MONICA SHILLING
Partner
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Monica Shilling understands that lawyers are important vessels of guidance, helping clients through changing times and cultural shifts. She uses her unique legal insight to assist clients in structuring complex transactions and finding creative strategies to get deals done, especially during these challenging times of economic uncertainty and looming regulatory developments.
Within the past year and a half, Shilling has worked non-stop to help clients raise capital and address liquidity needs, raising over $10 billion in a variety of transactions. Her vast experience and skill not only make her a leading corporate attorney, but an invaluable business partner as well. She has also made it her mission to address some of the inequalities brought to the forefront during the last year. She provided pro bono legal counsel – in an effort to diversify the alternative investment industry – with respect to a 10-year, $90 million, industry-first initiative, “AltFinance: Investing in Black Futures,” launched by Apollo Global Management, Inc., Ares Management Corporation and Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. She also assisted Hello Sunshine, the mission-driven media company that puts women at the center of every story it creates, founded by Reese Witherspoon in 2016, in connection with its recently announced definitive agreement for a majority investment.
Shilling has been at the forefront of creative financing structures her whole career. Her experience helping clients navigate regulatory changes and innovations in the marketplace has placed her among a handful of senior female attorneys leading the current special purpose acquisition companies boom. Since January 2021, she has worked on multiple high-profile de-SPAC transactions worth over $17 billion.
2021 Leaders in Law Honoree: Corporate Attorney of the Year
