Eric Schiele is a corporate partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and serves as a member of the Firm's Executive Committee. His practice encompasses M&A and public company board and special committee advisory work, as well as hostile takeover and hedge fund activism defense. Over the course of his career, Eric has advised on announced M&A transactions with an aggregate value of over $1 trillion.

Eric has been repeatedly recognized as a leading lawyer in mergers and acquisitions. In 2020, Eric was one of six M&A attorneys nationwide chosen as a Law360 MVP, and one of seven attorneys nationwide chosen by The American Lawyer as a finalist for its 2020 “Corporate Lawyer of the Year” award. He was recognized for his M&A work by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business from 2015 through 2021. Eric was also recognized by IFLR1000 from 2015 through 2021 and was named to Lawdragon’s list of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America” in 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2021. He has also been recognized by The Legal 500 for his transactional work in the media and entertainment industry in 2017 and 2018, for his work on mergers & acquisitions (large deals – $1bn+) in 2018 through 2020, for his transactional work in the telecoms and broadcast industry in 2014 and 2017, and for his transactional work in the technology industry in 2015.

Eric is a frequent speaker on M&A topics, including co-chairing PLI’s Hot Topics in Mergers and Acquisitions conferences from 2014–2020 and chairing its Shareholder Activism conference in 2016 and co-chairing it in 2018 and 2019.

Eric graduated summa cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University and earned his J.D. with the highest honors from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law.