The flexible legal talent platform Axiom has hired Ashlin Quirk to serve as the organization’s general counsel and a member of its executive leadership team.
Quirk had most recently served as executive vice president, general counsel, privacy officer and secretary at Dynata, a multinational data insights company operating in 40 countries around the world.
Prior to her decade-plus tenure at Dynata, she worked in-house at Mastercard and Webloyalty. Her experience also includes stints at Pitney Bowes and Mayer Brown.
Quirk is quite familiar with Axiom, as she used the alternative legal services provider while leading the legal team at Dynata.
Axiom provides talent to legal departments in a wide array of practice areas, and it launched a subsidiary law firm in Arizona earlier this year.
“As the legal industry continues to evolve, Axiom is committed to not only evolving alongside it, but leading the way forward,” Axiom CEO David McVeigh said in a press release. “Ashlin Quirk’s expertise and unique insight as a former Axiom client will be instrumental to unlocking future industry innovation while still maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.”
Axiom also announced on Tuesday that it has named Katrina Benjamin the company’s chief product officer.
Personal experience with Axiom
Quirk told Legal Dive that she first engaged Axiom when one of her attorneys went out on parental leave several years ago.
She said she was shocked by how quickly the Axiom lawyer provided to her team learned the business to carry out their tasks.
“I typically expect a new hire to have a three-to-six-month ramp-up period before being able to leave them on their own,” Quirk said in a written statement. “But this particular individual, who was based out of the UK, was handling the work right away, and it was being handled as if she'd been there forever.”
More recently, as Quirk was transitioning out of Dynata, she engaged Axiom’s legal talent to handle different tasks to support her department.
“The ability to get somebody in there, especially, someone with labor and employment experience, and to have someone who could work directly with HR on the day I left, was invaluable,” Quirk said.
“This is in large part what made joining Axiom as GC so appealing—not only do I understand the solution we offer, but I also understand the voice of the customer, and I understand their needs,” she said.
Top priorities
Quirk replaces Catherine Kemnitz as the leader of Axiom’s legal department following Kemnitz’s shift to a more growth-focused role earlier this year.
Quirk said her major priorities in 2023 include supporting efforts to enhance the digital experience Axiom provides via its Axiom for Clients and Axiom for Talent features.
She also will support Axiom Advice & Counsel, a law firm Axiom has launched in Arizona to serve a wide array of businesses in a different manner than its legal talent business.
Axiom received approval from the Arizona Supreme Court to operate the firm as an alternative business structure last year.
New chief product officer
Katrina Benjamin, Axiom’s new CPO, brings a wealth of experience developing and scaling two-sided marketplaces.
She most recently served as the CPO of ApartmentList, an online marketplace connecting renters with properties.
Prior to ApartmentList, she spent eight years at the freelancing platform Upwork, where she held a variety of product leadership and marketing roles.
Benjamin concluded her tenure as Upwork’s GM of Talent Marketplace, and her time at the company is expected to serve her well in her new position at Axiom.
“Katrina’s expertise in two-sided marketplace businesses will help us scale our legal talent platform, better enabling clients to seamlessly connect with the lawyers and legal professionals they need,” McVeigh said.
