Law School alumni, Kirkland & Ellis add $7 million to Law School capital campaign

The Chicago-based international law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP and individual partners of that firm have pledged more than $7 million to fund intellectual programs at the University’s Law School. In recognition of the gift, the top 5 percent of Chicago law students will be honored and known as Kirkland & Ellis scholars.

The gift is likely the largest given by a law firm to any law school. It is comprised of equal contributions from the firm and from partners of the firm who are graduates of the Law School. The school is an important source of attorneys for the firm.

“The University of Chicago Law School and Kirkland & Ellis are, in an important sense, partners with common values. Each is known for its excellence and intellectual intensity,” said Saul Levmore, Dean of the Law School. “This magnificent gift will enhance a relationship that is already strong. Moreover, I am confident that it will remind other friends and firms of the importance of this Law School and our current Centennial Capital Campaign.”

“For many years, the University of Chicago Law School has been an important source of legal talent and leadership for Kirkland,” said University Trustee Emily Nicklin (J.D.,’77), who is a partner at the firm. “We at Kirkland & Ellis are pleased to have the opportunity to make this contribution to the Law School and its current campaign.”

The $100 million capital campaign, currently well past its halfway mark in time and gifts, has focused donors’ sights on the need for student scholarships, support for public-interest work and public policy initiatives, building revitalization and faculty support. The Law School’s campaign is part of the University’s Chicago Initiative, its $2 billion capital campaign.

The Law School is known for pioneering legal scholarship, with historic strengths in law and economics, criminal law, constitutional law, tax law and policy, international law and administrative law. It also is known for great teaching and a collaborative learning environment. The law faculty is, on a per-person basis, easily the most cited law faculty in the world, and it has included Nobel Prize winners and other luminaries. Its faculty and students have gone on to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, in the Senate, as Attorney General (several times), and in many other important roles around the world.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a firm of 1,100 attorneys representing global clients in complex transactional, litigation, intellectual property and restructuring matters with offices in Chicago, Ill., London, U.K., Los Angeles, Calif., Munich, Germany, New York, N.Y. San Francisco, Calif. and Washington, D.C.