The Legal 500 US 2024 Recommends Numerous Akin Practices, Lawyers

The Legal 500, in its 17th 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 ninth year in a row, Akin ranked as a top-tier firm in two categories of restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate and government relations. The firm, for the second consecutive year, was 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 20 “Leading Lawyers” are:

• American Indian law & policy regulation practice head Donald Pongrace
• Antitrust/competition practice head Corey Roush
• Corporate & finance partner John Goodgame
• Financial restructuring partners Abid Qureshi, Ira Dizengoff and Phil Dublin
• Government contracts practice head Michael Vernick
• International trade partners Lars-Erik Hjelm, Bernd Janzen, Stephen Kho, Tom McCarthy, 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
• Projects & energy transition partner Vanessa Richelle Wilson
• Supreme Court & appellate practice co-head Pratik Shah.

Akin’s six “Next Generation Partners” are:

• Shariff Barakat (projects & energy transition)
• Sara Brauner (financial restructuring)
• Suzanne Kane (international trade)
• Yujin Kim McNamara (international trade)
• Aileen McGrath (Supreme Court & appellate)
• Vanessa Roman (media & entertainment).

Akin counsel Katherine Padgett (international trade) and Marta Thompson (government contracts) were named again among the guide’s “Rising Stars” along with Sarah Kirwin (international trade), Lauren Epstein (media & entertainment) and Brad Warner (projects & energy transition).

Additionally, more than 40 of the firm’s practices are recognized and more than 160 Akin lawyers are recommended:

Alternative/hedge funds

• JP Bruynes
• Max Karpel
• Barbara Niederkofler
• Jonathan Ross
• Ann Tadajweski

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

• Jesse Brush
• Garrett DeVries
• Rosa Testani

Capital Markets: high-yield debt offerings

• Garrett DeVries
• Rosa Testani

Commercial lending

• Catherine Goodall
• Jaisohn Im
• Corinne Musa

Corporate governance

• Steve Baldini
• Kerry Berchem
• Stephanie Bollheimer
• John Goodgame
• Jim Wetwiska

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

• Peter Altman
• Michael Asaro
• James Benjamin
• Paul Butler
• Charles Connolly
• Anne Evans
• Katherine Goldstein
• Claudius Modesti
• Parvin Moyne

Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)

• Hyongsoon Kim
• Jo-Ellyn Klein
• Natasha Kohne
• Michelle Reed

Education

• Anthony Pierce
• Marta Thompson
• Michael Vernick

Energy: renewable/alternative power

• Shariff Barakat
• Ike Emehelu
• Sam Guthrie
• Hayden Harms
• Matthew Kapinos
• Mary Lovely
• Eusebius Luk
• Dan Lynch
• Brad Warner
• Vanessa Richelle Wilson

Energy Transactions: electric power

• Shariff Barakat
• Ike Emehelu
• Sam Guthrie
• Matthew Kapinos
• Daniel Lynch
• Brad Warner

Energy Transactions: oil and gas

• Cole Bredthauer
• John Goodgame
• Emily Mallen
• Wesley Williams
• Zachary Wittenberg

Environment: transactional

• Kenneth Markowitz
• Stacey Mitchell
• David Quigley

General commercial disputes

• Stephen Baldini
• Scott Barnard
• Joseph Sorkin

Government: congressional investigations

• Karen Christian
• Joseph DiPiero
• Tom Moyer
• Raphael Prober

Government contracts

• Samantha Block
• Scott Heimberg
• Hillary John
• Susan Lent
• McKenzie Miller
• Angela Styles
• Marta Thompson
• Michael Vernick

Government relations

• Reggie Babin
• Hunter Bates
• Ed Pagano
• Brian Pomper
• Arshi Siddiqui
• Chris Treanor
• Clete Willems

Healthcare: Life sciences

• Craig Bleifer
• Nathan Brown

International trade: CFIUS

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

International trade: customs, export controls and economic sanctions

• Shiva Aminian
• Anne Borkovic
• Ryan Fayhee
• Tyler Grove
• Alexis Guinan
• Lars-Erik Hjelm
• Suzanne Kane
• Susan Kovarovics
• Roy Liu
• Thomas McCarthy
• Kimberly Myers
• Nnedinma Ifudu Nweke
• Jonathan Poling
• Kevin Wolf

International trade: trade remedies and trade policy

• Julia Eppard
• Bernd Janzen
• Stephen Kho
• Sarah Kirwin
• Yujin McNamara
• Matthew Nicely
• Hal Shapiro
• Devin Sikes
• Sydney Stringer
• Daniel Witkowski

Labor and employment disputes (including collective actions)

M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)

• Sergio Urias
• Zachary Wittenberg
• Amy Wollensack

Media and entertainment: transactional

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

Media, technology and telecoms: Telecoms and broadcast: regulatory

• Douglas Brandon
• Joseph Calascione
• Virginia Hiner
• Nicole McFarland
• Michael Mineiro
• Jennifer Richter
• Steve Rowings

Native American law

• Katie Brossy
• Jason Hauter
• Donald Pongrace

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
• Clark Gordon
• Steven Maslowski
• Ryan Stronczer
• Paul Tripodi
• David Vondle
• Brock Wilson

Private equity buyouts: middle-market (Up to $500m)

• Michelle Chan
• Sergio Urias
• Wes Williams
• Zachary Wittenberg
• Amy Wollensack
• Thomas Yang

Private equity funds (including venture capital)

• Amanda Butler-Jones
• James Deeken
• Michael DiLernia
• Jason Glennon
• Blayne Grady
• Barbara Niederkofler
• Prakash Mehta
• Dennis Pereira
• Jonathan Ross
• Fadi Samman

Project finance

• Shariff Barakat
• Ike Emehelu
• Sam Guthrie
• Hayden Harms
• Matt Kapinos
• Dan Lynch
• Brad Warner
• Zachary Wittenberg

Real estate

• John Bain
• Marc Epstein

Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate

• Scott Alberino
• Sara Brauner
• Ira Dizengoff
• Philip Dublin
• Naomi Moss
• Abid Qureshi

Securities litigation: defense

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

Shareholder activism

• Jason Koenig
• Douglas Rappaport

Sport 

U.S. taxes: non-contentious

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

Workplace and employment counseling

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