Premier League footballer levels
Kirkland & Ellis has cemented its status as the undisputed heavyweight of the legal world after its equity partners averaged a staggering $11.1 million (£8.2 million) each in 2025, a 20% jump on the previous year and more than four times what their Magic Circle counterparts earned.
The Chicago-founded firm also became the first law firm in history to break the $10 billion revenue barrier, posting a record $10.6 billion (£7.9 billion) for 2025, up from $8.8 billion (£6.6 billion) the year before.
To put those partner earnings into perspective, first reported by The American Lawyer (£), they place them firmly in the realm of a top Premier League footballer, at roughly £680,000 a month, £158,000 a week, or nearly £22,500 a day.
The Legal Cheek Firms Most List provides a breakdown of average partner earnings across the City’s elite, with Magic Circle figures hovering around the £2 million mark. Top US firms typically average around £5 million, which makes Kirkland’s £8.2 million all the more staggering. It’s also worth noting that £8.2 million is an average, meaning some partners will be earning substantially more.
it’s over.
Not everyone wants to work for a US style firm – culture is totally different despite what you read on LegalCheek comments. If you can hack it, great, but it definitely comes with it’s downsides.
Much smaller equity partnerships in US firms with a large salaried tier underneath. It’s just a different model.
How do we reckon it takes from being promoted to “partner” at K&E (which is among the earliest in the market) to making equity?
In a transactional team, normal market conditions you get about 3-4 years, maybe a bit longer if you have 3 good years then a down year in the critical one which could be explained as a blip.
In an advisory team, there’s plenty of NEPs make a decades long career of mainly deal support work. Someone could start on that track and incrementally build a book to reach a position over years where they have enough originations for equity, long slog though.
An absolutely despicable amount of money. Let us applaud the market!
Sensationalist drivel on par with something from the Daily Mail.
Try harder, Alex.
Partners guys who have probs generated 100s of millions and billions in fees. we’re not taking normal lawyers
What’s happening to our comments ?
I miss the good old lambo days. An impossibly unbuttoned shirt worth more than a trainee weekly salary, impeccable tennis form and a beasting like no other. I was born in Carlisle but I was not made in the ‘land.
US firms only worth it after a few pqe, before then your appendage will be as battered as a glaswegian fish and chip shop’s produce, and not much richer than your magic or silver buddies.
The real question is what will happen to cravat scale and the fx ?
Great. Kudos. Respectfully, please how much compensation did they respectively win for their Clients?
But are they happy?!
Sorry too busy driving my Lambo to answer.
Milbank, King & Spalding, Paul Hastings etc all have AVERAGE profits per partner over $7m… even the “non-elite” US firms are averaging over $5m
And a large part of those profits are driven out of London
And the Accountants ?
May come with a side dish of overwhelming stress, and non-existent work life balance
A Premier League footballer can hit a ball top bins in the 91st minute but can they turn around the 8th draft of an SPA for a Kentucky PE bucket shop on a cold Saturday night at 11:32pm? I think not
Just look at all that cheddar.
Maybe 60% income tax is not unreasonable in this light.