Women in Law 2025

2025

RACHEL CANTOR PARTNER Kirkland & Ellis LLP

R achel Cantor is a partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis. Her practice focuses on the tax aspects of complex business transactions including domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts, as well as joint ventures, recapitalizations and debt and equity restructurings. Rachel has played a crucial role in numerous high-impact transactions ranging from several million dollars to several billion dollars for industry-leading private equity clients including Chicago- based Madison Dearborn Partners, Wind Point Partners and Pritzker Private Capital, and Levine Leichtman, AE Industrial Partners, Parthenon and Accel KKR. Beyond her thriving practice, Rachel is deeply committed to mentoring young female attorneys at Kirkland. She provides meaningful responsibilities to early career attorneys on her most complex deals and thoughtfully guides them through both their successes and their setbacks, thereby providing the tools that they need to become first-in-class practitioners. Rachel notes that, “knowing that many women (including me) suffer from a crisis of confidence, I think it’s important to build women up in their own minds so they can see how great and capable they are – to show them what I see in them.” Rachel is dedicated to facilitating connections between professional women and has informally developed women’s networks connecting attorneys with clients, and clients with each other. In a profession where success can be measured by the number of hours an attorney spends in the office, Rachel understands the

importance of empowering female attorneys to thrive in both their careers and their personal lives. As a highly successful practitioner and a dedicated mother, Rachel leads by example, demonstrating that it is possible to maintain a meaningful career while also devoting time and energy to family and friends. Rachel also dedicates her time to numerous Chicago-based community and charitable endeavors. She is a board member of the Chicago chapter of the American Jewish Committee, a member of Chicago Public Media’s Business Leadership Council and a member of the College Parents Council of the University of Chicago. Rachel actively supports Cradles to Crayons and the Chicago Food Depository, where she volunteers with her family. She is an active supporter of Girl Forward, a community of support dedicated to creating and enhancing opportunities for girls who have been displaced globally by conflict and persecution, and One Family Illinois, which unites siblings in foster care and provides a safe space to heal for at-risk youth. She is also a board member of the U.S.A. Cycling Foundation. Rachel has been recognized in Chambers USA for over a decade as a Band 1, leading tax attorney in Illinois. She has also been recommended by The Legal 500 U.S. and The Best Lawyers in America, and named as a "Notable Gen X Leader in Accounting, Consulting and Law" and a “Chicago’s Notable Woman in Law” by Crain's Chicago Business . Rachel is a frequent writer and speaker on tax topics. She holds a J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School and a B.S. cum laude from Yale University.

WOMEN IN LAW 2025