Over the course of the past three years, the New York-based private equity firm Blackstone has paid the Chicago-based law firm Kirkland & Ellis a whopping $164.6 million in legal fees, according to a recent regulatory filing. In a year-on-year analysis of the disclosed figures, Kirkland received $41.6 million from Blackstone in fees in 2023, a decrease from the previous year’s $53.4 million in 2022, which was also lesser than the $69.6 million obtained in 2021. More details can be found in the filing document.
This unusual verification of the private equity firm’s spending followed after Kirkland partner Reginald “Reg” Brown joined the Blackstone board in 2020, thereby invoking conflict-of-interest rules. Read more about the situation in this report.