Crain’s New York Names Akin Partner Annie Evans Among ‘40 Under 40’ Honorees

Crain’s New York Business has named Akin white collar defense & government investigations partner Annie Evans to its 2023 40 Under 40 list. The recognition spotlights the “young professionals leaving their mark on New York’s business community.”

In its profile of Annie, Crain’s notes her promotion to partner last year as “the culmination of 10 years of hard work” focused on developing connections and honing her skills in white collar defense and investigations.

“As a litigator, and particularly in the white-collar practice, so much of what we do is almost prelitigation; it’s very investigative,” she says regarding her field of practice. “It’s a lot of the behind the scenes and pulling the threads and figuring out what really happened, and then building that back up into the narrative that will be compelling and true and persuasive and favorable for your client.”

Beyond her litigation work, Crain’s notes Annie’s early experiences during her first year at the firm, particularly her pro bono work representing women who are victims of domestic violence in family court, as forming a “unifying theme” in her legal practice. She says that, beyond the lawyering, “there were these soft skills that I was seeing that really spoke to me and the sort of understanding of the psychology of what your clients need.”

As an example, she cites the trust that these clients had in her, not only because she had the necessary legal experience, but also because she could, as Annie says, “be their confidante and somebody they could trust and somebody who was advocating for them.”