Jamie Sprayregen, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and the founder of its esteemed restructuring practice, is departing the law firm after over thirty years. Recognized for his role in creating Kirkland’s restructuring division in 1990, Sprayregen has played a significant part in propelling the practice’s status as a formidable force for distressed businesses seeking Chapter 11 protection. His contributions to the firm culminated to serving on Kirkland’s top leadership committee until 2019.
Sprayregen is poised to join financial advisory firm Hilco Global, as reported by twoindividuals acquainted with this development. Communications seeking affirmation of this move remained unanswered by Kirkland, Hilco Global, and Sprayregen at the time of writing.
The restructuring practice created by Sprayregen took a backseat in 2006 when he left Kirkland to take on the role of co-lead at Goldman Sachs’ restructuring group. He returned to the law firm approximately three years later. In recent times, the reins of Kirkland’s restructuring practice were held by New York-based partner Edward Sassower, while partner Joshua Sussberg took the helm of many significant Chapter 11 cases.
As a noteworthy pillar supporting Kirkland’s superlative position in offering advice to private equity firms, the restructuring group has been invaluable. In 2020, Kirkland advised nearly 40% of the biggest Chapter 11 cases filed in the busiest year for corporate restructurings since 2008. It represented prominent businesses including JCPenney, Nieman Marcus, Pier 1 Imports, and Chesapeake Energy Corp[1].
Kirkland, recognized as the world’s largest law firm by revenue with a surpassing figure of $7 billion in revenue in 2023, continues to dominate the legal space[2]. The firm’s average equity partner secured nearly $8 million in earnings last year.
Jamie Sprayregen’s departure was first reported by The Wall Street Journal[3].