Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has expanded its energy and infrastructure practice with the addition of Ron Erlichman and Nick Atwood as partners. Erlichman will be based in New York, while Atwood will join the Washington, D.C. office. Both lawyers previously worked at Linklaters, where Erlichman served as co-head of the firm’s energy and infrastructure practice in the Americas.
The new partners are expected to bolster Akin’s capabilities in advising clients on a range of projects, including traditional and renewable power generation, battery storage, data centers, carbon capture, synthetic fuels, mining, and other infrastructure transactions. Their experience covers the development, financing, acquisition, and sale of projects such as conventional and renewable electrical power, hydrogen production, chemical facilities, terminals, transportation projects, and more. They represent sponsors, developers, lenders, private capital investors, and other project participants throughout all phases of a project’s life cycle.
“With rapidly growing power needs driven by AI, data centers and electrification, our energy & infrastructure practice continues to see increasing client demand across a variety of transactions,” said Akin co-chair Abid Qureshi. “Ron and Nick’s experience will be a great benefit to our clients as they are developing and financing the next generation of the energy economy.”
Corporate practice co-head Zachary Wittenberg stated: “Ron and Nick are versatile energy & infrastructure dealmakers who are widely respected in the industry and well known to our team. Their experience across a wide range of cutting-edge energy projects and technologies is a terrific complement and will drive continued growth across our integrated energy offering.”
Erlichman commented on joining Akin: “I have long respected the strength and breadth of Akin’s energy platform and been impressed by its growth. Nick and I are excited to work with our new colleagues, many of whom we have known and worked with professionally for years.”
The firm’s recent hires include several partners focused on various aspects of energy transactions in different locations such as Houston, Washington D.C., London, New York, and California.
Akin serves companies across the entire energy value chain globally through an interdisciplinary team with expertise in upstream to downstream operations as well as multiple forms of renewable energy projects like wind or solar.
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