Freshfields stopped publicly announcing its annual financial results from 2024, although as a UK LLP it remains required to file annual accounts at Companies House.