License our industry-leading legal content to extend your thought leadership and build your brand. Kirkland and Paul Weiss were both among the 10 busiest firms by deal value, representing clients on deals worth $202 billion and $197 billion, respectively. Clients describe Jon as a go-to guy in the marketplace, a lawyer with stellar legal judgement, and someone with the ability to take a big picture, strategic perspective on transactions.. High-quality journalism isn't free. Jon Ballisbecame Chairman of Kirkland & Ellis in 2020. Its not a good culture, said one former share partner who left the firm recently. So for the first time, he wants to address head-on the thing he thinks is limiting Kirkland from reaching even greater heights: Too many recruits think his firm is a den of wolves, where sharp-elbowed lawyers work grueling hours while looking out for their own good. +1 312 862 2332. Join Facebook to connect with Jon Ballis and others you may know. He wants people like him who relish the hard work. . Thats roughly four times the number the firm hired in 2020, even as two-thirds of the associates it lost last year departed to rival firms, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis of LinkedIn profiles. Over the past decade, Kirkland has raided once seemingly impenetrable Wall Street firms like Cravath Swaine & Moore and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to build out its public company M&A practice, using the lure of a larger paycheck at a younger age to attract talent. Theres no sign Kirkland or other Big Law firms will be asking their lawyers to work less. Kirkland partner Jon Ballis is named to Private Equity Manager's list of the 30 private equity lawyers identified by the industry and their . Jon Ballis is on Facebook. Were like college sports: The players pick us, he said. She joined from Cravath, which paid its average partner $4.6 million that year, data compiled by The American Lawyer show. Big Law firms are facing a retention crisis and Kirkland is no exception. The industry-leading media platform offering competitive intelligence to prepare for today and anticipate opportunities for future success. Still, many in the legal industry laugh at the idea that Kirkland has quietly changed its style. Kirkland did not disclose how much space it is leasing, but industry sources believe it is about 600,000 square feet. Crain's Chicago Business named Kirkland & Ellis partners Jon Ballis, Mark Filip, Asheesh Goel, Andrew Kassof and Linda Myers to its list of "Notable Gen X Leaders in Law." The list honors attorneys between the ages of 40 and 55 serving in a senior leadership role at their respective firms. analyse how our Sites are used. Both options are priced the same. He took advantage of what he saw as a hole in his competitors armor: They paid their lawyers based on how long theyd worked for the firm, not in proportion to their individual contributions. Litigator Sandra Goldstein was paid $11 million a year to join Kirkland in 2018, according to the New York Times. He wants people like him who relish the hard work. Jon Ballis's Email & Phone Number Chairman @ Kirkland & Ellis LLP. I know this sounds insecure, but I hear often that you are a tough place to work, and its not worth it, Ballis said in a series of interviews in recent months. Thats the definition of success here, said Sophia Hudson, who joined Kirkland from Davis Polk, a long-time lockstep firm, in 2018. (Podcast). Debevoise Is Ready, Napoli Shkolnik Sues Own Attorney, Alleging 'Quiet Quitting', 'It Was Every Lawyers Nightmare': Florida Attorney Faces $2.3M Verdict Against Him. . Use my voice at the Firm to address DEI issues and expand opportunities for those attorneys who have been historically underrepresented in the legal industry, including people of color, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community . It fostered internal competition, Kirkland partners said, creating fiefdoms managed by individual partners wary of losing money by sharing clients. That makes Ballis task all the more difficult. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. That conversation happens often. High Net Worth. Our Compliance bundles are curated by CLE Counselors and include current legal topics and challenges within the industry. 7 Reasons to Get Your LL.M. Kirkland opened offices in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah, just to access people in places where they were already living. Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided. You can still enjoy your subscription until the end of your current billing period. In his role, Jon is responsible for establishing and executing upon Kirklands strategic priorities, including advancing business initiatives and promoting a culture of performance, collaboration and collegiality. If youd like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. Get the best business coverage in Chicago, from breaking news to razor-sharp analysis, in print and online. Kirkland & Ellis LLP 300 North LaSalle Chicago, IL 60654 . Kirkland in particular has never cared to explain itself as it offered pro athlete-sized pay packages to lure lawyers from partnerships that used to last a lifetime. Part of the culture change has been required by the scale of Kirklands business. * Kirkland & Ellis will have a new leader soon, but that doesn't mean the firm's lateral hiring spree will end. And the misconception of who we are is not helpful to our institution.. E-mail oureditor Hammes worked hard to break that culture, Kirkland partners said. Clients are incentivized to spread their work around, Jungers said, so if partners think they can take work with them and firms like Kirkland are willing to pay them millions more, theres a real question of whether culture will keep them from moving. The American Lawyer has also named Kirkland to its A-List for 10 years running. From left to right: Sophia, Lottie and John Ballis stand in front of the Ballis Tourist Home in the 1940s. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. By September, the firms M&A engine pushed to a new level that continued through last year. Chairman, Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He now faces the challenge of driving success while competition for top legal talent is fierce. Hammes led the firm from 2009 to 2019, and is credited with orchestrating Kirklands rise to the top by cutting huge checks to lure up-and-coming partners from the most prominent Wall Street firms. You see what type of lawyer he is and you want to be that.. ), Pandemic Generation of Junior Lawyers Win Power Amid Talent War, Kirkland Passes Wachtell as Big Laws Top Global Dealmaker (1). Navigate to map location for Jon A. Ballis P.C. Access to additional free ALM publications, 1 free article* across the ALM subscription network every 30 days, Exclusive discounts on ALM events and publications, Brought to you by Temple University Beasley School of Law. The Super Lawyers selection process takes into account peer . Hammes aggressive hiring remade the firms top management. Hammes worked hard to break that culture, Kirkland partners said. Please consider subscribing to Crain's. Missing Crain's in print? While Ballis admits Kirkland demands much of its people, his argument that the firm is misunderstood boils down to this: He says its been working to ferret out selfish, greedy behavior for more than a decade. Dynamically explore and compare data on law firms, companies, individual lawyers, and industry trends. Soon after he became Kirklands chairman in 2020, Ballis remembers, he tried to woo a partner from a rival firm in London. There was no vote; he was the consensus choice. Rival firm leaders had questioned whether he would continue Kirklands aggressive hiring strategy. (Courtesy photos) Kirkland & Ellis Names New Chairman to Replace Jeffrey Hammes Jon Ballis, a Chicago-based corporate partner who has become one of Kirkland's best-known private equity. In 2003, Stephen Fraidin left Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobsen after 38 years to join Kirklands New York office and its growing M&A team. The 5'6" point guard was known for passing and out-working everybody on the court, according to his high school teammate, Jon Gray, who is now a client and chief operating officer at Blackstone Inc., one of the largest alternative investment management companies in the world. But early in the pandemic, lockdowns and closed courtrooms threatened to make that kind of growth an impossibility. The rest have been forced to pay their most important lawyers more money so they wont be plucked away. Ballis graduated with a Soviet studies major from Lehigh University in 1991, took out loans to go to Harvard Law School, and returned to Chicago to work at Sidley Austin. Jon Ballis. Copyright 2023 ALM Global, LLC. The firms roster of investment funds went from 100 clients in 2016 to more than 700 in 2021, said John ONeil, who heads Kirklands investment funds practice. Customer Service| This peer designation is awarded only to a select number of accomplished attorneys in each state. Sam Mays's great-grandparents, Lottie and John Ballis Jebejian and Schiele were 43 when they joined Kirkland, while Davis was 34. It says attrition grew 50% from a more normal 2019 to 2021, and that the poaching by other law firms is indicative of the value that Kirkland experience adds to a lawyers resume. Since that hire, Kirkland has often focused on filling its roster with 30-and 40-something lawyers who are eager to build their own practice rather than wait in line under a lockstep regime. Jon A. Ballis took charge at Kirkland & Ellis 68 days before the pandemic was declared. (Bloomberg) Kirkland & Ellis chairman Jon Ballis holds a trump card in the legal industry's desperate battle for talent: he can pay more than just about anybody else. Thats the definition of success here, said Sophia Hudson, who joined Kirkland from Davis Polk, a long-time lockstep firm, in 2018. They service that book of business, and they collect revenues for it, ONeil said. Try for free at rocketreach.co . The original version of this story was published on International. We can destroy everybody else, and lets actually go destroy other people.. Private Equity Manager named him one of the top 10 private equity lawyers in the country and The Legal 500 U.S. selected Jon as one of only 10 private equity lawyers for its elite Leading Lawyers list. That will ultimately help the firm achieve its goal of promoting more diverse partner classes internally, she said. or 2. Chicago, IL 60601 Collegiality and everything, talk is cheap, the former partner said. 1. Please use the print button to print this profile page. Bloomberg Markets Americas. Melissa Hutson, a member of Kirklands executive committee, said Kirkland has hired a dozen senior women and diverse partners recently. With this subscription you will receive unlimited access to high quality, online, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry. Aaronson Rappaport Feinstein & Deutsch, LLP Is Pleased To Announce Patrick P. Mevs & Daniel W. Milstein Have Become Members Of The Firm. The firms roster of investment funds went from 100 clients in 2016 to more than 700 in 2021, said John ONeil, who heads Kirklands investment funds practice. And it shaved a year off how long it takes before lawyers are considered for the life-changing status of holding shares in Kirklands profits. That makes Ballis task all the more difficult. Hammes has been chairman of the firm's 15-member Global Management Executive Committee since 2010. Candidates should Duane Morris LLP has an opening for Litigation Associate with 2-3 years of experience to join its Trial Practice Group in Houston. The firm resets partners allocation of shares every other year, and the key questions reward behavior that leaders view as putting the firm first. To Hammes, it meant young, talented partners could feel stymied. It completely overshadows individual success., Edward Sassower, who leads Kirklands bankruptcy practice, said the firm could be a rough place at times when he first joined in 2003, but he now views it as the most collaborative Big Law firm in the world., It took a lot of work to get here from there, he said. Expert Focus. Suite 3200 The demands of billing 2,500 to 3,000 hours a year, though, has come at a cost. He has long been recognized as one of the leading private equity attorneys in the United States, with Chambers USA recognizing him in every edition since 2004 and The Best Lawyers in America listing him in every edition since 2006. By 2005, his practice was virtually all private equity work, and he found himself routinely across the table from Kirkland lawyers. Bloomberg Markets live from New York, focused on bringing you the most important global business and breaking markets news and information as it happens. Now thats such a part of who we are that it happens naturally.. organisation See Jon A Ballis's compensation, career history, education, & memberships. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting. Its not a good culture, said one former share partner who left the firm recently. Staying current is easy with Crain's news delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge. The description of its so-called eat-what-you kill compensation system, which has bred part of its reputation, is a mischaracterization, he says. The Covid-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency just 68 days into his job as chairman. Jon Ballis is one of the young stars of the Kirkland & Ellis buyouts practice, and a standout player for private equity firms doing deals in America's third largest city of Chicago, centre of the . 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