Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

01 May 2007

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Who's Who Legal: Texas

The firm’s prestige grew in the following years; in 1963 partner Irving Goldberg advised Vice President Lyndon Johnson on the transition to the presidency following the assassination of John F Kennedy, and in 1966 the firm, now with 20 lawyers, changed its name to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Akin Gump increased its presence in Texas through a merger with Schenker, Rosenheim & Schenker, opening a San Antonio office in 1984. In 1989 the firm expanded overseas with a branch in Belgium. A New York office followed in 1993, with an office in Moscow a year later, and when the firm reached its 50th anniversary in 1995 it had reached over 500 lawyers. Today Akin Gump has 900 lawyers and professionals and 15 offices worldwide, including nine in the US and four in Texas alone.

Taking a place among the leading firms in the state, Akin Gump has 14 nominees in the following pages, evenly spread between 10 practice areas. Given the focus of the local economy, it is perhaps unsurprising that the firm should perform well in our Oil & Gas chapter.

Akin Gump also makes a good showing in Capital Markets. The firm represented the first Russian company to make an IPO in the United States and list on the New York Stock Exchange – partner William Morris was praised for his Russian knowledge. Alongside him the head of the firm’s corporate practice in Houston, Michael Dillard, appears; Dillard also turns up in our M&A chapter. During the course of his career he has been involved in mergers and acquisitions valued in excess of $75 billion, including several multibillion-dollar transactions. Akin Gump’s corporate credentials are further underlined by Chris LaFollette’s presence as a leading individual in our corporate governance research, and Charles Gibbs’s inclusion does likewise in insolvency & restructuring.

The labour and employment practice is also well regarded. John Jansonius “should be at the top of everyone’s list”, according to sources, and Laura Franze is included as well. Akin Gump provides several of the nominees for our environment chapter, and in Diana Dutton boasts one of the state’s leading lights. Dutton heads the firm’s environmental practice group, and is joined in the chapter by Paul Seals who was commended for his Superfund work. With further representation in the insurance and trademarks sections, Akin Gump should be seen as one of the leading firms in the state of Texas.

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