For 12 years, Kim Koopersmith has been the chairperson of the firm. Kim guides the strategic direction of Akin and heads the firm’s management committee. She plays a leading role in ensuring the firm’s continued commitment to the highest levels of client service and attorney excellence.

Kim has played a key part in the enhancement of the firm’s overall performance and has earned numerous industry recognitions and plaudits for her leadership. Among them, Kim was named The American Lawyer’s 2024 Distinguished Law Firm Leader. In 2020, she was named by the Financial Times as one of its Innovative Law Firm Leaders for her groundbreaking approach to leadership, success in guiding the firm’s continued growth and her commitment to diversity and inclusion and employee wellbeing.

As chair, Kim has made it a hallmark of her leadership to foster a culture of creative thinking around Akin’s client service and ensuring the highest levels of client satisfaction. This includes adopting a hands-on approach to client relationships, as well as regularly meeting with and obtaining feedback from clients to ensure that the firm is consistently meeting and exceeding expectations.

Throughout her career, Kim has been a pioneer in efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion and attract the best talent to the profession.

Under her leadership, Akin has earned recognition for its success in promoting women, lawyers of color, LGBTQ+ lawyers and lawyers with disabilities into leading roles at the firm. Kim also spearheads the firm’s commitment to pro bono, with nearly 90,000 hours of pro bono work done annually by the firm.

For 20 years prior to her role as chair, Kim was a partner in the firm’s litigation practice, where she handled complex commercial litigation matters and served as relationship partner to several of the firm’s largest clients.