Akin Gump Lobbyists to Open Capitol Hill Space Ahead of DC Office Move
The U.S. Capitol.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is moving into new offices in 2019, beginning with the formal opening of a satellite office space near Capitol Hill for its public law and policy group in the first quarter of 2019.
The firm plans to move its entire D.C. office a few blocks within the DuPont Circle neighborhood in the summer of 2019, but some of its lawyers and lobbyists have already begun using new satellite office space in the 700-block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Akin Gump said Friday it will occupy the newly developed building’s second-to-top floor, with the top floor providing conference room space for all of the building’s tenants.
Hunter Bates, partner and co-chairman of the public law and policy group, said none of his team will be working exclusively from the satellite office, but they will use it to entertain clients and as a temporary working space between meetings on the Hill. He noted that the new office will also have a small terrace with a Capitol view.
“In a town where there aren’t many Capitol views left, we were thrilled to find this location and are excited to open our offices in 2019,” Bates said.
Bates said his team has already held some client meetings and policy roundtable discussions in the building and had a welcome reception for new members of his team in September. The firm, Bates said, had begun looking at such space near the Hill in recent years and began looking in earnest about a year ago.
As control of the U.S. House of Representatives is set to change hands from Republicans to Democrats in 2019, Bates said his group’s phones have been ringing off the hook. He expects the firm’s oversight and investigations practice to be very busy. Bates, a former legal counsel and chief of staff to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, noted that prominent Democrats on his team, such as former California Rep. Vic Fazio and Arshi Siddiqui, former counsel and senior policy adviser to presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will be particularly busy.
Akin Gump is far from the only firm planning or making a move in the nation’s capital. Fish & Richardson moved into the Wharf earlier this year, and Michael Best & Friedrich will follow its lead in 2019. Williams & Connolly said Friday it too would be moving to the Wharf. Several other firms are moving along or to Pennsylvania Avenue, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Miles & Stockbridge; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
