Nimesh M Patel Legal Advisor

About Nimesh M Patel Legal Advisor

Nimesh Patel works closely with the firm’s chairperson and is responsible for leading the diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives, ensuring that the firm’s core principles of inclusiveness and diversity are reflected across its internal and external policies, work and practices. Having worked in both the private sector and the federal government, Nimesh has nearly 25 years of experience advancing diversity and inclusion issues. Prior to joining Akin Gump, he served as a director of diversity and inclusion at a prominent global law firm, where he worked with the firm’s management and diversity committees to develop and execute the firm’s diversity and inclusion strategy, including the recruitment, professional development and advancement of diverse attorneys, as well as the creation of a number of diversity-related programs and initiatives. Earlier in his career, Nimesh served as executive director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with 230,000 employees worldwide. In that role, he designed and executed the department’s first Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, ensuring alignment with DHS’s missions, goals and objectives. He also developed performance metrics to evaluate progress, and he engaged internal and external stakeholders to communicate progress. Nimesh’s prior work experience also includes being an associate in the labor and employment practice at two large international law firms, with a specialty in corporate diversity counseling. He also served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division, Special Litigation Section of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and as Assistant General Counsel at DOJ’s Federal Bureau of Prisons.