Danielle M. Haikal

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce that 90 attorneys will be promoted to partner effective Oct. 1, 2015. The names, practice groups and office locations of the attorneys follow. Kirkland & Ellis is a 1,600-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex corporate, restructuring and tax, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in Beijing, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington, D.C. Chicago Name Practice Area Paul Anderson Corporate William Arnault Litigation Peter Bartoszek Litigation Ian J. Block Intellectual Property Jessica Bluebond-Langner Litigation Katie Bolanowski Corporate Brian Borchard Litigation Joydeep Dasmunshi Corporate Vikas K. Didwania Litigation Yates French Litigation Craig Garvey Corporate Bradley Thomas Giordano Restructuring Melissa R. Grim Employee Benefits Daniel A. Guerin Corporate John O. Gunderson Corporate Ryan P. Haas Corporate Bill Helmstetter Intellectual Property Kristina Hendricks Intellectual Property Ryan Hubbard Intellectual Property Russell King Litigation Timothy W. Knapp Litigation Sean Z. Kramer Corporate Krystle Lamprecht Real Estate Andrew Lillis Corporate Matthew M. Mauney Corporate Josh McLane Tax Megan M. New Intellectual Property Cole Parker Corporate Sean Powers Litigation Gregory Sanford Intellectual Property Jessica Schultz Real Estate Nora S. Tauke Schweighart Restructuring Ana Sempertegui Corporate Steven Serajeddini Restructuring Hayley Smith Corporate Christopher M. Thomas Corporate Michael Thorpe Litigation Kate Wheaton Warner Litigation Hong Kong Name Practice Area Xiaoxi Lin Corporate London Name Practice Area Carl Bradshaw Corporate Robert Bradshaw Debt Finance Jifree Cader Restructuring Aprajita Dhundia Corporate Neema Dowson-Collins Litigation Justin Gardner Corporate Kirsteen Nicol Debt Finance Fatema Orjela Corporate Los Angeles Name Practice Area Jay Bhimani Litigation Sierra Elizabeth Litigation Tanya Greene Litigation Justin Singh Intellectual Property Brandon Vongsawad Corporate Munich Name Practice Area Christine Kaniak Corporate Carl Pickerill Restructuring New York Name Practice Area Ravi Agarwal Corporate Shireen Barday Litigation David Beller Corporate Stephen Butler Tax Esther Chiang Corporate David A. Curtiss Corporate David N. Draper Intellectual Property Pat Evans Restructuring Robert Gretch Litigation Brian Hecht Corporate Bonnie L. Jarrett Intellectual Property Nate Kritzer Litigation John Kupiec Corporate Stefan Miller Intellectual Property Stefan Paulovic Corporate David B. Sherman Private Funds Laura Sullivan Corporate Ross Weiner Litigation Palo Alto Name Practice Area Archit P. Shah Intellectual Property San Francisco Name Practice Area Brandon Brown Intellectual Property Michael Esser Litigation Matthew Goulding Corporate Abtin Jalali Corporate Danielle M. Quinn Private Funds Leah Recht Corporate Shanghai Name Practice Area Agnes X. Li Litigation Washington, D.C. Name Practice Area Alexandra Farmer Environmental Patrick Haney Litigation Katherine Katz Litigation Helena Kiepura Intellectual Property Patrick Montgomery Litigation Claire McCusker Murray Litigation Craig Murray Intellectual Property Brendan Reed Corporate Jason Wilcox Intellectual Property Jodi Wu Litigation NOTE:  In general, the admission date will be October 1, 2015, or such later date when any necessary regulatory requirements have been complied with.

Oct 1

2 min

Pointing to an explosion of consumer class actions and a surge of contingency and premium-priced matters, Shook, Hardy & Bacon said it grew revenue 28.4% to nearly $643.4 million, while average profits per partner soared 57.4% to about $2.32 million. Revenue per lawyer also grew 24.1%, to $1.16 million, even amid a bump in firm headcount. Meanwhile, the firm’s net income grew a substantial 59.2%, to $309.2 million, while average comp for all partners surged 47.7%, to $1.4 million. The gains were also made as the firm slightly grew its equity and nonequity partnership tiers. The firm didn’t say how many hours it billed. But in an interview this week, firm chair Madeleine McDonough said it was a year of “tremendous client demand,” saying there were more hours billed in 2025 than 2024, as billing rates also grew between 7% and 9%. More than a third of the firm’s revenue (38%) came from alternative fee arrangements, and some of that includes matters where there are success or premium bonuses built in for achieving certain milestones. McDonough said they have found that clients appreciate when firms “also have skin in the game with them, and we like to do that wherever we can.” She also said they like to joke that “if there are 100 clients we’re negotiating with, we might have 100 different [billing] arrangements.” But the traditional contingency matters are in a separate bucket, she said. “We always have a pretty robust pipeline of potential contingency fee recoveries, but because they are inherently contingent, we never budget for them, so when they happen, they are quite a positive, and we have quite a few in the works right now,” McDonough said on Monday. She added, “That’s become, I would say, a more interesting and profitable piece of our overall portfolio. We really do like betting on ourselves, and so far it’s been a pretty profitable approach.” The firm’s leader noted that there’s been an “explosion” of consumer class actions in California in particular, and that’s affected the firm’s top and bottom lines, noting that Shook represents 23 of the top 25 automotive manufacturers. Meanwhile, tech clients, like Microsoft, and chemical and pharmaceutical companies are significant parts of the firm’s rolodex, she said. Shook has been able to more aggressively expand its client list over the last decade or two, while continuing to serve legacy clients that have been with the firm for generations, she said. “We have far less concentration issues than we did 10 years ago, or 20 years ago,” she said. Products liability, large-scale multidistrict litigation, antitrust and complex commercial litigation work in particular led to much of the firm’s gains in 2025. McDonough also called the firm’s complex litigation strategic counseling practice, which helps clients coordinate on mass torts, “transformative.” “They look at early planning for large-scale litigation, from really a strategic and discovery and technology perspective; use all sorts of AI and other approaches to managing large-scale litigation, and it’s really across industries,” she said. “So I would say that approach has been a really important piece of our portfolio.” She noted that the group’s hiring of John Rosenthal and Jamie Brown, plus the addition of Simone Jones as a partner to its class action and appellate litigation practice from Sidley Austin, are early key hires this year. McDonough also pointed to the notable additions last year of Holly Polgase, from Clyde & Co., and former U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson in Boston in complex litigation and strategic counseling, respectively; Matt Ball in class actions in San Francisco, from K&L Gates; and trial attorney Kurt Weaver in Chicago, from Womble Bond Dickinson. She said the firm has multiple strategies on the lateral market, including looking for overlapping clients, industry depth and partners they’ve worked with in virtual law firm environments or otherwise. Also: “Sometimes we really just need more horsepower, because some of the litigations are so large,” she said. At a time when many firms are creating and increasing nonequity partners, while seeing declines in the equity ranks, Shook slightly grew both tiers last year, with equity increasing 1.1% to about 133.4 full-time equivalents, and nonequity partners increasing about 1.4%, to about 130. McDonough said the firm wants to grow in those areas, but they’re always looking at the qualities of those partners, and the overall numbers “never guided our decision-making on that.” McDonough said while there is nothing imminent, she is “always open to exploring” combinations, whether it’s acquiring smaller firms, merging with similar-sized firms or even getting interest from larger firms. She said that, especially in a competitive and increasingly expensive environment, they have to remain open-minded. “You have to look at growing in almost every way, whether it’s individuals, small practice groups, large practice groups, or even combinations,” McDonough said. The 2025 financial figures reported in this story are preliminary. Law.com will report finalized data for the Am Law 200 on The American Lawyer in April and May.

Mar 3

4 min

Biopharmaceutical company BioAge Labs Inc. has, for now, escaped a suit alleging investors were hurt by plummeting share prices after the company unexpectedly halted a clinical trial for a weight loss drug, saying that the investors failed to plausibly show the company did not properly disclose risks to the trial. In Thursday's order, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said the suit led by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority must do more than assert that the risk of transaminitis — a frequent indicator of liver disease — was significant and inevitable in disrupting BioAge's clinical trials for its obesity drug candidate azelaprag. Judge Seeborg gave the investors three weeks to file an amended version of the suit addressing the deficiencies. In the latest version of the suit filed in June, the investors claim that BioAge's shares fell from over $20 to under $5 in December 2024 after it said it would discontinue its Phase 2 clinical trial after certain study participants showed signs of transaminitis. The investors allege that transaminitis was "virtually certain" to disrupt the trial, but Judge Seeborg did not agree. Of the clinical trials involving 265 participants, only one indicated transaminitis, the order states. "Certainly, that isolated observation did not make it likely, much less inevitable, that the [clinical] trial would be impacted by transaminitis," Judge Seeborg determined. Judge Seeborg also rejected the suit's argument that "once a company chooses to disclose any safety information, it must disclose all material information regarding safety." "[SEPTA] avers that the risk disclosures were inherently misleading absent a discussion of transaminitis," the order states. "That can only be true if the risk disclosures' failure to discuss the risk of transaminitis implied that the risk did not exist." The suit claims the December 2024 announcement particularly hurt investors who relied on company forecasts made ahead of its September initial public offering, when they predicted that it would have the topline results from the trial in the third quarter of 2025, the complaint said. But Judge Seeborg said the investors' assertion that transaminitis had materialized in the trial's participants by the time of the IPO is "entirely conclusory." "It is unclear, for example, how long the onset period is or how often BioAge was testing liver enzyme levels," the suit states. "Without that detail, SEPTA's claim is too speculative to survive a motion to dismiss." Representatives of the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. The investors are represented by Stephen R. Basser, Samuel M. Ward, Jeffrey A. Barrack, Danielle M. Weiss and Andrew J. Heo of Barrack Rodos & Bacine. BioAge and the individual defendants are represented by Bruce G. Vanyo, Christina L. Costley and Paul S. Yong of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. The case is Soto v. BioAge Labs Inc. et al., case number 3:25-cv-00196, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Oct 31

2 min

Sidley represented Fresh Origins, a LaSalle Capital Group portfolio company, in its sale to private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc. Fresh Origins is a grower and shipper of microgreens and edible flowers for foodservice and retail customers, serving more than 350 foodservice distributors, restaurants, and retailers across the United States. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Sidley team was led by Jeffrey N. Smith and Dirk Andringa (M&A and Private Equity), and included Danielle M. Haikal, Helen Jazzar, and Charles E. Mahone II (M&A and Private Equity), Suresh T. Advani and Daniel L. Henry (Tax), Kelechi E. Adibe (Global Finance), Katherine A. Roberts, Jason G. Marsico, Emily M. Wajert, and Erika B. Pringle (Labor and Employment), Lauren A. Gallagher and Elizabeth T. Burns (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation), Heather M. Palmer and Sarah A. Jehl (Environmental), Elizabeth K. McCloy and Matt Wholey (Real Estate), and Edward Sharon (Antitrust/Competition).~~Sidley represented Fresh Origins, a LaSalle Capital Group portfolio company, in its sale to private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc. Fresh Origins is a grower and shipper of microgreens and edible flowers for foodservice and retail customers, serving more than 350 foodservice distributors, restaurants, and retailers across the United States. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Sidley team was led by Jeffrey N. Smith and Dirk Andringa (M&A and Private Equity), and included Danielle M. Haikal, Helen Jazzar, and Charles E. Mahone II (M&A and Private Equity), Suresh T. Advani and Daniel L. Henry (Tax), Kelechi E. Adibe (Global Finance), Katherine A. Roberts, Jason G. Marsico, Emily M. Wajert, and Erika B. Pringle (Labor and Employment), Lauren A. Gallagher and Elizabeth T. Burns (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation), Heather M. Palmer and Sarah A. Jehl (Environmental), Elizabeth K. McCloy and Matt Wholey (Real Estate), and Edward Sharon (Antitrust/Competition).

Jan 25

1 min

Sidley is representing Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE: TDS) in the US$4.4 billion sale of United States Cellular Corporation’s (NYSE: USM) wireless operations and select spectrum assets to T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS), including a combination of cash and up to approximately US$2 billion of assumed debt. The agreement includes T-Mobile entering into a new master license agreement on more than 2,000 of UScellular’s owned cell phone towers. The Sidley team is being led by John P. Kelsh (Corporate Governance) and Scott R. Williams, Christopher R. Hale, and Danielle M. Haikal (M&A); and includes Mitchel A. Mick, Cameron S. Stanton, Spencer A. Lee, Emily M. Olivera, Helen Jazzar, Peter M. Riley, Elizabeth A. Buescher, Reed M. Kreger, Brendan McCartney, Kathryn E. Banks, Alex Theodosakis, and Kyle Padden (M&A); Sonia Gupta Barros, David Ni, Robert Mandell, and Sara M. von Althann (Capital Markets); Paul E. Veith, Maseeh Moradi, and Lauren M. Stapleton (Commercial Litigation and Disputes); Matthew E. Johnson, Melissa K. McGrory, P.C. Wang, Richard Schneider III, and Alexandra B. Green (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation); John W. Stribling (Energy and Infrastructure); Heather M. Palmer and Sarah A. Jehl (Environmental); James Mendenhall, Howard J. Stanislawski, and Carys Golesworthy (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy); Robert Lewis, Megan H. Roberts, Andrew C. Adair, Christian Wyse, Angela B. Gallagher, and Max R. Lupin (Global Finance); Scott J.F. Goldstein (Insurance); Nathan J. Greene, Carla G. Teodoro, Douglas E. McCormack, and Bernie Zamichow (Investment Funds); Natalie C. Chan, Teresa L. Reuter, and Carolyn L. Ayaub (Labor, Employment and Immigration); Colleen Theresa Brown and Sasha Hondagneu-Messner (Privacy and Cybersecurity); Elizabeth K. McCloy, Ryan A. Lee, Will Otter, Brandon Bryer, and Margaret Whalen (Real Estate); Elizabeth Y. Austin, Jim Ducayet, Katie Klaben, and Yunzhou Wang (Securities Enforcement and Regulatory); Suresh T. Advani, Nathan Enfield, and Jennifer Waclawik (Tax); Mark L. Kaufmann, Dusan Clark, Robert J. Kelly, E. Kyle Barnett, and Imani Lee (Technology and Life Sciences Transactions); and Leslie A. Shubert and Marcus S. Bauer (White Collar: Government Litigation and Investigations).~~Sidley is representing Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE: TDS) in the US$4.4 billion sale of United States Cellular Corporation’s (NYSE: USM) wireless operations and select spectrum assets to T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS), including a combination of cash and up to approximately US$2 billion of assumed debt. The agreement includes T-Mobile entering into a new master license agreement on more than 2,000 of UScellular’s owned cell phone towers. The Sidley team is being led by John P. Kelsh (Corporate Governance) and Scott R. Williams, Christopher R. Hale, and Danielle M. Haikal (M&A); and includes Mitchel A. Mick, Cameron S. Stanton, Spencer A. Lee, Emily M. Olivera, Helen Jazzar, Peter M. Riley, Elizabeth A. Buescher, Reed M. Kreger, Brendan McCartney, Kathryn E. Banks, Alex Theodosakis, and Kyle Padden (M&A); Sonia Gupta Barros, David Ni, Robert Mandell, and Sara M. von Althann (Capital Markets); Paul E. Veith, Maseeh Moradi, and Lauren M. Stapleton (Commercial Litigation and Disputes); Matthew E. Johnson, Melissa K. McGrory, P.C. Wang, Richard Schneider III, and Alexandra B. Green (Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation); John W. Stribling (Energy and Infrastructure); Heather M. Palmer and Sarah A. Jehl (Environmental); James Mendenhall, Howard J. Stanislawski, and Carys Golesworthy (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy); Robert Lewis, Megan H. Roberts, Andrew C. Adair, Christian Wyse, Angela B. Gallagher, and Max R. Lupin (Global Finance); Scott J.F. Goldstein (Insurance); Nathan J. Greene, Carla G. Teodoro, Douglas E. McCormack, and Bernie Zamichow (Investment Funds); Natalie C. Chan, Teresa L. Reuter, and Carolyn L. Ayaub (Labor, Employment and Immigration); Colleen Theresa Brown and Sasha Hondagneu-Messner (Privacy and Cybersecurity); Elizabeth K. McCloy, Ryan A. Lee, Will Otter, Brandon Bryer, and Margaret Whalen (Real Estate); Elizabeth Y. Austin, Jim Ducayet, Katie Klaben, and Yunzhou Wang (Securities Enforcement and Regulatory); Suresh T. Advani, Nathan Enfield, and Jennifer Waclawik (Tax); Mark L. Kaufmann, Dusan Clark, Robert J. Kelly, E. Kyle Barnett, and Imani Lee (Technology and Life Sciences Transactions); and Leslie A. Shubert and Marcus S. Bauer (White Collar: Government Litigation and Investigations).

May 29

3 min