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Jeremy S. Liss

Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Miami, Florida

JS
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Why they matter

Heads Kirkland's national transactional risk insurance practice and leads its fast-growing Miami office — a key R&W insurance and PE carve-out/exit advisor for sponsors.

Background

Jeremy S. Liss is a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and the founding Office Leader of the firm's Miami office, which he helped launch in 2022 alongside three colleagues relocating from Chicago. He holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School (1998, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif) and a B.A. from the University of Michigan (1995), is a CFA charterholder, and began his career as a financial analyst at CS First Boston. His practice centers on private equity M&A — platform investments, add-ons, carve-outs, exits and continuation transactions — and he is widely credited with helping pioneer and popularize representations & warranties insurance, now heading Kirkland's national transactional risk insurance practice.

Notable deals

  • 2023
    Corporate partner on AE Industrial Partners-backed American Pacific Corporation's ~$700M sale to NewMarket Corporation
  • 2022
    One of four founding partners who launched Kirkland & Ellis's Miami office, which he now leads
  • 2025
    Named to South Florida Business Journal's Power Leaders in Law & Accounting, noting deal experience up to $6 billion

Call-prep brief

Background

  • Partner, Kirkland & Ellis; founding Office Leader of Kirkland's Miami office (launched 2022)
  • J.D. Michigan Law 1998 (magna cum laude, Order of the Coif); B.A. Michigan 1995; CFA charterholder
  • Admitted in IL (1999), MI (1999), FL (2022); started career as a financial analyst at CS First Boston

Current Focus

  • Leads Kirkland's national transactional risk insurance practice — credited with helping popularize representations & warranties (R&W) insurance in PE deals
  • Core M&A/PE practice: platform investments, add-ons, carve-outs, exits, continuation vehicles, minority/structured investments
  • Growing the Miami office into one of Kirkland's fastest-scaling outposts, positioned as a hub for Florida- and LatAm-facing sponsor relationships

What They Care About

  • Deal execution speed and creative structuring under stakeholder pressure (per Chambers client quotes)
  • Insurance-backed risk transfer as a deal-closing tool, not just a backstop
  • Institutionalizing a new office — recruiting, brand-building in South Florida

Recent Moves

  • Advised on AE Industrial Partners' ~$700M sale of American Pacific Corp to NewMarket (2023-24)
  • Named a 2025 SFBJ "Power Leader," with deal experience cited up to $6B

Sensitivities

  • PE sponsor client relationships are confidential — avoid naming specific clients in cold outreach
  • As Miami office leader, time is split between fee-earning work and office management/recruiting

Questions to Ask

  1. How is R&W insurance pricing/appetite shifting for healthcare services and CDMO-adjacent carve-outs right now?
  2. What's driving sponsor interest in Kirkland's Miami platform for Latin America-linked deal flow?
  3. Which structural terms (earnouts, continuation vehicles) are sponsors leaning on most in the current rate environment?

Outreach draft

Subject
R&W Insurance Trends in Healthcare Carve-Outs
Hi Jeremy, I'm reaching out ahead of some upcoming diligence work in healthcare services and industrial carve-outs — your work leading Kirkland's transactional risk insurance practice, plus the AMPAC/NewMarket deal, caught my attention. Would you have 20 minutes for a quick call? I'd value your read on how R&W insurance appetite and pricing are shifting for mid-market sponsor-backed carve-outs, and how Kirkland's Miami platform is shaping deal flow into the region. Happy to work around your schedule — mornings tend to be easiest on my end. Best, [Your Name]

Linked companies

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