Bringing 30+ Years of Tech Law Experience to Axiom Clients

Get to know Joan at a glance:

• Over 30 years of experience
• Specializes in technology law
• Graduate of The Wharton School and Boston University School of Law
• Extensive law firm experience with Seward & Kissel and Thacher Proffitt & Wood
• Currently providing on-demand legal support for companies in need of a skilled technology lawyer

Axiom lawyer Joan brings over three decades of experience and a focus on technology law to her clients. She sharpened her skills at major law firms and global-technology consulting groups before launching her own law practice in 2012 and joining Axiom in 2019. Currently, her law practice is geared toward helping companies navigate tech-related transactions and agreements.

Joan joined Axiom to round out her work without having to step away from her practice. For Joan, working at Axiom is a way to put her skills to use, take on exciting projects, and continue growing as a legal professional. One skill that immediately proved useful was her ability to quickly get up to speed on a client’s needs and jump into an engagement with little disruption. For Joan, success depends on seamless integration where she can share the same vision as the internal team.

Helping companies meet their goals at Axiom

Since joining Axiom, Joan has been engaged with a wide variety of companies. She has reviewed software licensing and software agreements for a global professional information provider and worked with a business and finance publication creating U.S. versions of its U.K. contract templates. She also was engaged with a well-known poverty-relief charity organization in New York City and helped the organization negotiate a master license and software agreement in connection with the livestreaming of their major conference.

While each of Joan’s engagements has been unique, the common thread between them is Joan’s ability to use her specific skillset to alleviate her client's pain points. She prides herself on being quick on her feet and able to anticipate legal challenges before they arise; something that serves her particularly well when assisting with contracts.

“Many lawyers look at a contract and respond only to what has been proposed,” says Joan. “I focus on what’s not included and anticipate potential issues and strategize from there”

By taking on a company’s overflow legal work, she ultimately helps them be more efficient, so they can close more deals, meet their goals, and save money in the process -- a win-win for all.

Building a wealth of law-firm and in-house experience

Joan earned her Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before earning her Juris Doctor at Boston University School of Law. After law school, she joined Seward & Kissel’s corporate finance and banking department in New York as an associate. There, she represented foreign and domestic banking institutions, investment banks, and other corporate organizations.

Curious to experience the in-house side of law, Joan went on to serve as an assistant general counsel at a large asset management company. However, after three years, she was completely burned out. She spent a six-month stint working as a recruiter before taking a chance and going back to law firm life — a move that paid off.

She joined Thacher Proffitt & Wood, where she said, “I was engaged, learning new areas of the law, and solving real problems.” Joan worked in the corporate and financial institutions department where she represented a variety of public and private companies. Her services included drafting, negotiating, and reviewing documents related to mergers and acquisitions.

It was her next role, an in-house position at global consulting firm Capgemini, that ignited her interest in technology law. Joan’s legal work focused on their technology products where she helped establish the company’s hardware and software reselling subsidiary and served as its primary attorney.

“It was something that really fit my personality,” she says. “I love coming up with creative solutions and working and being collaborative with the business team.”

After six years, she transitioned to a consulting firm, BearingPoint, and focused on technology transactional matters, including intellectual property and data privacy to software licensing. When she was offered a position as the first in-house attorney for Opera Solutions (a big data science and predictive-analytics company), she jumped at the opportunity. Joan oversaw the expansion of their legal team, which further helped to establish her niche in technology law.

In 2012, Joan decided to venture out on her own and start her own law practice. As a mother to two young sons, she craved the flexibility to create her own schedule and choose her clients while continuing to focus on technology-related transactions and agreements.

Broadening her work and developing as a professional at Axiom

While Joan loves having her own practice, she also values opportunities to broaden her work and continuously develop as a professional. Joan saw working for Axiom as a way to diversify her work, make new connections, and continue growing as a lawyer. She appreciates that the Axiom model enables skilled lawyers to provide on-demand services while working closely with in-house teams.

She recognizes that Axiom lawyers are in an ideal position to help companies in need of on-demand legal talent. They are experienced, nimble, and able to provide support on an as-needed basis.

Joan feels empowered to take on as little or as much Axiom work as she likes and appreciates that she can hand-pick engagements that appeal to her. Balancing her own practice and her Axiom work has not been an either/or situation. Instead, each supports the other and helps her be a more well-rounded lawyer.

Axiom’s flexible model partners legal teams with experienced on-demand attorneys and legal talent, so they can spend less on outside general counsel. Get in touch with us today to connect with lawyers like Joan or to join our team of more than 5,800 lawyers around the globe.