Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
 | |
| Headquarters | Washington, DC |
|---|---|
| No. of offices | 20 worldwide[1] |
| No. of attorneys | 900+[2] |
| No. of employees | 1,800+ |
| Major practice areas | General practice |
| Key people | Kim Koopersmith, chairperson[2] |
| Revenue | $980 million (2016)[3] |
| Profit per equity partner | $2.1 million (2016)[3] |
| Date founded | 1945 |
| Founder | Robert Strauss and Richard Gump |
| Company type | Limited liability partnership |
| Website | www.akingump.com |
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is an American international law firm and the most profitable lobbying firm in the United States.[4] With more than 900 attorneys, the firm has offices in Dallas, Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Houston, Irvine, Fort Worth, New York, Moscow, Philadelphia, London, Los Angeles, Longview, San Francisco, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Frankfurt and Geneva.[5] Akin Gump is widely considered to be among the most profitable and prestigious firms in the nation[6] and has been consistently ranked as among the top law firms in the United States by The American Lawyer.[7][8] The firm is known for its influence on Capitol Hill and its representation of high-profile clients.[9] With regard to compensation, Akin Gump is ranked by associates as one of the top 10 highest-paying law firms in the country.[10]
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.[11]
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. [12]
In 1963, Jack Hauer left a competitor to join the firm, which became known as Goldberg, Fonville, Gump, Strauss & Hauer.[12]
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.[12]
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.[13]
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 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.[14] By comparison, during that same period Kirkland & Ellis donated $2.49 million, 59% to Republicans,[14] while oil conglomerate ExxonMobil donated $2.66 million, 88% to Republicans.[15] Since 1990, Akin Gump has contributed $19.84 million to federal candidates, and since 2003 has spent $8 million on lobbying.[16]
Recognition
In 2016, the firm was again selected for The American Lawyer's A-List, the annual ranking of the country's 20 leading law firms.[17] In 2015, the firm was ranked as one of the nation's top 20 corporate law firms by Corporate Board Member.[18] In 2016, for the ninth year in a row, Akin Gump was named to The National Law Journal's "Appellate Hot List".[19] of firms that "[won] big 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 2007 list of Top 10 Family Friendly Firms. The Minority Corporate Counsel Association presented Akin Gump with the 2007 Thomas L. Sager Award in recognition of the firm's commitment to diversity. (The firm won the award three times previously.) In 2016, for the 10th 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.[20][21]
Chambers & Partners ranks the firm as top tier in the areas of bankruptcy/restructuring, healthcare, government: government relations, Native American law, and media/entertainment: transactional.[2]
Notable people
- Lauch Faircloth, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina
- Victor H. Fazio, former U.S. Representative from California
- Kay Hagan, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina[22]
- Vernon Jordan Jr., former adviser to President Bill Clinton
- Tom Loeffler, former U.S. Representative from Texas
- Bill Paxon, former U.S. Representative from New York
- John E. Sununu, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire
- Al From, founder and former CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council
- Dario Frommer, former majority leader of the California State Assembly
- Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr., former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs
- Tommy Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin
Alumni
- George P. Bush, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office
- Joaquín Castro, U.S. Representative from Texas
- Julian Castro, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- John M. Dowd, former U.S. Attorney, wrote Dowd Report
- Ben Fountain, award-winning fiction writer
- Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor, The Today Show
- Ken Mehlman, former chair, Republican National Committee
- Patricia Millett, judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Michele A. Roberts, executive director, National Basketball Players Association
References
- ↑ "Locations". Retrieved August 19, 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP – Washington, DC – Law Firm Profile - Chambers USA 2016 – Chambers and Partners". Retrieved June 10, 2016.
- 1 2 "The Am Law 100: Firms Ranked by Gross Revenue". Americanlawyer.com. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
- ↑ "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP|Company Profile|Vault.com". Vault. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
- ↑ "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP|Company Profile|Vault.com". Vault. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
- ↑ "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP|Company Profile|Vault.com". Vault. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
- ↑ "Akin Gump Again on Am Law’s A-List of Top 20 Law Firms". Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
- ↑ "Top of the Charts". The American Lawyer.
- ↑ "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP|Company Profile|Vault.com". Vault. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
- ↑ "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP|Company Rankings|Vault.com". Vault. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
- ↑ Knaub, Kelly. "Texas Powerhouse: Akin Gump" (PDF). Law360. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
- 1 2 3 McGarr, Kathryn. "The Whole Damn Deal: Robert Strauss and the Art of Politics". Public Affairs.
- ↑ Sullivan, Casey (August 11, 2015). "In Lean Times, Law Firms Reconsider Two-Tier Partnership". Bloomberg BNA. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
- 1 2 "Lawyers & Lobbyists: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates, Parties, and Outside Groups". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics.
- ↑ "Energy/Natural Resources: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates, Parties, and Outside Groups". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ↑ "Organizations: Akin, Gump et al". Open Secrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ↑ Blair, Rebecca (August 1, 2016). "Top of the Charts". The American Lawyer.
- ↑ "America's Best Corporate Law Firms: The 2015 Corporate Board Member /FTI Consulting Survey". NYSE Governance Services.
- ↑ "The 2016 Appellate Hot List". The National Law Journal. December 26, 2016.
- ↑ "A Decade of Perfect Scores for Akin Gump on HRC Corporate Equality Index". Akin Gump. December 6, 2016.
- ↑ "Employer Database - Akin Gump". Human Rights Campaign.
- ↑ Wilson, Megan (January 11, 2016). "Ex-Sen. Kay Hagan joins lobby firm". The Hill. Retrieved 26 February 2016.