On 'a hiring tear,' Kirkland reportedly pays $9M a year to high-profile lateral hire
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Kirkland & Ellis has snagged rainmaker James Hurst from Winston & Strawn, reportedly with an agreement to pay him about $9 million a year in annual compensation.
Hurst chaired the litigation department at Winston & Strawn, where he represented some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Two anonymous sources told Reuters Legal (sub. req.) about Hurst’s expected compensation package at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, and said the amount is guaranteed for four years.
The Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business and the Am Law Daily also reported on the move. The Am Law Daily says it is part of “a hiring tear of high-profile laterals” by Kirkland. A press release is here.
Law firm consultant Bruce MacEwen told Reuters Legal that $9 million in annual compensation is considered extraordinary, even in a hot lateral market. “It’s huge,” MacEwen told the publication.
Sources told the Am Law Daily that Kirkland has also reportedly paid millions of dollars to snag other laterals, including Stephen Lucas from Weil, Gotshal and Manges in London; and Robert Khuzami, former head of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Winston managing partner Thomas Fitzgerald told several publications that Hurst may have left partly because he wanted to represent pharmaceutical companies that sold brand-name drugs, and Winston generally represented generic drug makers.
