Dive Brief:

• Axiom, a platform which connects in-house legal departments with flexible talent, has announced the official launch of a subsidiary law firm in Arizona. 
• Axiom Advice & Counsel plans to serve a wide array of clients, ranging from multinational companies with large in-house teams to growing businesses represented solely by the law firm. 
• The firm will initially focus on corporate law, including complex real estate, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, data privacy, intellectual property and regulatory matters, according to a press release.

Dive Insight:

Axiom CEO David McVeigh said the subsidiary law firm will better position the company to help general counsel doing business in Arizona lower the cost of legal support services, which is a priority for legal departments amid an uncertain economy.

He also said Axiom Advice & Counsel will complement, not supplant, its parent company’s flagship service in which Axiom provides access to specialized legal talent at rates lower than many law firms charge.

“In-house teams can continue to work with Axiom to access the world’s deepest bench of flexible legal talent, and they can partner with AA&C for unparalleled firm-style advice and counsel,” McVeigh said in a statement. “Both options deliver enterprise legal departments with the industry’s best value for their budgeted dollars.”

Axiom received approval to operate an alternative business structure from the Arizona Supreme Court last year.

Companies such as LegalZoom and Elevate Services have also been approved to operate alternative business structures in Arizona. The state hopes the opening of its legal marketplace to nontraditional legal services providers will expand access to affordable legal services.

Matthew Levine, who has 15 years of experience serving as a managing partner at law firms, will lead Axiom Advice & Counsel as managing partner.

Levine, who most recently worked at Titus Brueckner & Levine in Scottsdale, said he relishes the opportunity “to reinvent the archetype of the modern firm.”

“By creating a firm unencumbered by billable hours and the traditional partner pyramid, AA&C’s lawyers are freed from prioritizing firm economics over client-centric values,” he said in a statement. “Instead, our attorneys can place their singular focus on providing clients with the practical, commercial-oriented legal advice that best serves their strategic goals.”

Levine is joined at the firm by former Titus Brueckner & Levine colleague, and now Axiom Advice & Counsel partner, Jeffrey Harris. 

Catherine Kemnitz, Axiom’s chief strategy and development officer, is the designated principal for Axiom Advice & Counsel. She most recently served as Axiom’s chief legal officer.