The Texas Lawbook Highlights Akin Gump’s 2020 Texas Achievements

The Texas Lawbook has profiled Akin Gump and some of its notable achievements from last year as part of an ongoing series looking at law firms and their accomplishments in Texas.

In what was clearly a challenging year brought on by the pandemic, the publication notes that Akin Gump’s biggest non-client achievements centered around the way the firm remained connected to clients and others across the firm and being able to sustain the firm’s collaborative and supportive culture.

The Lawbook reports that Akin Gump personnel also came together to support each other and its communities through charitable donations, with nearly 850 people at the firm donating to more than 770 causes last year. Even more recently, the article adds, many across the firm lent their support to those affected by the widespread power outages across Texas in February 2021.

Among the firm’s biggest client successes last year, according to the article, was its role advising 7-Eleven in its $21 billion acquisition of Speedway from Marathon Petroleum Corp. (Click here to learn more.) Akin Gump also secured a complete victory for Tandy Leather Factory in a securities class action, obtained several important wins for the animal genetics company STgenetics and represented longtime client Diamondback Energy in several strategic transactions, including a pair of deals through which the company intends to expand its presence in the Permian Basin. (Learn more here).

Corporate partner Tom Yang, who led the team advising 7-Eleven, and corporate associate Leana Garipova are featured as two lawyers “who really shined in 2020,” and the article also highlights Akin Gump’s work in conjunction with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. to help secure an injunction in federal court against a racially discriminatory dress and grooming policy in a Texas school district. (Click here to learn more.)

Finally, the article reports on Akin Gump’s most significant actions toward addressing diversity and inclusion in 2020, noting among other things that the firm was a founding member of the Law Firm Antiracist Alliance, which seeks “to further racial justice through pro bono and partnerships with outside legal services organizations.”