Some legal industry experts predict Kirkland & Ellis’s entry into the Nashville, Tennessee, market could elevate compensation for top lawyers in the city’s growing legal market, but they also foresee the firm adjusting its rates to meet Music City clients’ more moderate tastes. The world’s largest firm by revenue announced Tuesday it planned to open in Nashville with four current Kirkland litigation partners currently based in Houston, the Bay Area and Washington, D.C. It also said the firm is focused on adding new talent, including “a number of additional partners and associates” with extensive experience in trial, complex commercial disputes and mass torts, among other areas. Jon Ballis, chairman of Kirkland’s executive committee, said in a statement Nashville offered “an ideal environment for our continued growth by enhancing our ability to attract exceptional legal talent in a vibrant and growing city with talented lawyers and a strong law school community.” But observers had mixed opinions about the firm’s growth chances if it uses a rate scale similar to what it and elite peers use in the nation’s largest financial centers. Similar questions accompanied Kirkland's arrival in Philadelphia just over one year ago. Tom Krider, Seattle-based managing partner of Smith Currie Oles, said any large firm that typically charged rates at the highest levels likely will be unable to use comparable rates to grow in Nashville. “They must figure out some way to compensate and to keep partners happy there who have to live with the overhead rate of Kirkland with a rate structure that may not be supported in a place as small as Nashville,” said Krider, who leads a midsize firm that operates a Nashville office. Raj Nichani, president of Atlanta recruiting firm RMN Agency, said he was curious whether Kirkland would follow the lead of other national firms and adjust its rate and compensation models to the new markets they entered. “A lot of firms have rates that are lower in different marketplaces depending on the city,” he said. Rebecca Glatzer, a partner with recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa, said some clients in Nashville may not be willing to pay rates at the highest level: "That actually creates opportunity for everyone up and down the Am Law rankings." "There are going to be some firms that don’t want to compete with the new players,” Glatzer said. “Other firms are going to say, ‘Our clients aren’t going to want to pay those rates,' and that gives us an opportunity in regards to certain types of work, or to specialize in certain types of work because our clients aren’t going to want to pay that at all.” Glatzer added that she expects Kirkland's arrival to prompt other firms already in the market to do an analysis of their rate structure. "You want to remain competitive," she emphasized. But she also said she also didn’t foresee any large national firm with a comparatively higher rate structure putting enough pressure on the overall market to force smaller, regional firms to price themselves out of the market. “I think the trick for a lot of firms is to continually figure out where do we fit in this system or what are we trying to be,” she said. “You have to decide at a certain point who your competitors are." Regarding the impact of a new firm's compensation levels, Nichani said he was curious to see if Kirkland pays bonuses to its Nashville associates on the same level as its other offices. Glatzer said any of the nation’s largest 25 firms that enter the Nashville market with a compensation model designed for major financial centers “will likely put some pressure on the upper-tier partners and senior associates in specialized practices.” “I don’t expect this automatic, wholesale reset of compensation across the market,” said Glatzer, who recruits an area that includes Nashville. “Nashville has always been thoughtful about sustainable growth and the firms there are going to be measured as it relates to both rate pressures and ... compensation pressures,” she said. “In time, I think we’ll see an upper trajectory because of this.” Room for Growth Firms opening in Nashville are entering a market that is quickly maturing but still has room for growth, Glatzer noted. She said strong regional and Tennessee‑based firms dominated the city’s legal industry "with relatively limited national Big Law presence” for years until national firms began establishing outposts in recent years. More than 30 of the largest U.S. firms now operate offices in Nashville, including Am Law 50 firms McDermott Will & Schulte and Holland & Knight, who have entered the city since 2023. Foley & Lardner, Husch Blackwell and Winstead also opened offices in Nashville since early 2024. Yet, Glatzer said there is still room for growth as demand and pricing evolve in the more “mature” practices in Nashville, including health care litigation, corporate, real estate and entertainment-related law. She said Nashville's health care industry has typically drawn law firms to the city because of the sector’s dominance in the market. More than 300 health care companies, including Fortune 500 company HCA Healthcare, operate in the Nashville area and Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the area’s largest employer. But Nashville also is home to Fortune 500 companies in the petroleum and retail sectors, like Tractor Supply Co. and Dollar General. Glatzer noted law firms in Nashville have “always had other types of practices that are not as well-known or heralded as health care” such as real estate or tax law. Glatzer said she had seen demand for associates in litigation, labor and employment and corporate areas in Nashville recently. “Despite the fact that Nashville is kind of known for health care, there are plenty of other things that are done by lawyers in that city,” Glatzer said. “I think they will continue to grow as Nashville grows as a city and as an industry hub.” Despite Kirkland opening its Nashville office with litigators, Nichani said he didn't foresee the firm ignoring health care's prominence in Nashville's economy. He said large firms often are seeking to grow by acquiring groups of attorneys to serve specific clients or ways to improve market positions. “You’re going to see them acquire all of the different pieces, like health care or real estate, or other pieces of the pie,” he said. Nichani said he also believed local attorneys will be “intrigued” by the firm—despite any questions they may have about rate and compensation levels—which could lead to relatively rapid growth in Nashville. “It will cause a good, in my opinion, wave of events where more folks will start to take interest in the firm,” Nichani said. “I can see that firm definitely growing in the next three to five years quite gradually upscale.”