Julius Chen, Akin Gump Featured in NLJ Professional Excellence Awards Q&As

(Washington, D.C.) – In The National Law Journal’s 2022 Professional Excellence Awards, the work of Akin Gump and of Supreme Court and appellate partner Julius Chen were recognized: the firm on NLJ’s Appellate Hot List—its 13th such recognition—and as a finalist in the DC Diversity Initiative contest, and Mr. Chen as a D.C. Rising Star (learn more here).

D.C. Rising Stars are the Washington, D.C. region’s 40 most promising lawyers age 40 and under, “lawyers who have wielded influence in their practice areas in the D.C. area and beyond… innovators who develop unique practice niches, secure wins for clients, cultivate robust books of business and demonstrate strong leadership qualities.”

In Mr. Chen’s Q&A, he noted as one of his proudest professional moments, making the arguments before the D.C. Circuit on behalf of a former commercial airline pilot and the American Diabetes Association that “finally opened the skies” for pilots who had been banned due to developing insulin-treated diabetes mellitus. Separately, Mr. Chen said that his most valuable early lesson in law was “Don’t lose the legal forest for the trees,” noted as his greatest lawyer mentor Akin Gump Supreme Court and appellate practice head Pratik Shah, and shared his key to success: a full appreciation of, and responsiveness to, clients’ broader strategic goals.

Mr. Chen also fielded the Q&A for the Appellate Hot List recognition, which recognizes law firms that have “handled exemplary appellate matters.” In response to the question of the top appellate victory over the last year, he cited Mylan Laboratories v. Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, a case concerning an inter partes review challenge to client Janssen’s patent covering its multibillion-dollar schizophrenia treatment. The Akin Gump team’s efforts included making a rare oral argument on Janssen’s motion to dismiss the appeal—which was followed by the Federal Circuit holding, in a precedent-setting opinion, that it lacked jurisdiction over that type of appeal—and defeating Mylan’s request for U.S. Supreme Court review.

He summarized in one word the firm’s key to appellate success—collaboration—and illustrated by noting how nearly all the team’s notable matters involve “leveraging and combining substantive expertise with top-flight written and oral advocacy on appeal.” He pointed to the moment “when you get your arms around the subject matter” as the most satisfying element of appellate practice, and, echoing his Rising Star response, said that the most valuable lesson he learned as a young lawyer is not to get lost in legal minutiae, but, instead, to “keep an eye on the bigger picture and don’t forget to ask: does my argument make sense?”

The firm was also selected as a finalist for the DC Diversity Initiative of the Year Award. Partner and D.C. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Council chair Kapil Pandit participated in a Q&A on the firm’s diversity programs.

He noted that each of the firm’s DEI elements—leadership commitment; professional development and inclusive workplaces; recruitment and the diversity pipeline; strategic partnerships—has generated numerous focused initiatives. He then spotlighted the firm’s Strauss Diversity & Inclusions Scholars program as one of Akin Gump’s key recruiting programs and a success that saw more than double the number of scholars participate in 2022 over the preceding year. To the question of how Akin Gump’s diversity initiatives have changed attorneys’ views of working at the firm, Mr. Pandit replied that firm lawyers have said that strong messaging from Akin Gump’s chair and the breadth of the firm’s DEI initiatives demonstrate Akin Gump’s commitment to DEI—something that many firms claim to have but don’t put into action.

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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