Oil & Gas Deals Are Tanking. The World’s Top M&A Law Firm Has Been Here Before

Kirkland & Ellis spent a decade building a billion dollar-plus energy and infrastructure business and becoming the top legal adviser for US oil and gas deals. It was perfectly placed to benefit from Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda.

Then, the US president’s global trade war tanked the price of crude and stifled transactions in the country’s oil patch, which are down by more than 40% this year, Bloomberg-compiled data show. Kirkland has also found itself among firms caught up in the US government’s attacks on big law.