Developing a First-in-Class Data Privacy Law Practice and a 20-year Career at Axiom

Andrew is a seasoned intellectual property lawyer who has spent nearly two decades at Axiom, transforming his career through the flexibility and autonomy the alternative legal service provider (ALSP) affords. With extensive experience in intellectual property, privacy, and antitrust law, Andrew has built lasting client relationships and pursued academic interests that would have been impossible in a traditional legal environment.

From Burnout to Breakthrough

Before joining Axiom in 2007, Andrew spent 16 years as an in-house lawyer at a computer software firm. While he gained valuable experience, the intense environment took its toll: "I came from a very intense software industry role—it was difficult to make clients happy, there was little time to respond, and it took a toll on me and my family. I wanted to practice in a way that allowed me to really assist, without the burnout."

When Andrew interviewed at Axiom on a Monday in 2007, he got the job by Friday and started the following Monday. His first assignment? An office buried in paper with the simple instruction: "Start working through the piles." A year later, those piles were gone, the clients were thrilled, and Andrew had begun what would become an 18-year journey of professional fulfillment.

“Joining Axiom transformed my life,” shares Andrew. “I was looking for flexibility and opportunities to pursue aspects of my career that were outside of law. Axiom was the vehicle to make that all happen.”

What sets Axiom apart for Andrew is the unprecedented level of control over his career path: "In traditional law, there's not a lot of choice. At Axiom, I interview for engagements, and I immediately know if it's a fit. If it's not, Axiom respects that. That autonomy lets you build a career on your own terms."

This flexibility has enabled Andrew to pursue diverse interests while maintaining his legal practice: "Axiom empowers you with autonomy. I've followed paths into privacy and antitrust, which even led me to become a law professor teaching antitrust for nearly two decades. And if an engagement isn't the right fit, it's okay to leave. That flexibility is powerful."

Andrew has since taught at several NYC-based law schools and internationally in Germany. He has worked on long-term engagements for Axiom clients, including with a large insurance company for five years and an international bank for four. Axiom engagements provide Andrew with security, and the flexibility of our employment model enables him to accomplish goals that are personally fulfilling and enable him to create a well-rounded career. Andrew explains, “Axiom establishes my value to prospective clients as more than just a cut-and-dried contracts lawyer. I am also an academic with broad experience from multiple clients.”

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Commercial Experience as a Differentiator

At Axiom, Andrew has found that his 30 years of commercial experience enable him to be especially valuable to Axiom’s clients. He explains, “Clients want first-class legal support, but they also want commercial experience in a discipline. You don’t get that kind of focus from a lawyer who’s worked solely in a firm, because law firms and their lawyers can practice law that is devoid of business-oriented results. Having practiced over a broad range of clients and industries, it’s better to give clients legal advice peppered with commercial experience. That’s why Axiom provides such a valuable resource. Ultimately, I’ve seen it before; I’ve lived it.”

Andrew’s extensive experience means that he’s able to advise clients on possible solutions to a challenge they face and lay out the risks and benefits of each solution. Lawyers with experience like Andrew’s are invaluable because they can quickly integrate with in-house teams. Andrew remarks, “That’s what the best Axiom lawyers do. We deliver a high level of service from day one and can parachute in and immediately add value to our clients.”

Andrew's approach to client service focuses on defining success collaboratively and delivering against those expectations: "At Axiom, I get to work with teams who define what success looks like—and I deliver against that. Every engagement has a clear mission, and I've had wonderful success here for 18 years."

One of his favorite examples demonstrates the trust and continuity he's built with clients: "I worked with a client, left for a year, and then they asked me to return, and I stayed for five years. That kind of trust and continuity is rare. All the clients were happy—that's the kind of impact you want to make."

An Early Adopter of Privacy Practice

As an undergraduate at Dickinson, Andrew studied the classics, including Latin and Greek. He was drawn to the idea of becoming a professor, but noted, “In academia, it’s publish or perish and I didn’t see myself locked in a college office on a secluded campus. The law enabled me to pursue business aspirations.”

Andrew attended New York Law School and, shortly thereafter, established himself as an intellectual property lawyer with a specific focus on software. He also developed a strong focus on privacy and antitrust law. Andrew was an early adopter of privacy and remarked, “A lawyer with a focus on privacy law was an outlier 15 years ago. It was not a central career focus for many lawyers then but is for many lawyers now.”

Navigating Fast and Furious Shifts in Privacy Legislation

New privacy regulations continue to transform the legal and business landscapes at a rapid pace. In 2024 alone, momentum accelerated with the activation of four new state privacy laws, the enactment of seven more, and growing calls for a federal privacy law. That trend is continuing in 2025, with five new laws already in effect and three more taking effect later this year, adding to the increasing complexity of compliance.

These regulations are changing the business and legal landscape. Companies rely on lawyers like Andrew to help them understand the regulations and implement plans for compliance. “The regulatory regimes that are arising are unpredictable and don’t follow a predictable or rational path because companies are trying to comply with both international, national, and state privacy regulations. The policy shifts are coming fast and furious, and companies and lawyers must do their best to remain current and knowledgeable,” explains Andrew.

Staying responsive to these changing regulations is also a challenge because there is no convergence between legal systems, such as between the United States and the European Union, on how to treat privacy issues. The interpretation and enforcement of regulations also shift depending on different government administrations. “What we once thought was settled is being reconsidered at the highest level,” said Andrew.

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The Need to Operationalize Privacy

Andrew encourages companies to embrace “privacy by design” in their products and business operations. He advises that companies focus on “building systems from their inception with a thought to privacy structure,” though he acknowledges that this may not always be possible.

Because privacy is growing in importance for all types of businesses, Andrew also encourages lawyers to utilize privacy resources like the International Association of Privacy Professionals to stay on top of changing regulations and to learn from their peers. “You can’t—and shouldn’t—avoid privacy as a lawyer now,” he remarks.

Control over His Career

At Axiom, Andrew feels there’s an inherent respect for lawyers’ interests outside of their work. For Andrew, that creates tremendous value for all parties. Axiom offers experienced lawyers like Andrew a unique opportunity to build their own brand and “to have control over your career in such a way that is unheard of in law as it’s conventionally practiced. In a traditional environment, only as a senior partner would you be able to take that status. Who would have thought that Axiom would have made that happen for me?”

Working for Axiom also enables Andrew to learn constantly, as well as to grow his professional network, which is essential when navigating a changing field like privacy: “It's fresh, learning new things in new industries with new people, and forging new relationships which are personally edifying to me—it’s the relationships that you form that endure.”

Success at Axiom requires lawyers to take ownership of their professional identity: "To succeed at Axiom, you have to own your brand. When I'm on the job, I am Axiom. I guide the client as the best consultant I can be—and I've found that approach brings out the best results."

This philosophy extends to how Andrew views career development: "The practice of law is hard enough without worrying about promotions and hierarchy. At Axiom, I focus on doing the best work for the client, and growth follows naturally."

After 18 years at Axiom, Andrew remains energized by the variety and innovation in his work: "At Axiom, you're not stuck in a career you chose 15 years ago. Each new client engagement is a fresh start. New tech, new challenges—it's constantly refreshing, and that's exactly what I want from my legal career."

The ability to focus on what matters most has been crucial to his sustained success: "We have to triage our issues. At Axiom, I get to focus on what matters most and just do what I'm best at."

To help your company navigate changing privacy regulations and work with experienced data privacy attorneys like Andrew, or to join Andrew as a colleague and do rewarding legal work that integrates with your life, get in touch with Axiom.