Robert Khuzami speaks at the NLJ's Regulatory Summit in Washington in 2013. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL

Robert Khuzami, the former Kirkland & Ellis white-collar partner who's now second-in-command at the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office, reported earning $11.1 million in partnership income in about a year's span, according to a financial disclosure released this week.

Khuzami, a Kirkland partner since 2013, joined the Southern District of New York in January as a deputy U.S. attorney to Geoffrey Berman, the current interim U.S. attorney and a former partner at Greenberg Traurig. Khuzami's financial disclosure, filed to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, is mandatory for many top-level executive positions.

The financial disclosure by Khuzami offers a glimpse at partner compensation at a firm that just overtook Latham & Watkins as the world's largest by gross revenue. Kirkland's profits per equity partner rose nearly 15 percent last year, to $4.7 million. Head count at the firm rose 13.5 percent, to nearly 2,000 lawyers.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said the $11.1 million reflects some money Khuzami earned in 2016 but was paid in 2017 as well as money he was paid in 2017 and early 2018 before he left Kirkland. The reporting period for financial disclosures includes the current calendar year and the previous calendar year. Khuzami was formally appointed Berman's deputy on Jan. 22.

Khuzami identified the value of his Kirkland capital account at between $250,000 and $500,000, while his pension was valued at more than $500,000.

Khuzami joined Kirkland five years ago from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he formerly led the enforcement division.

At the time he jumped to Kirkland, to head the firm's government and internal investigations group, Khuzami reportedly was hired with a guaranteed compensation of $5 million.

A Kirkland spokeswoman said the firm does not comment on compensation matters.

At least seven other Kirkland partners in addition to Khuzami either left the firm since January 2017 to take various posts throughout the Trump administration or are awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation.

Brian Benczkowski, a partner in Washington, is the White House pick to lead the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division. Beth Williams, also in Washington, was confirmed to lead DOJ's office of legal policy. John Lausch is the U.S. attorney for Northern District of Illinois; John Eisenberg, a top White House lawyer; and Jeffrey Rosen, deputy secretary at the Transportation Department. Jeffrey Clark was the pick to lead DOJ's environmental and natural resources team, and Kate O'Scannlain was confirmed last year as the top lawyer at the U.S. Department of Labor.

Khuzami's financial disclosure identified 31 Kirkland clients for whom he provided legal services. Those clients included Walmart Inc. and its former CEO Michael Duke, Deutsche Bank AG, Navient Solutions, UBS Financial Services, The Blackstone Group LP and The Boeing Co. Khuzami also provided services to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.'s board of directors, Teva Pharmaceuticals NA and AbbVie Inc. The disclosure reveals that Khuzami also provided legal services to Cohen & Grigsby, a law firm based in Pittsburgh.

Khuzami first joined the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan in 1990 after leaving Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. He spent more than a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney in that office. From 2002 to 2009, Khuzami held in-house roles at Deutsche Bank, first as head of litigation and regulatory investigations and then as general counsel to the Americas.

After leaving the SEC in 2013, Khuzami said that many Am Law 100 firms courted him. There was a “significant amount of interest early on,” he said in an interview at the time. Khuzami said he spoke with some 30 Kirkland partners before choosing the firm.

“It's kind of like getting married,” Khuzami said about his recruitment process five years ago. “You know she's the one, but sometimes it takes a little longer to decide. Although if I had chosen to stay in New York I think I would have ended up at Kirkland anyway.”

Brian Baxter in New York contributed reporting.

Khuzami's financial disclosure is posted below:

 

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