The Legal 500 US 2023 Recommends Numerous Akin Practices, Lawyers

The Legal 500, in its 16th edition of The Legal 500 United States, has highlighted a number of Akin practices and lawyers as leaders in their respective areas. According to the publication, the rankings involved careful consideration of evaluations given by law firms, their peers and clients.

For the eighth year in a row, Akin ranked as a top-tier firm in two categories of finance - restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate and government - government relations. The firm was also top ranked in government – congressional investigations, international trade – customs, export controls and economic sanctions and international trade – trade remedies and trade policy.

A number of Akin lawyers have been named “Leading Lawyers,” “Next Generation Partners” and “Rising Stars” in their respective fields.

The firm’s 16 “Leading Lawyers” are:

• American Indian law & policy regulation practice head Donald Pongrace
• Antitrust/competition practice head Corey Roush
• Corporate & finance partners John Goodgame and Deborah Festa
• Financial restructuring partner Ira Dizengoff
• Government contracts practice head Michael Vernick
• International trade partners Lars-Erik Hjelm, Stephen Kho, Matthew Nicely and Kevin Wolf
• Investment management partner Jan-Paul Bruynes
• Lobbying & public policy practice co-heads Hunter Bates and Brian Pomper, and fellow partner Arshi Siddiqui
• Media & entertainment practice head Chris Spicer
• Supreme Court & appellate practice co-head Pratik Shah.

Akin’s four “Next Generation Partners” are:

• Corporate & finance partner David Sweeney
• International trade partners Suzanne Kane and Yujin Kim McNamara
• Supreme Court & appellate partner Aileen McGrath.

Akin international trade counsel Katherine Padgett and Marta Thompson were named among the guide’s “Rising Stars.”

Additionally, 39 of the firm’s practices were recognized and 119 Akin lawyers were recommended:

Alternative/hedge funds

• David Antheil
• JP Bruynes
• Brian Daly
• John Hamilton
• Arina Lekhel
• Barbara Niederkofler
• Eliot Raffkind
• Terence Rozier-Byrd

Antitrust: civil litigation/class actions: defense

• Gorav Jindal
• Brian Rafkin
• Corey Roush
• Matthew Schmitten

Antitrust: merger control

• Gorav Jindal
• Brian Rafkin
• Corey Roush
• Matthew Schmitten

Appellate: Courts of appeals / supreme courts (states and federal)

• Julius Chen
• Aileen McGrath
• Lide Paterno
• Pratik Shah
• James Tysse

Capital Markets: debt offerings

• Garrett DeVries
• John Goodgame
• Rosa Testani
• Zachary Wittenberg

Capital Markets: high-yield debt offerings

• Christopher Centrich
• Garrett DeVries
• Alan Laves
• Rosa Testani

Commercial lending

• Ranesh Ramanathan
• Andrew Sagor
• Zachary Wittenberg

Congressional investigations

• Karen Christian
• Raphael Prober

Corporate governance

• Kerry Berchem

Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense: advice to corporates / advice to individuals

• Michael Asaro
• James Benjamin
• Paul Butler
• Charles Connolly
• Claudius Modesti
• Parvin Moyne

Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)

• Jo-Ellyn Klein
• Natasha Kohne
• Michelle Reed

Education

• Anthony Pierce
• Marta Thompson
• Michael Vernick

Energy: renewable/alternative power

• Shariff Barakat
• Ikenna Emehelu
• Jeff Cohen
• Matthew Kapinos
• Zachary Wittenberg

Energy Transactions: electric power

• Ikenna Emehelu
• Shariff Barakat
• Matthew Kapinos
• Daniel Lynch
• Zachary Wittenberg

Energy Transactions: oil and gas

• Stephen Boone
• Cole Bredthauer
• John Goodgame
• Jessica Hammons
• David Sweeney
• Wesley Williams
• Zachary Wittenberg

Environment: transactional

• David Quigley

General commercial disputes

• Charles Connolly
• Stephen Baldini
• Scott Barnard
• Seamus Duffy
• Neal Marder
• Anthony Pierce

Government contracts

• Scott Heimberg
• Susan Lent
• Angela Styles
• Michael Vernick

Government relations

• Hunter Bates
• Ed Pagano
• Brian Pomper
• Arshi Siddiqui

International trade: CFIUS

• Katherine Padgett
• Christian Davis
• Laura Black
• Kevin Wolf

International trade: customs, export controls and economic sanctions

• Shiva Aminian
• Anne Borkovic
• Alexis Guinan
• Lars-Erik Hjelm
• Suzanne Kane
• Thomas McCarthy
• Kimberly Myers
• Nnedinma Ifudu Nweke
• Jonathan Poling
• Kevin Wolf

International trade: trade remedies and trade policy

• Bernd Janzen
• Stephen Kho
• Yujin McNamara
• Matthew Nicely
• Hal Shapiro

Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions): defense

M&A: large deals ($1bn+)

• Cole Bredthauer
• Mary Lovely
• Wesley Williams
• Zachary Wittenberg

Media and entertainment: transactional

• Christopher Spicer
• Marissa Román Griffith
• Alissa Miller
• Vanessa Roman

Media, technology and telecoms: Telecoms and broadcast: regulatory

• Douglas Brandon
• Jennifer Richter

Native American law

• Donald Pongrace
• Jason Hauter

Patents: litigation (full coverage)

• Cono Carrano
• Julius Chen
• Rachel Elsby
• Michael Kahn
• Steven Maslowski
• Daniel Moffett
• Rubén Muñoz
• Matthew Pearson
• Brandon Rash

Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)

• Cono Carrano
• Steven Maslowski
• Ryan Stronczer
• David Vondle

Private equity funds (including venture capital)

• Brian Daly
• James Deeken
• Blayne Grady
• Prakash Mehta
• Kapil Pandit
• Dennis Pereira
• Eliot Raffkind
• Fadi Samman
• Ann Tadajweski

Real estate

• John Bain
• Marc Epstein

Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate

• Scott Alberino
• Sara Brauner
• Ira Dizengoff
• Philip Dublin
• Brad Kahn
• Naomi Moss
• Arik Preis
• Michael Stamer
• Abid Qureshi

Securities litigation: defense

• Stephen Baldini
• Scott Barnard
• Neal Marder
• Douglas Rappaport
• Michelle Reed

Shareholder activism

Sport

Structured finance: securitization

• Deborah Festa

U.S. taxes: non-contentious

• Alison Chen
• Olivier De Moor
• Patrick Fenn
• Stuart Leblang
• Julia Pashin
• Joshua Williams

Workplace and employment counseling

For further details on the firm’s rankings and commentary, please click here.