In 1920, Alexander Akerman and John Cheney, two Orlando attorneys, founded what is today Akerman Senterfitt. The firm grew with the city to become Central Florida's premier law firm. One of Akerman Senterfitt's earliest partners, Billy Dial, was instrumental in the routing of Interstate 4 through the Orlando area, the procurement of land for Disney World, and the founding of Sun Banks, now SunTrust.

The firm opened its first office outside Orlando in Miami in 1982. It has become the firm's largest office as well as the largest office of any law firm in the city. During the 1990's, Akerman Senterfitt opened offices in Tampa, Tallahassee, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville. In addition to gaining individual attorneys throughout the state, the firm has continued to grow since then through new affiliations with groups of attorneys in Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and Tallahassee.

Today, Akerman Senterfitt is one of the largest firms in the state of Florida, and is a market leader in the areas of Antitrust, Banking & Finance, Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Construction, Corporate/M&A, Labor & Employment, Healthcare, Immigration, Insurance, Commercial Litigation, Real Estate, Tax and Transportation.

The firm's Washington, D.C. office was opened in 2004 to serve clients' governmental and regulatory needs on a federal basis. Its New York office was opened in 2005 to provide the firm's Florida clients with expanded services in New York, assist New York clients in both Florida and Latin America, and serve the New York market. In 2006, the firm added offices in Tysons Corner, Madison, and Los Angeles, when 30 attorneys from Wickwire Gavin joined Akerman Senterfitt, enhancing the firm's large-scale project development, disaster preparedness and recovery, construction, and government contracts services on  a national and global scale.