, the firm's founder The firm was founded in
Dallas,
Texas, in 1945 by
Robert Strauss and Richard Gump. It maintains a large presence in Texas with five offices in the state. 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. In 1963, Jack Hauer left a competitor to join the firm, which became known as Goldberg, Fonville, Gump, Strauss & Hauer. She succeeded R. Bruce McLean, who had helmed the firm for 20 years and is the first woman to chair the firm. In 2013, Akin 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. In 2017, Akin hired its first chief diversity and inclusion officer, Michele Meyer-Shipp, who joined the firm from
Prudential Financial. She was succeeded by Nimesh Patel, who joined the firm in February 2019. According to
OpenSecrets, Akin was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle, donating $2.56 million, 66% to Democrats. By comparison, during that same period
Kirkland & Ellis donated $2.49 million, 59% to Republicans, Since 1990, Akin has contributed $19.84 million to federal candidates, and since 2003 has spent $8 million on lobbying. The firm's clients includes the governments of Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, the Maldives, and Nicaragua. The firm has offices in
Dallas,
Washington, D.C.,
San Antonio,
Houston,
Irvine,
Fort Worth,
New York,
Moscow,
Philadelphia,
London,
Los Angeles,
San Francisco,
Beijing,
Hong Kong,
Singapore,
Abu Dhabi,
Dubai,
Frankfurt,
Geneva and
Hartford. In December 2023, Akin announced the decision to begin winding down operations in Beijing in 2024. In November 2023, amid a wave of
antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld was among a group of major law firms who sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences. The letter said "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses."
Involvement in Russia investigation Paul Manafort, a central figure in the
2017 Special Counsel investigation, was being represented by Melissa Laurenza, a partner of the firm. Melissa Laurenza's role in the Russian investigation centers from her representation of Manafort. The
United States Office of Special Counsel compelled Melissa Laurenza to testify in the case. In October 2017, "
New York University law professor
Stephen Gillers said the judge was persuaded that there was significant evidence Manafort and Gates had duped their lawyer into sending inaccurate letters to Justice about their lobbying efforts and about what emails might exist about the work."
Involvement in U.S. presidential impeachment inquiry In 2019, lawyers from the firm represented Catherine Croft, a
U.S. State Department specialist on
Ukraine in her testimony before the
Select Committee on Intelligence in the
U.S. House of Representatives. ==Recognition==