Key Takeaways
- • Akin Gump opens its 18th office in Chicago, expanding its investment management and corporate law platform into a major private capital hub with a four-partner team recruited from Mayer Brown.
- • The Chicago team brings market-leading expertise in real estate funds advising on complex investment vehicles and infrastructure M&A, with specialized experience in transportation (short line, railcar, railroad transactions), ports, steel manufacturing, and digital infrastructure including data centers.
- • Wendy Gallegos, recruited from Mayer Brown, serves as partner-in-charge of the new Chicago office, leading an integrated practice designed to support prominent investment managers and companies pursuing real estate and infrastructure transactions.
- • The expansion strengthens Akin's transactional capabilities across investment management and M&A, positioning the firm to capture deal flow from institutional investors, private equity firms, and infrastructure investors in the Chicago market.
Summary
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP announced the opening of its Chicago office, marking the firm's 18th location and expanding its footprint into one of the nation's largest markets for private capital deployment. The office launch, effective September 2025, follows the May 2025 recruitment of a four-partner team from Mayer Brown, one of the country's largest law firms.
The Chicago team combines specialized capabilities in real estate funds and infrastructure M&A, two high-growth practice areas for institutional investment managers. The real estate funds group provides comprehensive advisory services on complex investment vehicles, serving prominent asset managers and companies executing real estate transactions. The infrastructure M&A practice focuses on deal origination and structuring for infrastructure, private equity, and other institutional investors pursuing joint ventures and complex transactions. The team has demonstrated market leadership in transportation infrastructure (including short line railroads, railcar operations, and rail transactions), port operations, steel manufacturing, and digital infrastructure, particularly data centers—sectors critical to institutional portfolio construction in the current capital environment.
Wendy Gallegos, a partner who joined from Mayer Brown, leads the Chicago office as partner-in-charge. Abid Qureshi, Akin's co-chair, characterized the addition as strengthening the firm's "investment management and M&A teams" and delivering "bespoke solutions" aligned with client needs in a major metropolitan market. Gallegos stated that the Chicago launch expands Akin's "integrated platform" while maintaining its focus on relationship development in what she described as a "vibrant market," signaling the firm's commitment to organic growth through specialized team recruitment rather than organic hiring alone.
The expansion reflects broader market consolidation in M&A advisory for institutional capital, with specialized practices in real estate and infrastructure commanding premium valuations from institutional clients. Chicago's status as a transportation, logistics, and financial services hub positions the new office to capture deal flow from Midwest-based institutional investors, family offices, and pension funds evaluating alternative investments in real assets and infrastructure.
The Chicago team combines specialized capabilities in real estate funds and infrastructure M&A, two high-growth practice areas for institutional investment managers. The real estate funds group provides comprehensive advisory services on complex investment vehicles, serving prominent asset managers and companies executing real estate transactions. The infrastructure M&A practice focuses on deal origination and structuring for infrastructure, private equity, and other institutional investors pursuing joint ventures and complex transactions. The team has demonstrated market leadership in transportation infrastructure (including short line railroads, railcar operations, and rail transactions), port operations, steel manufacturing, and digital infrastructure, particularly data centers—sectors critical to institutional portfolio construction in the current capital environment.
Wendy Gallegos, a partner who joined from Mayer Brown, leads the Chicago office as partner-in-charge. Abid Qureshi, Akin's co-chair, characterized the addition as strengthening the firm's "investment management and M&A teams" and delivering "bespoke solutions" aligned with client needs in a major metropolitan market. Gallegos stated that the Chicago launch expands Akin's "integrated platform" while maintaining its focus on relationship development in what she described as a "vibrant market," signaling the firm's commitment to organic growth through specialized team recruitment rather than organic hiring alone.
The expansion reflects broader market consolidation in M&A advisory for institutional capital, with specialized practices in real estate and infrastructure commanding premium valuations from institutional clients. Chicago's status as a transportation, logistics, and financial services hub positions the new office to capture deal flow from Midwest-based institutional investors, family offices, and pension funds evaluating alternative investments in real assets and infrastructure.
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