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Rankings published in 2026
Project development
Active
11 firms ranked
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Active

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
3 practice areas
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Duane Morris
4 practice areas
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Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
6 practice areas
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Greenberg Traurig
5 practice areas
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King & Spalding
4 practice areas
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Milbank
7 practice areas
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Norton Rose Fulbright
2 practice areas
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Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
7 practice areas
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Vinson & Elkins
2 practice areas
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White & Case
7 practice areas
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Willkie Farr & Gallagher
9 practice areas
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Restructuring and insolvency
Tier 2
33 firms ranked
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Tier 1

Davis Polk & Wardwell
7 practice areas
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Kirkland & Ellis
6 practice areas
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Milbank
7 practice areas
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Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
7 practice areas
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Weil Gotshal & Manges
6 practice areas
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Tier 2

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
3 practice areas
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Sullivan & Cromwell
6 practice areas
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Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
7 practice areas
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Willkie Farr & Gallagher
9 practice areas
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Tier 3

Brown Rudnick
2 practice areas
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Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
6 practice areas
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Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
3 practice areas
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Latham & Watkins
6 practice areas
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McDermott Will & Schulte
5 practice areas
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Morrison & Foerster
5 practice areas
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
6 practice areas
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Tier 4

Cravath Swaine & Moore
5 practice areas
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Debevoise & Plimpton
8 practice areas
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Dechert
7 practice areas
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Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson
6 practice areas
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Katten Muchin & Rosenman
2 practice areas
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O'Melveny & Myers
4 practice areas
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Paul Hastings
7 practice areas
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Reed Smith
5 practice areas
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White & Case
7 practice areas
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Tier 5

Bracewell
5 practice areas
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Cahill Gordon & Reindel
5 practice areas
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Clifford Chance
6 practice areas
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Cole Schotz
6 practice areas
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Dentons
3 practice areas
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Freshfields US LLP
10 practice areas
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King & Spalding
4 practice areas
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Luskin Stern & Eisler
4 practice areas
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Linked Reviews
Financial and corporate

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, or Akin Gump, was founded in 1945 in Dallas. Since then the firm has expanded to 20 locations across three continents. In the US, the firm has 11 offices across six states.

 

Focusses / specialisms

Firm wide, Akin Gump is best known for its work with hedge funds, private equity funds, power project development and restructuring and insolvency.

The firm’s DC and Texas branches are arguably its best known. Its strongest M&A and restructuring and insolvency teams are based in DC and Texas.

The banking practice represents borrowers and lenders in credit facility agreements, loan facility agreements, DIP financing and refinancing.

Its active in capital markets and represents issuers in debt and equity transactions including bond offerings, high yield bond offerings, IPOs, recapitalizations, private share placements, public share offerings and tender offers. 

The M&A team represents private equity and strategic buyers and sellers in public and private acquisition and merger transactions. It also advises clients in strategic investments.

The project development team represents developers and financial sponsors in project development, acquisition and financing transactions across the energy and oil and gas industries. 

Real estate is also a big industry for the firm, so much so that it has its own practice. The real estate team represents commercial and residential developers and private equity investors in matters relating to acquiring and selling land and properties and development.

While the firm is active in numerous industries, it is particularly so in the oil and gas and power sectors.

 

Key clients

Key clients for the firm include FirstEnergy, Alliance Data Systems, Diamondbank Energy, East West Bank, Apollo Global Management, Shell Midstream Partners, BlackRock Realty Advisors, Pacific Investment Management Company, PNC Energy Capital and Royal Bank of Canada.

 

Research period review: 30th edition (2019/2020)

During the research period, teams across the board worked largely in the oil and gas and power industries.

The banking team advised largely borrowers in financing transactions such as credit facility agreement and loan facility agreements. Along with the restructuring and insolvency team, it also represented a fair amount of debtors and creditors in DIP loan financing, Chapter 11 cases and financial restructurings.

The capital markets team advised issuers on largely bond issuances, private share placements and public share offerings. Many of the transactions were a part of a larger public M&A deal.

The M&A team continued to represent a mix of private equity and strategic buyers and sellers in acquisition and merger transactions. 

The project development team represented a mix of developers and financial sponsors in project development, acquisition and financing transactions. Renewable energy was a big industry for the team, especially concerning solar plants.

The real estate team represented a large amount of developers and investors in real estate acquisitions and dispositions. Many of the transactions related to the hotel industry and disposition of data centers.

In lateral hires the banking team recruited partners Lucas Charleston and Rizwan Kanji from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and King & Spalding respectively. Lucas Charleston is also an addition to the M&A team which partner Elazar Guttman also joined from Kirkland & Ellis. Partner Michael Gustafson joined the firm from an in-house position at a private equity firm. The project development team hired Sam Kamyans and Matthew Kapinos from Baker McKenzie and McGuireWoods respectively.

Partners Phyllis Young, David Simonds and Charles Gibbs left the firm for McGuireWoods, Hogan Lovells and Katten Muchin Rosenman respectively. In M&A partners Patrick Rice and Edward Zaelke left for Greenberg Traurig and McDermott Will & Emery respectively. Edward Zaelke was also part of the project development team, which also lost partner Carl Fleming to McDermott Will & Emery. 

 

Deal highlights: 30th edition (2019/2020)

Diamondbank Energy $9.2 billion acquisition of Energen

Lāwa’i 28MW solar photovoltaic power plant and 100MWh power storage facility

Majestic Resorts hotel development

Rattler Midstream Nasdaq IPO

RegionalCare Hospital Partners / LifePoint Health $1.425 billion 9.75% bond issue

Sears restructuring 

WildHorse Resource Development $2 billion RBL credit agreement

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