Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 806
- Gross Revenues: $775,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $960,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,540,000
- Year Over Year Change: no change
They started in 1945, a couple of young ex–FBI field agents who became partners in Gump & Strauss, a Dallas law firm. They were able and personable: Richard Gump had an eye for the energy business, and Robert Strauss had a gift for politics and a friend, John Connally, who was very close to Lyndon Johnson. Gump stayed in Texas; Strauss went to Washington, D.C. The result is a megafirm built on politics, energy, and drive.
But it’s not a Texas firm anymore. Strauss and his connections drove the firm’s direction. Former chair of the Democratic National Committee, he helped build Washington into the firm’s largest office (and a building named in his honor). Its $100 million public policy and lobbying practice is the capital’s largest, featuring prominent players from all sides of the spectrum. (The firm jousts with Patton Boggs each year for the top spot in the rankings.) Two years after Strauss stepped down as ambassador to Moscow, the firm opened there, building an early and lucrative practice amid the rubble of the Soviet empire. Texas remains the ancestral home, but even the New York office, with prominent private equity and bankruptcy practices, and a partnership famous for both its restlessness and its pricey midtown office space, is now bigger.
The firm’s trajectory hasn’t been one smooth glide. It has shed or discouraged practice groups and partners as it sought to build its profitibility—and suffered defections from partners who didn’t care for the turmoil or simply got better offers. It went abroad early, but not as boldly as the real global players or as deeply as those with clear niches. Like many firms, Akin suffered and shrunk during the recession years, firing several dozen associates and scores of nonlawyer staff. Morale seems to have improved; on the 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey it ranked thirteenth.
The firm is known for, among others, strong health care, project finance, international trade, white–collar, and appellate practices. And it keeps putting out tendrils, opening in Beijing, Abu Dhabi, Geneva, and Hong Kong over the past five years. A fitting legacy for a two–man shop that never recognized any boundaries on its ambition.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 32 | no change | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 32 | no change | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 40 | 1 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 16 | 13 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 35 | 3 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 50 | 3 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 13 | 84 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 8 | 18 | Summer programs |
In the News
Determining Jurisdiction for Patent Law Malpractice Cases
Larry Ashery : The Legal Intelligencer : May 1, 2013
As an intellectual property attorney, the federal jurisdiction of patent-related cases always seemed clear to me. 28 U.S.C. 1338 provides that: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action arising under any act of Congress relating to patents."
Stepping Up to the Plate
: Corporate Counsel : May 1, 2013
The general counsel of the baseball players union always goes to bat for his men; and other Moves.
Hogan Handles Apple's Record $17 Billion Bond Sale
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 30, 2013
Consumer electronics giant Apple, which was unburdened by debt until this week, is relying on Hogan Lovells as the company undertakes its first bond sale in more than two decades to help finance a $100 billion capital return program to shareholders.
Firm Finance: What Was Notable for 2012
: Texas Lawyer : April 29, 2013
Stats for each of the top 25 firms.
Energy Work Drives Firms' Financials
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys : Texas Lawyer : April 29, 2013
Energy work, both transactional and litigation, is a main driver behind strong 2012 financials at large Texas firms, although firm leaders also cite lateral hiring, a strong Texas economy, attention to collections and client year-end tax planning as major contributors.
BAA Taps Wilmer for Possible Attack-Related Matters
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 25, 2013
William Lee had just checked into his hotel room in Texarkana, Ark., on April 15 when he switched on the television and saw the carnage near Boston's Copley Square. The Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr litigation and IP partner, who was in town for a hearing in the federal courthouse that straddles the state line with Texas, said that like many Bostonians his immediate thoughts involved the safety of his family members.
Big Deals
David Marcus : The American Lawyer : April 25, 2013
American/US Airways; Linn/Berry Petroleum
NFL Owners, Akin Gump Prevail on Workers' Comp for Injured Players
Jan Wolfe : The Litigation Daily : April 22, 2013
Akin Gump Partner Recounts His Boston Marathon
Miriam Rozen : Texas Lawyer : April 22, 2013
"I'm the luckiest man in the world," says Larry Macon, a partner in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, who nearly completed the Boston Marathon.
BAA Taps Wilmer for Possible Attack-Related Legal Matters
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 22, 2013
A week after a pair of bomb blasts marred this year's running of the Boston Marathon, the Boston Athletic Association, which hosts and organizes the 116-year-old event, is relying on its longtime outside counsel from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr to handle any legal issues that may arise from the brutal attack that claimed three lives and injured more than 170 people.
- Adams and Reese
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Allen & Overy
- Anderson Kill & Olick
- Arthur Cox
- Ashurst
- Baker & McKenzie
- Brown Rudnick
- Buist Moore
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Clayton Utz
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Duane Morris
- Eversheds
- Fish & Richardson
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Moore & Van Allen
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Morrison & Foerster
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Nexsen Pruet
- Nixon Peabody
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Proskauer Rose
- Reed Smith
- Ropes & Gray
- Ruden McClosky
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Vinson & Elkins
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
