Wall Street’s Simpson Thacher recruited a trio of Akin Gump practice leaders to launch two groups aimed at steering corporate clients on Capitol Hill and in state prosecutor probes.
Raphael Prober and Karen Christian will lead Simpson Thacher’s congressional investigations practice as co-heads and partners, the firm announced Monday. Martine Cicconi will run Simpson’s first-ever state attorneys general practice.
The trio led those same practice groups at Akin, a go-to firm for companies and individuals targeted by lawmakers and state attorneys general. They represented CEOs from PBS and 23andMe in House hearings last year and guided financial institutions
“The investigative climate has become much more complex and interrelated,” Prober, who had a stint in the Obama Justice Department and has represented the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund while at Akin, said in an interview. “It’s not even the exception—it’s the norm to have parallel DOJ, state AG, and congressional investigation matters where you have the same facts.”
More Akin lawyers are expected to jump to Simpson Thacher, said a source familiar with the situation. The hires position the deals heavyweight to expand its services for private equity and other corporate clients ahead of a possible change in control of Congress.
Democrats see a strong chance to flip control of the House in the midterm elections. That likely would bring a wave of new oversight efforts targeting companies and others who’ve made deals with or are communicating with the Trump administration.
Simpson Eyes Congress Work
Prober, Christian, and Cicconi have advised some high-profile targets of the GOP-led Congress and executive branch since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Prober and Cicconi successfully rebuffed the Justice Department’s subpoena of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia demanding information about minors receiving gender-affirming care. Christian represented Columbia University in response to a House committee’s questions about the institution’s response to alleged antisemitic acts on campus, according to court records.
Simpson Thacher is among the country’s 15 largest law firms, bringing in $2.9 billion in gross revenue in 2024, according to data from The American Lawyer. The firm counts Microsoft, Blackstone, and KKR among clients and recently advised ByteDance in connection with the creation of a new US entity to operate TikTok.
The firm, which has had a DC office for two decades, advises clients facing government enforcement matters, but has had to defer to Akin and other firms to counsel those clients during congressional and state attorneys general outreach.
“Martine, Rafi, and Karen do things we don’t do yet in a targeted fashion and they do it at the top of the market,” said Jonathan Youngwood, global co-chair of Simpson Thacher’s litigation department.
The leaders’ departures are a major loss for Akin, a longtime DC player known for its congressional investigation practice and lobbying arm. The firm last year helped Japan’s Nippon Steel navigate a politically thorny merger with US Steel.
“We wish them well in their future endeavors,” Akin said in a statement. The firm did not say who will take over the investigations team.
The departures and another exit last month leave Akin’s 13-lawyer team with one partner who focuses primarily on congressional investigations defense. That lawyer was promoted to partner in January.
Government Experience
Simpson Thacher was one of nine large law firms that struck deals with the White House last year to resolve inquiries into diversity hiring practices and avoid executive orders like those Trump lobbed at other firms.
The group, which also included Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and A&O Shearman, pledged nearly $1 billion in free legal services on focus areas shared with the White House. The firms also committed to “merit-based employment practices.”
Government investigations practitioners are a tightly knit community led by DC firms with insider status.
Firms like Covington & Burling and WilmerHale are routinely called on by high-profile figures targeted for government scrutiny and have deep connections with top ranking government lawyers. Those affiliations have landed them in Trump’s cross hairs: Trump issued a memo revoking security clearances for some Covington lawyers last year and an executive order against WilmerHale, which was quickly shot down in court.
The three ex-Akin lawyers had legal roles on Capitol Hill or in the executive branch.
Prober worked at Akin for more than seven years before joining the Justice Department as an associate deputy attorney general and returning to the firm in 2017.
Christian served as general counsel for Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Cicconi served as special assistant to President Joe Biden in the first two years of his term after a stint at the Virginia attorney general office as deputy solicitor general.
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