Blackstone Spent Nearly $70 Million at Big Law's Top Dealmaker - Bloomberg Law
Kirkland & Ellis received $69.6 million in legal fees from Blackstone Inc. last year, the company disclosed in a securities filing.
Kirkland, the world’s largest law firm by gross revenue, has been engaged “from time to time in the ordinary course of business to provide legal services to us and our subsidiaries,” Blackstone said in a 10-K filed Feb. 25.
Reginald Brown, a Washington-based Kirkland litigation partner joined Blackstone’s board in September 2020. He “does not receive any direct compensation, specific origination bonus, or other disproportionate allocation from legal fees we pay to Kirkland,” Blackstone said.
Kirkland has capitalized on its private equity ties to become a leading adviser to clients pursuing corporate transactions. Kirkland was outside counsel to a Blackstone affiliate in early February on its sale of Death Row Records to rapper-turned-entrepreneur Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus Jr.
Blackstone’s president, Jonathan Gray, a high school classmate of Kirkland chairman Jon Ballis, told Bloomberg Law that Kirkland’s ties to his firm were strengthened by its decision to invest in a broad array of legal services that it provides to alternative asset managers.
“It’s all these other functions they’ve brought together under one roof that has been a powerful combination and has really accelerated their growth,” Gray said.
Blackstone’s relationship with Kirkland predates its addition of Brown to the board, the New York-based investment firm said. Brown’s interest is “estimated to be less than 1%” of the $69.6 million in fees paid to the firm last year, the filing said.
Brown was chairman of the financial institutions practice and vice chair of the crisis management and strategic response group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr prior to making the move to Kirkland with three other partners in late 2020.
Blackstone’s 10-K in 2020 noted Brown’s board role but didn’t disclose how much it paid Kirkland that year. In “making a determination with regard to Mr. Brown’s independence, our board of directors considered Mr. Brown’s role as a partner” at Kirkland and “our past and current work with this law firm,” that filing said.
Brown, in his role as a Blackstone board member, earned $150,000 in cash and $211,400 in stock awards. Bloomberg data show that Brown currently owns Blackstone stock valued at almost $669,000.
Kelly Ayotte, a former associate at New Hampshire’s McLane Middleton who went on to serve as a U.S. senator and attorney general for the state and subsequently helped the Trump administration handle the nomination process for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, also serves on Blackstone’s board.
Ayotte received $150,000 in cash and $210,300 in stock awards last year. She currently owns $1.5 million in Blackstone stock, per Bloomberg data.
Michael Chae, a Yale Law School graduate serving as Blackstone’s chief financial officer, earned more than $30.8 million in total compensation last year.
Kirkland’s legal fee windfall comes despite Simpson Thacher & Bartlett being Blackstone’s longtime go-to legal adviser.
Simpson advised Blackstone in February on its $24 billion recapitalization of European logistics operator Mileway and $5.8 billion acquisition of an apartment owner. The firm saw former partner John Finley become Blackstone’s chief legal officer in 2010.
Finley, who previously co-headed the global mergers and acquisitions group at Simpson, didn’t respond to a request for comment about whether Kirkland was Blackstone’s highest-paid outside legal adviser during 2021.
Blackstone spokesman Matthew Anderson declined to discuss anything about the firm’s legal expenses outside its 10-K disclosure.
Legal Chief’s Pay Up
Finley’s own pay package rose 34% year-over-year, according to the new filing. He earned nearly $17.8 million in total compensation last year, up from almost $13.3 million in 2020.
The bulk of Finley’s remuneration was comprised of more than $9.6 million in stock awards. He was also paid roughly $3.9 million in cash, approximately $350,000 of which is his base salary with the remainder a bonus.
Securities filings show that over the past year Finley has sold off more than $14.4 million in Blackstone stock. He currently owns Blackstone shares valued at about $46 million, according to Bloomberg data.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Baxter in New York at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Opfer at [email protected]; John Hughes at [email protected]
source: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/blackstone-spent-nearly-70-million-at-big-laws-top-dealmaker
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.