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Kirkland Steps Aside While Big Law Bankruptcy Peers Keep Filing in Houston

Kirkland’s favorite bankruptcy destination appears off-limits for now, but competing firms haven’t shied from the Southern District of Texas following a 2023 scandal.

August 12, 2024 at 01:37 PM

3 minute read

Bankruptcy

Dan Roe

Reporter

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The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer

What You Need to Know

An October 2023 scandal involving Kirkland & Ellis’ preferred bankruptcy venue and co-counsel paused a lucrative relationship in the Southern District of Texas.
Kirkland has filed fewer large Chapter 11s in the first half of 2024 than it filed in Houston alone during the same period of 2023.
Competing bankruptcy practices haven’t hesitated to continue using the jurisdiction, which is perceived as debtor-friendly.

For the bankruptcy practitioners of Kirkland & Ellis and Jackson Walker, the September 2023 bankruptcy filing of SmileDirectClub was just another Monday in a yearslong partnership that saw the world’s biggest law firm by gross revenue and Texas’ biggest law firm by head count combine forces to elevate Houston’s status as Big Law’s premier bankruptcy court.

But those days appear to be in the rearview.

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