Kirkland & Ellis Adds Transactions Team in Los Angeles
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is pleased to announce the addition of a transactional team in Los Angeles led by partners Michael Woronoff, Monica Shilling, Philippa Bond, Jonathan Benloulou, Anne Kim and Chris Wu. The team has extensive experience acting for clients in a wide variety of transactional matters, including private equity, M&A, capital markets, business development companies, governance and tax matters.
Most of the members of the team started this month, and the new lawyers are based in the Firm’s Century City location, which is expanding to accommodate recent and future growth. With this addition, Kirkland has more than 150 lawyers in Los Angeles operating from its offices in Century City and downtown.
“Michael, Monica, Pippa, Jonathan, Anne and Chris are a formidable group with incredible talent, outstanding reputations and a strong team ethos. That’s a very exciting and attractive combination that will benefit clients as well as our teams in Los Angeles and around the world. We look forward to integrating them into our top-tier private equity/M&A platform,” said Jeffrey C. Hammes, Chairman of Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee.
“This is a highly capable and versatile group, with experience that spans the full range of transactional matters. We are thrilled to welcome them to our office in Century City to further enhance our premier teams on the West Coast and across the Firm,” said Jon A. Ballis, Chairman-Elect of Kirkland’s Global Management Executive Committee.
“Kirkland provided a compelling opportunity to continue to build out our market-leading platform for private equity-related transactions. We are delighted to join a great group of colleagues in Los Angeles and beyond, and look forward to contributing to Kirkland’s future growth and success,” said Mr. Woronoff.
Mr. Woronoff is nationally recognized as a leading lawyer for private equity buyouts, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Chambers USA describes him as “100% focused on providing exceptional service,” and a client interviewed by The Legal 500 U.S. refers to him as “literally one of the best attorneys with whom I have ever worked.” He was the exclusive winner of Lexology’s Client Choice Award in the category of Mergers & Acquisitions (California) in both 2018 and 2019. In 2018, the Daily Journal acknowledged him on its “Top 100 Lawyers in California” for the sixth time, and in 2016 The Best Lawyers in America named him the Los Angeles “Corporate Law Lawyer of the Year.” Earlier in his career, Mr. Woronoff was a founding principal of Shelter Capital Partners, a private equity fund that invests in technology and technology-enabled businesses at all stages of development. For the past 16 years, he has taught at UCLA School of Law.
Ms. Shilling maintains a corporate and securities law practice, advising private equity funds and their portfolio companies, public companies, financial advisors, investment banks and issuers on the full life cycle of transactions. She is experienced with M&A transactions, capital markets, general corporate law and corporate governance, securities law and NYSE/Nasdaq compliance. Ms. Shilling also actively represents business development companies (BDCs). Publications including Chambers USA, The Legal 500 U.S. and the Daily Journal have honored Ms. Shilling as a leading private equity, capital markets and corporate/M&A lawyer.
Ms. Bond focuses her practice on capital markets transactions and acts as counsel to issuers, sponsors and underwriters in registered public offerings, block trades and private placements of debt and equity securities, as well as tender and exchange offers and consent solicitations. She also counsels institutional and corporate clients with respect to general compliance and governance. The Legal 500 U.S. and Chambers USA have recognized Ms. Bond as a top capital markets lawyers for several years, and the Daily Journal featured her among its Top Women Lawyers in 2017.
Mr. Benloulou regularly advises private equity firms and private and public companies on merger and acquisition transactions, restructurings and other strategic transactions. In addition, he has extensive experience in asset manager M&A transactions. He also counsels clients with respect to corporate governance and other general corporate matters. The Daily Journal named him to its “Top 20 Under 40” feature in 2015. He has also been recognized as a rising star by The Legal 500 U.S., The M&A Advisor and Super Lawyers “Rising Stars.”
Ms. Kim represents private equity funds, public and private companies and publicly traded partnerships with the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, cross-border transactions, formation of joint ventures, and capital markets and debt financings. She has been recognized for her work in tax by Chambers USA every year since 2014, and has also been recognized by The Legal 500 U.S. and Super Lawyers “Rising Stars.”
Mr. Wu’s diverse corporate practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, with an emphasis on private equity transactions. He also has extensive experience in representing issuers and investment banks in public and private securities offerings and counsels clients on matters of corporate governance, securities law and compliance. He has been recognized as a rising star by Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” since 2015.
About Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis is global law firm with 2,500 attorneys representing clients in private equity, M&A and other complex corporate transactions, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, restructuring and intellectual property matters. The Firm has 15 offices around the world: Los Angeles, Beijing, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Munich, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington, D.C.
