Jon Ballis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1969 (age 55–56) |
| Education | Lehigh University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Jon A. Ballis is the chairman of Kirkland & Ellis, [1] the largest law firm in the world by revenue. [2] In 2018 Ballis was named to succeed Jeffrey Hammes as chairman beginning in February, 2020. [3]
Ballis grew up in the Chicago area. Ballis attended Highland Park High School, where he played basketball with Jonathan Gray, now COO of Blackstone Inc. [4] [5] In 1987, Ballis went to attend Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, graduating with High Honors in 1991. He then matriculated to Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude in 1994. [6]
Ballis began working at law firm Sidley Austin in 1994 and earned partner in 2002. He joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in 2005. At Kirkland & Ellis he has concentrated on private equity deals. He has handled legal services for major private equity companies including Bain, Blackstone, Centerbridge, Cerberus, Hellman & Friedman, KKR, Madison Dearborn, Pritzker Group, Silver Lake, TPG, and Thomas H. Lee. [7] [8] [9]
As chairman he has continued Kirkland & Ellis's increasing focus on advising private equity deals and poaching revenue producing lawyers from other firms by incentivizing them with high pay. [10] [11] [12] [13] Kirkland & Ellis has the second highest profit per partner of any United States law firm. [14]