Leading International Arbitration Lawyer Joins Kirkland & Ellis International LLP

Kirkland & Ellis International LLP is pleased to announce that Christopher G. Colbridge has joined the Firm as partner in the London office.  He will be a member of the Firm’s international litigation and arbitration practice group.

Colbridge joins Kirkland from Shearman & Sterling LLP in London, where as partner and head of the international litigation and arbitration group in London, he represented clients before international arbitral tribunals, English courts, and other courts around the world.  Cited as a leading international arbitration lawyer in a number of legal directories, including Chambers Global - The World’s Leading Lawyers 2004, Colbridge has represented multi-national corporations, governments and government-owned entities in international arbitration and litigation cases across the globe.  In addition, Chris has particular experience in the conduct of white collar crime investigations on a global basis.

“We are delighted to have a lawyer of Chris’s stature join our partnership,” says Thomas D. Yannucci, chair of Kirkland’s management committee.  “Chris is a recognized leader in his field and will be a tremendous asset to our Firm.” 

The 38 year-old Colbridge holds a Licence et Maîtrise en droit privé from the Université de Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and a law degree from King’s College, University of London. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

“I look forward to contributing to the expansion of Kirkland’s litigation and arbitration practice,” Colbridge said. “The Firm’s reputation in Europe has hinged primarily on outstanding private equity, intellectual property, restructuring and insolvency, banking, and tax work. I hope to grow the international litigation practice to the same level of recognition and believe that my experience will be a great asset in developing this area.”

"Chris should feel right at home at Kirkland with our long-standing commitment to litigation and arbitration,” added Stuart Mills, a partner and one of the founders of Kirkland’s London office.  “With the addition of Chris (international arbitration), Francis Neate (litigation), Ian Taplin (tax), Lyndon Norley (insolvency), John Markland (banking) and Pierre Dubois (intellectual property), we have substantially expanded our UK practice.  Starting from a greenfield site we have selected and recruited the best of the best of UK-based international lawyers."

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an international law firm with 1,000 lawyers located in London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC.  Kirkland & Ellis ranks among the top 15 global law firms according to The American Lawyer’s 2004 Global 100 survey.