Business Services

Conference Services and Event Planning

Our conference services team members create, plan, coordinate and execute events of various size and shape. Whether facilitating the requirements for a wide range of internal and client meetings, arranging an off-site dinner experience, or overseeing the details for a flagship client event, our conference services professionals provide a high degree of personalized service and contribute significantly to our success in the areas of business development, client communications and firm culture initiatives. 

Office Services

Spanning the business support functions that keep Akin’s offices running smoothly, our office services team provides direct support to our lawyers and clients, including:

• Mail/courier/supplies
• Duplicating/reprographics
• Facilities maintenance and repairs.

Reception

Our receptionists are more than the face of Akin. As the first point of contact, our receptionists set the tone for our firm and make a positive difference on a daily basis. They ensure a first-class guest experience with a warm welcome and personal escorts to meeting rooms. They also ensure that all client and guest needs are met during their visit by partnering closely with the conference services team on all room bookings, food and beverage setups, and special events. 

The attorney recruiting and development team is a key driver in attracting and developing the most talented attorneys. Our recruiters are responsible for all attorney hiring, including summer associates, entry-level associates and lateral associates and counsel.

Our attorney development program ensures that our talented lawyers continue to build their skills. We provide learning opportunities to help our lawyers reach their full potential, developing well-trained lawyers who have a high degree of career satisfaction and add real value to life and work at Akin.

“We want to attract the best talent to Akin, and then be there every day to help our associates and counsel develop throughout their careers. We are extremely supportive of and collaborative with each other, and that’s very important to me. I appreciate that everyone approaches their work here with real professionalism and enthusiasm.

"We strive to be industry leading in everything we do. To be successful, many of our initiatives need the participation of our lawyers, and I’m always impressed with the commitment of partners and associates to the activities and programs we organize to attract, develop and retain the best people.” Beth Miller Chief Legal Talent Officer

Our client value team advances client relationships by serving as a resource for our clients and partners throughout an engagement life cycle.

Our team supports clients and lawyers with the goal of developing lasting value derived from mutually beneficial pricing, budgeting and matter management. From developing optimal pricing and creating efficiencies to staying ahead of issues in the market impacting clients, our team communicates internally and externally to deliver value.  

“The client value team is rich in diverse skill sets, backgrounds and strengths. This creates a collaborative spirit across the team, where we prioritize communication, responsiveness and excellence. We support Akin’s lawyers across all practices, with the goal of making a positive impact on our business and our clients’ business.

Our lawyers look to everyone in client value as experts in their field. They rely on us for everything from solution-oriented pricing to decision-support analysis. It’s highly motivating to know that we are helping to drive Akin’s business forward, while also delivering value to our clients. It makes this an exciting and engaging place to work.” Josette Grippo Chief Practice Officer

DEI is in our DNA. Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and racial justice has been a core principle since the firm’s founding more than 75 years ago.

The exceptional, diverse talent we recruit thrives in an environment where collaboration generates ideas and innovation. A sense of community fosters understanding, respect and a sense of belonging, while professional development opportunities build exciting, dynamic careers.

To build on this commitment, our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Department, in partnership with our firmwide DEI Council, office and regional DEI Councils, and 11 firmwide resource groups work together across Akin to advance the four pillars of our DEI strategy:

• Leadership commitment: Ensuring DEI is a strategic leadership priority.
• Professional development and inclusion: Fostering a culture of collaboration, collegiality and continuous professional development to drive advancement and retention.
• Recruitment and outreach: Attracting an exceptional and diverse group of lawyers, students and professionals.
• Strategic partnerships: Partnering with clients, alumni and professional organizations to advance DEI in the firm and the legal profession.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion have been core principles of Akin since our founding. We bring together exceptional leadership commitment and engagement, a comprehensive global DEI strategy and relentless focus on execution to drive our efforts. Thought leadership, a collaborative and welcoming culture, and a genuine commitment to DEI make Akin an amazing place to build and grow your career.” Nimesh Patel Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer

Our experienced eDiscovery and trial services teams provide full support to our clients, lawyers and advocacy practices. Our teams work closely with lawyers and professionals in the firm’s advocacy groups to offer strategic counsel and cost-efficient business solutions for discovery and other data investigations.

Akin’s lawyers and professionals entrust our eDiscovery and trial services teams with highly confidential and sensitive matters. Our groups assist lawyers, advisors and our clients’ eDiscovery teams to analyze and collect data and conduct custodian interviews. They also develop operational plans for all phases of eDiscovery, including collection, processing, review and production.

In addition, our trial services group develops expert level in-court trial presentations and assist with other trial preparation projects.

Essential to operational efficiency, our docketing team works with our offices across the United States to collect information and review court filings to generate events and reports for advocacy practice groups. The team can also provide support with court filings in certain jurisdictions. 

The finance team provides partners and business leaders across the firm with information needed to make sound decisions. The finance function incorporates the traditional fiscal stewards of the firm, and oversees billing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, accounting, partner accounting, tax, planning and analysis and financial systems.

“As Akin evolves, the need for accurate, timely and actionable information increases as does our use of automation and predictive analytics.

This is why our finance team is committed to constant process improvement and enhanced data governance. While the finance function may have traditionally been home to our fiscal stewards, we are often called on to be a catalyst for change, using our insights to drive action.

“To make change possible, we hire critical thinkers who question every assumption, active listeners who consider alternative points of view, and collaborative individuals who know how to work as a team.” Ivan Orlic Chief Financial Officer

The Office of the General Counsel provides counsel and strategic advice with respect to the firm’s legal affairs and in support of our commitment to client service. 

The lawyers in our general counsel team are leaders in their field. They advise our lawyers and business services teams worldwide on a diverse array of matters, including on issues related to ethics, training, risk management, litigation, compliance and insurance, among many others.

Our human resources team is guided by the principle that our people are our most important asset. Our human resources professionals are here to support everyone in both holistic and individualized ways, whether you’re currently at Akin or looking to join us. Our human capital strategy strives to bolster our people in support of world-class service to our clients and achieving our goals as a firm.

Offering direction and oversight over all aspects of the employee life cycle, our dedicated team covers everything from business services recruiting and talent acquisition, learning and development, onboarding and integration, compensation and benefits, and supportive policies and procedures.

Our IT department is responsible for the seamless operation of the technology systems underpinning our entire business. It has an impact on every aspect of the firm’s operations and processes, every day. From the architecture of our state of the art global infrastructure to the specialized document management and lawyer productivity tools that rely upon it, we design, evaluate, deliver and support systems and services to help our lawyers and business services teams deliver exceptional client service.

Our IT managers are committed to continual improvement as we navigate the complex and ever-changing tech landscape, offering solutions that work in the real world. As a result, they always stay close to the business to help identify areas of improvement. In addition, our IT team is responsible for enabling the adoption of technology across Akin, helping our people get the most out of our systems and enabling more efficient and effective working.

Our marketing & business development team works with lawyers across the firm to elevate the brand at a firm and practice level, strengthen client relationships and identify new opportunities for growth. We are a team with diverse skills and roles—from business development strategy and communications to marketing and beyond. We leverage our marketing technology capabilities and provide tools to position the firm at the forefront of data and insights, digital marketing and market intelligence.

“Our marketing and business development teams have an enormous impact on the growth strategy of the firm as we bring fresh perspectives on driving sustainable growth and innovation through business development.” Shade Vaughn Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer

Paralegals, at all levels of experience, are offered opportunities to play key roles on our client teams. Paralegals work side by side with attorneys to provide high-quality, cost effective legal services on each of our matters. They add value through experience, advising on how to best approach tasks.

Paralegals leverage their experience to help attorneys develop innovative ways to approach challenging legal issues. The practice management team works closely with each paralegal to understand their career goals and objectives, and helps them achieve those through targeted staffing and training. Our paralegals and senior paralegals demonstrate creativity and thought leadership, each having deep experience in their practice area.

Learn more about our practice areas with regular openings for paralegals:

• Corporate
• Financial Restructuring
• Intellectual Property
• Investment Funds
• Labor
• Litigation
• Regulatory
• Tax

Our renowned public law and policy practice includes professionals who assist our attorneys and advisors in the areas of lobbying, political law, as well as American Indian law and policy. As a vital part of our nation’s most prominent lobbying firm, our professionals play an important role in keeping our attorneys and advisors abreast of pending legislation and regulations, industry trends as well as current events that impact clients and prospective clients. Our professionals often go on to hold key positions on Capitol Hill or the executive branch.

Our political law professionals support our industry-leading practice in working with our attorneys and our clients to fulfill their political disclosure requirements. Our professionals also assist with sophisticated analyses of prospective political activity.

Our American Indian law and policy professionals assist our attorneys and advisors in designing legal strategies, defending tribal rights and formulating public policy recommendations that make it possible for our tribal clients to accomplish their business, legal and political goals.

Our practice management department supports the internal operations of each practice group, aligning practice group business strategies with client needs. Our team brings a distinct perspective. We see the big picture, which informs our hands-on involvement in day-to-day operations. That means our team collaborates across the firm, partnering with nearly every business services department across all of our offices. Practice Management is integral to every part of the practice group’s business, from identifying talent gaps and integrating lateral lawyers, to driving practice group initiatives and communications, to understanding our group’s key performance indicators (KPIs), and using those insights to inform and make recommendations to our practice group leaders. 

Our records and information governance department manages Akin’s hard copy, electronic client and administrative records. Among a raft of responsibilities, they also support:

• Developing and enforcing policies for how the firm creates, acquires, uses, discloses, retains and disposes of information.
• Developing and administering technical controls that support records disposition, litigation holds, information transfers, client confidentiality, employee privacy and other data protection initiatives.
• Educating lawyers and staff on Akin’s data protection and record retention policies.
• Reviewing electronic files and paper documents for possible destruction.
• Coordinating the transfer of client electronic and paper records for incoming and departing lawyers.

The research and information services department provides analytical research support, and manages the firm’s access to all external resources, including application programming interfaces (APIs), data files and resource databases.

We are strategically based across the United States and United Kingdom to meet the needs of the firm’s more than 900 lawyers and advisors, along with our business services colleagues. 

Our department comprises three teams:

• Business and competitive intelligence identifies strategic opportunities and ways to strengthen client relationships by analyzing companies, industries, markets and competitor firms.
• Digital services negotiates and licenses the firm’s access to external information sources, ensuring ethical compliance with terms and conditions.
• Research services works with the practice groups to promote efficient and effective workflow, reducing research time for our attorneys and clients.

Reporting to our general counsel, Akin’s new business intake and ethics attorney teams support the firm and our clients by identifying and managing risks related to ethics and financial crime.

In addition to performing conflicts checks, the team screens new matters to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. Other duties include reviewing engagement letters, managing changes to client matter records and processing audit letter requests.

Our secretarial and administrative support teams offer critical support to our clients, lawyers, advisors, business services departments and other members of our firm. That support encompasses preparing, processing and managing documents, maintaining files, overseeing travel arrangements, scheduling and collaborating tasks across teams throughout our global offices. We rely on our secretarial and administrative teams to provide the frontline assistance that enables our lawyers to excel.

To guarantee that our client service and operational effectiveness align with the firm values, we ensure that all of our administrative, secretarial and legal support staff are comprehensively trained and supported in the latest systems, processes and technologies.