Akin And Gump

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Washington, DC. It is the largest lobbying firm in the United States by revenue. Akin Gump has consistently been ranked as among the top law firms in the United States by ''The American Lawyer.'' The firm is known for its influence on Capitol Hill and its representation of high-profile clients. With regard to compensation, Akin Gump is ranked by associates as one of the top 10 highest-paying law firms in the country.

History

The firm was founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1945 by Robert Strauss and Richard Gump. It maintains a large presence in Texas with a total of five offices in the state.

In early September 1950, Strauss and Gump added Irving Goldberg and William P. Fonville to the firm, which was then renamed Goldberg, Fonville, Gump & Strauss.

In 1963, Jack Hauer left a competitor to join the firm, which became known as Goldberg, Fonville, Gump, Strauss & Hauer.

Goldberg left the firm in 1966 to accept a federal judgeship on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was replaced by Henry Akin. Fonville's departure—and the ascent to named partner status of Alan Feld, who had joined the firm in 1960—gave the firm the name it currently bears.

In 2012, the firm's partnership elected Kim Koopersmith to serve as the firm's chairperson. She succeeded R. Bruce McLean, who had helmed the firm for 20 years and became the first woman to chair the firm and one of the few women up to that time to head an Am Law 50 law firm.

In 2013, Akin Gump adopted a "single tier" partnership structure, in which all partners have equity, abandoning the more popular "two tier" structure in which many partners have no equity interest.

In 2017, Akin Gump hired its first chief diversity and inclusion officer, Michele Meyer-Shipp, who joined the firm from Prudential Financial. She was succeeded by Nimesh Patel, who joined the firm in February 2019.

According to OpenSecrets, Akin Gump was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle, donating $2.56 million, 66% to Democrats. By comparison, during that same period Kirkland & Ellis donated $2.49 million, 59% to Republicans, while oil conglomerate ExxonMobil donated $2.66 million, 88% to Republicans. Since 1990, Akin Gump has contributed $19.84 million to federal candidates, and since 2003 has spent $8 million on lobbying.

The firm's clients includes the governments of Japan, South Korea, the Maldives, and Nicaragua.

The firm has offices in Dallas, Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Houston, Irvine, Fort Worth, New York, Moscow, Philadelphia, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva and Hartford.

Involvement in Russia investigation

Paul Manafort, a central figure in the 2017 Special Counsel investigation, was being represented by Melissa Laurenza, a partner of the firm. Melissa Laurenza's role in the Russian investigation centers from her representation of Manafort. The United States Office of Special Counsel compelled Melissa Laurenza to testify in the case. In October 2017, "New York University law professor Stephen Gillers said the judge was persuaded that there was significant evidence Manafort and Gates had duped their lawyer into sending inaccurate letters to Justice about their lobbying efforts and about what emails might exist about the work."

Involvement in US presidential impeachment inquiry

In 2019 lawyers from the firm represented Catherine Croft, a US State Department Ukraine specialist, when she gave testimony to the Select Committee on Intelligence, US House of Representatives.

Recognition

In 2020, for the sixth time in seven years, the firm was selected for The American Lawyer's "Appellate Hot List" of firms that " onbig in federal and state appeals courts across the country."

Yale Law Women, the largest student organization at Yale Law School, named Akin Gump to its 2019 list of Top 10 Firms for Family Friendliness and, in 2020, as one of only three law firms to its list of Top Firms for Working Mothers and Family Planning. In October 2017, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association presented Akin Gump with the Thomas L. Sager Award in recognition of the firm's "sustained commitment to improving the hiring, retention and promotion of diverse attorneys." (The firm won the award four times previously.) In 2019, for the 12th year in a row, Akin Gump received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which rates employers on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors.
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Chambers & Partners ranks the firm as top tier in 11 areas of practice around the globe including in bankruptcy/restructuring/insolvency, capital markets: debt, government relations, healthcare and Native American law.

Notable people

Current employees and consultants

*Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr., former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs
*Joe Donnelly, former U.S. Senator from Indiana
* Victor H. Fazio, former U.S. Representative from California
*Al From, founder and former CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council
*Dario Frommer, former majority leader of the California State Assembly
* Vernon Jordan Jr., former adviser to President Bill Clinton
*Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, former U.S. Representative from Florida
*Lamar Smith, former U.S. Representative from Texas
*John E. Sununu, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire
*Tommy Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
* Filemon Vela, Jr., former U.S. Representative from Texas

Alumni

*George P. Bush, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office
*Joaquín Castro, U.S. Representative, Texas' 20th Congressional District
* Julián Castro, former San Antonio mayor, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, candidate for 2020 Democratic presidential nomination
* Alan D. Cohn, former Assistant Secretary for Strategy, Planning, Analysis & Risk of the United States Department of Homeland Security
*Antonio Delgado, Lieutenant Governor of New York
*John M. Dowd, former U.S. Attorney, wrote ''Dowd Report'' and legal advisor to President Donald Trump
*Ben Fountain, award-winning fiction writer
*Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor, ''The Today Show''
*Kay Hagan, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina
*Ken Mehlman, former chair, Republican National Committee
*Patricia Millett, judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
*Bill Paxon, former U.S. Representative from New York
*Michele A. Roberts, executive director, National Basketball Players Association.
*Todd Wagner, co-founder of Broadcast.com, and businessman

See also

*List of largest United States-based law firms by profits per partner

References

External links

Firm website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld
Dupont Circle
Law firms established in 1945
Law firms based in Washington, D.C.
1945 establishments in Texas
Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong