Akin Elevates 15 Lawyers to Partnership

(New York) – Akin Gump today announced the elevation of 15 new partners, effective January 1, 2023. The lawyers who have been promoted (along with their respective office locations) are: Stuart Alter (New York), Hamish Annandale (London), Ashton Butcher (Dallas), Amanda Butler-Jones (Washington, D.C.), Ryan Dahan (New York), Matthew Durward-Thomas (London), Anne Evans (New York), Jason Glennon (Dallas), Emily Goodman (New York), Alexis Guinan (Washington, D.C.), Jingli Jiang (Beijing), Stephanie Lindemuth (New York), Aileen McGrath (San Francisco), Katherine Porter (New York), and Sarah Withers (Dallas/New York).

Firm chairperson Kim Koopersmith said, “I am extremely pleased to welcome these 15 lawyers to the partnership as truly some of the best-of-the-best in their profession. Their backgrounds and skill sets are emblematic both of the global geographic footprint of Akin Gump and the excellence we bring to our clients across our spectrum of practices.”

Stuart Alter (Tax) provides tax planning advice to clients on a wide range of business transactions, focusing on the formation and operation of private investment funds, including hedge funds and private equity funds. He also has extensive experience in fund secondary transactions, having represented clients in secondary transactions totaling billions of dollars. He received his LL.M. from New York University School of Law in 2016, his J.D. magna cum laude from Fordham University School of Law in 2013, and his B.S. magna cum laude from Touro College in 2009.

Watch the video to meet Mr. Alter.

Hamish Annandale (Investment management) focuses on hedge and credit funds. His extensive experience and technical skills have helped our team build deep, long-term relationships with some of the U.K.’s largest hedge fund managers. His ability to analyze and advise on complex and time-sensitive issues across various jurisdictional considerations has made him a trusted advisor of clients facing critical matters. He has been recognized by The Legal 500 as an “up and coming” practitioner in the U.K. market. He received his M.B.A.L.S. from BPP University, England in 2011, his L.P.C. from BPP University Law School, England in 2010, and his LL.B. from BPP University Law School in 2009.

Watch the video to meet Mr. Annandale.

Ashton Butcher (Corporate) focuses on private equity and strategic merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions. She is an experienced deal team leader and serves as the primary point of client contact in high-profile, complex M&A and other corporate transactions across a variety of industries. She served as a key member of the Akin Gump team in 7-Eleven’s transformational $21 billion acquisition of Speedway from Marathon Petroleum Corp.—the largest transaction in the history of the convenience store industry and the largest-ever U.S. transaction in which the firm served as buy-side M&A counsel. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 2014, and her B.A. with special distinction from University of Texas at Austin in 2011.

Watch the video to meet Ms. Butcher.

Amanda Butler-Jones (Investment management) focuses on transactions in the secondaries market, a fast-growing and strategic component of the investment management practice. As an experienced lawyer in this highly technical area of the practice, she plays a leading role in the relationship with the secondaries and liquidity solutions group of one of the world’s largest and most prominent asset managers, a flagship client for the U.S. secondaries practice. Through her practice, she represents lead investors and fund sponsors in single and multi-asset fund restructurings. She also has leading roles on matters representing fund sponsors in the formation, structuring and operation of private investment funds. She received her J.D. cum laude from Howard University School of Law in 2014, and her B.B.A. magna cum laude from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2007.

Watch the video to meet Ms. Butler-Jones.

Ryan Dahan (Tax) serves some of the firm’s most strategic clients, advising on the tax aspects of complex transactions and investment structures. He has significant experience advising investment managers on the formation of credit-focused funds and transactions. He also serves as the go-to person for any Latin American tax matters, given his fluency in Spanish. Mr. Dahan is a seasoned and versatile lawyer with experience across a wide range of clients and industries, including U.S. and foreign investment managers, technology companies, pharmaceutical and energy companies. He received his LL.M. from New York University School of Law in 2014, his J.D. cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law in 2013, and his B.S. cum laude from University of Central Florida in 2010.

Watch the video to meet Mr. Dahan.

Matthew Durward-Thomas (Tax) advises clients on a broad range of corporate tax matters, including financial restructurings, investments funds, and domestic and international corporate and finance transactions. In particular, he has significant experience advising on complex, multijurisdictional restructurings and, over the last few years, has led the tax aspects of debt restructurings with a combined deal value of approximately $15 billion—these include the restructurings of the Noble Group, Fernando Group, Terreal Holdings, Dolphin Drilling, Nordic Aviation Capital, Nostrum Oil & Gas and intu Metrocentre, among others. He also regularly advises clients on fund formation, carried interest and investment structuring, corporate M&A and finance transactions and is a key London tax contact for a number of the firm’s major clients. He received his L.P.C. from The College of Law, London in 2012, and his LL.B. from University of Warwick in 2011.

Watch the video to meet Mr. Durward-Thomas.

Anne Evans (White collar defense) focuses on white collar defense and investigations. She is working on some of the firm’s most high-profile, high-stakes matters, including our representation in a federal criminal spoofing trial of a former trader at a leading financial institution. Ms. Evans has distinguished herself with important institutional clients of the white collar group and plays an instrumental role in the white collar team’s efforts to enhance the group’s relationship with one of the firm’s longstanding investment funds clients. She also has experience advising on financial restructuring matters involving government investigations into distressed companies. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 2013, and her B.A. summa cum laude from Georgetown University in 2009.
Watch the video to meet Ms. Evans.

Jason Glennon (Investment management) focuses on cutting-edge fund formation matters. He is a go-to resource for complicated fund structures, sophisticated Investment Company Act matters and complex real estate joint ventures. He leads fund formations, joint venture negotiations, managed account negotiations and investor representations for many large alternative investment managers and institutional investors. In addition, Mr. Glennon plays a key role in matters involving regulated fund products, a critical and highly technical area of our funds practice. He received his J.D. magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 2014, and his B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin in 2011.

Watch the video to meet Mr. Glennon.

Emily Goodman (Investment management) focuses on investments by, from, and related to sovereign investors. She plays a key role in the practice’s strategic growth areas—expanding the sovereign wealth fund practice and strengthening the firm’s presence in the New York hedge fund market. In these roles, she advises our sovereign clients on investor-side matters, including as lead counsel on matters for several of the largest sovereign wealth funds globally. She will also continue to focus on GP-side representations where her experience with sovereign investors is core to the client’s objectives. She received her J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 2014, her M.S. with honors from University College Dublin in 2011, and her B.A. magna cum laude from Chapman University in 2010.

Watch the video to meet Ms. Goodman.

Alexis Guinan (International trade) practices at the nexus of sanctions and other international trade laws and corporate and special situations transactions and restructurings, working closely with the teams across Akin Gump’s offices, including New York, London and Dubai. She has played a leading role with several of the firm’s top funds clients as they looked to evaluate sanctions and other international trade restrictions associated with their portfolio companies. Ms. Guinan is also a key player in Akin Gump’s sanctions practice, advising clients on managing sanctions risk relating to their business and transactions. She received her J.D. from University of Michigan Law School in 2009, and her B.A. cum laude from Colgate University in 2004.

Watch the video to meet Ms. Guinan.

Jingli Jiang’s (International trade) work focuses on key international trade and transactional areas, including export controls, sanctions, antitrust and other types of regulatory and corporate advice. As a native Mandarin speaker and leading lawyer, she has been vital to the growth of the China and Asia trade practice. She is also adept at building trust with clients with her knowledge and experience advising on the extraterritorial impact of U.S. trade laws and policies, as well as her insight into Chinese business operations and concerns. She has significant experience in advising on complex and challenging regulatory and corporate issues for high-tech companies and top investment funds in high-profile transactions. She received her J.D. from the University of Texas Law School in 2010, and M.P.Aff. from the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs in 2006. She received her LL.B. with the highest honor from Nanjing University in China.
Watch the video to meet Ms. Jiang.

Stephanie Lindemuth (Litigation) is a complex commercial litigator, whose practice focuses on securities and consumer class action defense, as well as litigating and advising clients in derivative, fiduciary and complex contractual disputes. She has substantial experience representing corporations, investment funds and individuals in cases before state and federal courts throughout the country and, in particular, in New York, Delaware and New Jersey. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 2012, and her B.A. cum laude from Georgetown University in 2009.
Watch the video to meet Ms. Lindemuth.

Aileen McGrath (Supreme Court and appellate) is a member of the Supreme Court and appellate practice who focuses on handling appeals in the 9th Circuit and California state appellate courts. She has first-chaired representations at every appellate level and recently argued several important appeals for significant firm clients in the 9th Circuit and in the California Court of Appeal. She is one of only a handful of lawyers in the country to have clerked at both the U.S. Supreme Court and California Supreme Court. Joining Akin Gump in 2021 after nearly a decade of service in the City Attorney’s office in San Francisco, she also has extensive experience litigating complex legal issues in high-stakes trial litigation. Ms. McGrath received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2007, where she served as president of Harvard Law Review, and her B.A. magna cum laude from Columbia University in 2003.

Watch the video to meet Ms. McGrath.

Katherine Porter (Litigation) concentrates on litigation arising in and out of financial restructuring matters, as well as other complex commercial litigation. She has significant experience across a range of contested matters, adversarial proceedings and appeals in chapter 11 proceedings, as well as litigations in state and federal courts. Ms. Porter often leads litigation teams in high-profile bankruptcy cases and specializes in investigating potential claims and litigating technical, sometimes unsettled, issues of law. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2010, and her B.A. from Yale University in 2005.

Watch the video to meet Ms. Porter.

Sarah Withers (Corporate) focuses on M&A, including middle-market private equity transactions. She leads transactions for a number of our key New York private equity clients, including York Capital, Bessemer Investors and Angelo Gordon. She has also worked on M&A transactions across a variety of client profiles, transactions and industry types, including for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Atalaya Capital and Energy Harbor. She has also leveraged her experience in negotiating equity investments to support other areas of the corporate section, including the energy practice. She received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2013, and her B.A. from Columbia University in 2006.

Watch the video to meet Ms. Withers.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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