National and international law firms are continuing to tout practices tied to the rise in sexual harassment liabilities in the #MeToo era—from investigating and defending against employment claims to a recent big-firm twist on a plaintiffs-side discrimination practice.

But Kirkland & Ellis is among the few firms to explicitly tag a practice with the viral hashtag—and the firm says its "Workplace Compliance & Investigations-#MeToo" group is also unique in the expertise it can offer a core clientele of the firm: private equity firms.

The media headlines around the #MeToo movement acted as a driver for the practice, co-founders Lauren Casazza and Kim Nemirow, said.

"It all really started when the movement started," Casazza, a litigation partner in Kirkland's New York office, said. "Each of these new headlines was coming in and the companies knew they had to react to it."

That was about two years ago, as the accusations against Harvey Weinstein and others were mounting. Casazza, and Nemirow, a partner in the government and internal investigations group in Kirkland's Chicago office, decided to start being proactive about their approach to assisting companies—and especially private equity sponsors—manage and respond to #MeToo related risks such as harassment claims, whistleblower clauses and workplace policies.

"I think what had traditionally been handled by management, such as sexual harassment claims, is now being elevated to the board level," Newirow said. "And this poses an enterprise risk."

The move makes sense, as Kirkland is uniquely positioned in the private equity space. The firm has depended heavily on work for the industry over the past decade to facilitate revenue growth from around $1.4 billion in 2009 to over $3.7 billion reported in 2018, according to ALM data.

The private equity sponsors are often looking for a snapshot of their workplace compliance efforts across their companies, the firm said, so they can either proactively improve policies or reactively address a current situation swiftly and smartly.

The kinds of matters the group addresses could range from high-profile threats to less obvious risks—an outdated sexual harassment policy prior to a large IPO or a damaging Instagram post by a wronged former employee—but they all represent what Casazza and Nemirow called "enterprise class" threats to a company's financial and reputational future. And steering clear or addressing such potential pitfalls is paramount to maximizing investments, the firm said.

"It's a good thing that our clients are speaking about these risks," said Casazza, "because it is driving necessary changes."

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