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Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP vs. Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Category by category. Sources: Vault 2027, Am Law 200 FY2025, and reported Chambers records from the years shown.

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Who Wins Each Category

Each row stands on its own. There is no overall winner; weigh what matters to you.

CategoryCravathKirkland & Ellis
Higher pay winsTie$225,000$225,000
Higher wins$7.20M$11.12M (wins this category)
Lower rank wins#1 (wins this category)#6
Lower rank wins#50#1 (wins this category)
Higher wins$1.29B$10.56B (wins this category)
More lawyers wins5724,145 (wins this category)
OfficesMore offices wins427 (wins this category)
Nationwide, Chambers USA 2026More Band 1 tables wins6 tables26 tables (wins this category)
2L OpensSummer 2028Earlier date winsJan 4, 2027Opened Nov 1, 2026 (wins this category)
1L OpensEarlier date winsNo 1L ProgramOpened Nov 1, 2026Summer 2027 (1L stint for 2L offer holders; apply once for the 2L summer)

Sources: Vault 2027 and Am Law 200 FY2025 rankings, Chambers USA 2026, first-year pay as each firm or the market reports it, and program dates from firm career pages on the Job Board. Missing data reads Not Reported and never counts as a loss.

Full Comparison

Rankings & prestige

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP#1
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP#6

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP#50
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP#1

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP15 records
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP65 records
Compensation

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP$225,000
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP$225,000

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP$7.20M
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP$11.12M

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP$1.29B
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP$10.56B

Revenue per lawyer

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP$2.26M
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP$2.55M
Work & scale

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPNot Reported
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPNot Reported

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP7 years
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP6 years

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP3.4:1
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP1.2:1

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP~550
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP~4,150

Offices

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP4
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP27
Summer Program

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP100%
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPNot Reported

Class size

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP143 (year not confirmed)
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP957 (year not confirmed)

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPRotation
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPFree market

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPYes
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPYes
1L and 2L programs

1L program

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPNo 1L summer program
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLP1L summer program

1L applications open

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPNot Reported
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPOpened Nov 1

2L applications open

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPJan 4, 2027
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPOpened Nov 1

2L deadline

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPNot announced
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPNot announced
Chambers by practice, market and year

Green marks the stronger for the same practice, market and year. Shared results are listed once. split some top tables.

Shared rankings

Antitrust · Nationwide · 2026Band 1
Corporate/M&A · Nationwide · 2026Band 1 · The Elite
Corporate/M&A · New York · 2026Band 1 · The Elite
Litigation: General Commercial · New York · 2026Band 1 · The Elite
Tax · New York · 2026Band 1
Tax: Corporate & Finance · Nationwide · 2026Band 1
Securities: Litigation · Nationwide · 2026Band 2

Rank differences

AntitrustNew York · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 1
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 2
Banking & FinanceNationwide · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 2
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1
Banking & FinanceNew York · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 2
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1
Bankruptcy/RestructuringNew York · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 1 · Highly Regarded
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1 · Elite
Capital Markets: High-Yield DebtNationwide · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 2
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1
Capital Markets: Investment Grade Debt: Issuer CounselNationwide · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 1
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 3
Corporate Crime & InvestigationsNationwide · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 1 · Highly Regarded
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1 · Elite
Employee Benefits & Executive CompensationNew York · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 1
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 3
Environment: Mainly TransactionalNationwide · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 2
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1
Environment: Mainly TransactionalNew York · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 1
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 2
Intellectual Property: PatentNew York · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 4
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1
Litigation: General CommercialNationwide · 2026
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPBand 2 · Elite
  • Kirkland & Ellis LLPBand 1 · Elite

Firm-only and additional rankings remain available on each firm profile so missing coverage is not mistaken for a head-to-head loss.

See which of these firms are open on the Job Board

Data sources: Vault 2027, Am Law 200 FY2025, and reported Chambers records from the years shown. Chambers record counts can span years and reporting coverage varies; missing years or markets are not compared. Current Chambers bands were checked against each firm’s Chambers profile on Sep 26, 2026; where Chambers splits a table, every Elite firm ranks above every Highly Regarded firm. Missing values read “Not Reported”.

More head-to-head comparisons

Firm data comes from each firm’s own publications, Chambers USA and Vault; see Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Kirkland & Ellis for sources and dates.