Thomas D. Yannucci

Professor Yannucci is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Chair Emeritus.  He has been a member of Kirkland's Firmwide Management Committee since 1995 and served the maximum of three terms as Chair, beginning in 2001, when the position was created.

Professor Yannucci has acted as trial and appellate counsel in both individual and class action suits involving claims in defamation, intellectual property, securities, antitrust, government enforcement and regulatory matters, RICO, insurance coverage, ERISA, international trade and white collar crime.  He has handled both jury and bench trials, and has appeared in state and federal courts as well as in arbitrations.  Professor Yannucci has argued several cases on appeal, including cases in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, Eleventh and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeals.  He has also served as an arbitrator for complex commercial cases for the American Arbitration Association, and he has served as faculty for programs teaching trial and deposition skills sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA).

Professor Yannucci was profiled in the cover story of the September 1998 edition of The American Lawyer for his lead role in successfully handling Chiquita Brands’ claims against the Gannett Company Inc. and the Cincinnati Enquirer.  He was also featured in The Wall Street Journal article, Story of a Story, in connection with the same case.  Professor Yannucci served as a panelist on the C-SPAN broadcasted panel discussion, “Privacy and the Press.”  He was selected as one of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in Litigation/General Commercial by Chambers USA for many years, and he also appears in Corporate Board Member magazine’s America’s Best Corporate Lawyers.  He is also listed in Best Lawyers in America for several years.

Prior to joining Kirkland & Ellis in 1980, Professor Yannucci served as a trial and an appellate attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, where he received a number of commendations for his performance.  Professor Yannucci served as law clerk for the Honorable John A. Danaher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and he was Editor-in-Chief for the Notre Dame Law Review.