Thomas Goldstein, the co-chair of Akin Gump’s appellate practice, is about depart  Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a Texas-based law firm with over 800 lawyers, after being a partner for five years. Goldstein is slated to leave Akin in three weeks time and will rejoin his former firm, Howe & Russell, where he worked for almost eight years before joining Akin. Goldstein, the primary author of SCOTUSblog.com, will become a named partner at his former firm which will now be known as Goldstein, Howe & Russell.

Anthony Pierce, managing partner of Akin’s Washington office, said that the firm respects Goldstein’s decision. “This is a great opportunity for Tom. We will miss him, but look forward to working with him on projects in the future and seeing him around Washington. We wish him well.”

Goldstein said that profits were not the reason why he decided to leave Akin. He explained that his departure was attributed to his recent encounter with one of his largest clients giving him additional work that he had to decline to avoid a conflict of interest with another Akin Gump client. “In terms of hard numbers, Supreme Court practices can be quite difficult to make profitable, but I have expanded my practice to do a lot of other kinds of litigation.”

  

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Goldstein has nothing but good words regarding his tenure with Akin. “I have nothing but over-the-moon praise for Akin.” Goldstein also mentioned that Akin and Goldstein, Howe & Russell have a close relationship so he will continue to collaborate with Akin.