North America - United States • Dispute resolution
Kirkland & Ellis LLP's litigation practice group comes highly recommended as ‘very experienced in all areas of commercial litigation’, drawing on the team’s deep bench of ’top drawer legal talent’ to handle complex cases spanning the entire breadth of industry sectors and substantive areas, including Congressional inquiries, securities litigation, class action claims, government investigations and white-collar crime. Leading practitioner Mark Filip splits his time between Washington DC and Chicago and is a go-to name for government enforcement defense and internal investigations. Pre-eminent trial lawyer Jim Hurst is well-regarded for his advice in aspects of complex commercial litigation, having recently spearheaded the firm’s successful defence of Abbott Laboratories in multi-district litigation arising out of a recall of infant formula. Diana Watral represents high-end clients in a broad range of disputes, including contract, False Claims Act, trade secret, antitrust, patent, sports, and product liability cases. New York’s Sandra Goldstein is an important port of call for securities litigation, fraud class actions and business-critical commercial disputes. All lawyers named are based in Chicago unless otherwise specified.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Top drawer legal talent. Very experienced in all areas of commercial litigation.’
‘Very smart and hard working. Have gotten great results for us. Would use them again for any commercial dispute.’
‘Unmatched ability to enter a new area and learn it quickly and thoroughly.’
‘High-quality work. High-quality attorneys.’
‘K&E are the epitome of creative lawyering in the commercial disputes practice area. They look at a case from all angles and put in the time and effort to understand the jurisdiction, parties, evidence, and legal standards thoroughly and better than the other side.’
‘KE worked well as a team to tackle our complex litigation from the various necessary angles and areas of law required to mount a strong class-action defense against the type of case brought against our company. They treated the case very seriously, which was of comfort to our business when faced with "bet the company" litigation. They took the time to learn our company and our industry, which was crucial in defending the litigation. KE was also able to turn complex work in short time periods and to respond with agility to unexpected developments. The court motions and objections were written with the right combination of aggression and professionalism. KE was particularly effective in dismantling the opposing plaintiff and experts in depositions.’
Leading lawyers
Mark represents some of the largest financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies in varied industries in complex civil litigation (including MDL and class action cases), criminal matters, internal investigations, and corporate integrity matters. He has extensive experience in court and advising boards of directors. Mark is also a member of the Kirkland Executive Management Committee.
Next Generation Partners
Diana Watral is a litigation partner and trial lawyer in Kirkland’s Chicago office. Diana represents companies as both plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of business and intellectual property disputes, with recent experience in contract, False Claims Act, trade secret, patent, sports, products liability, and complex commercial cases. Most recently, Diana served as trial counsel to Flexus Biosciences, a Bristol-Myers Squibb subsidiary, in a $1 billion trade secret jury trial that resulted in a complete defense verdict. Diana successfully defended Abbott in a $1 billion False Claim Act jury trial and second-chaired Baxter Healthcare’s successful defense of a $400 million contract dispute. She also successfully defended a TRO and injunction request seeking to prevent the Chicago Cubs from expanding Wrigley Field.