Kirkland & Ellis LLP

With offices across the US, including Houston, New York, and Washington DC, Kirkland & Ellis LLP  is well-established across energy, infrastructure, and general industrial transactions for private equity sponsors including Blackstone and Bain Capital, on the full range of high-value environmental transactions. In conjunction with its environmental due diligence advisory strength, the group stands out on complex M&A, multinational acquisitions, and divestitures, as well as, various project financing matters. Splitting his practice between the Bay Area and Houston, Paul Tanaka leads the practice and is well-known in the market to energy and infrastructure clients, who turn to him for environmental due diligence assessments and power generation, oil and gas, and renewable energy transactions. In the Dallas office, Jonathan Kidwell‘s broad practice extends to energy and project finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and restructurings across the manufacturing, chemical, and mining sectors. Houston’s James Dolphin predominantly handles energy-focused transactions. The deep bench also includes Michael Saretsky, who splits his time between the New York and Bay Area offices and is an expert on environmental-related business transactions, and DC’s Sara Michaelchuck Webber who are both recommended for work on environmental matters within mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. Stefanie Gitler  departed the team to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in March 2025.