Choosing a Different Kind of Legal Career

Kyla Denanyoh
11 minutes ago
3 min read

Akshay Verma is the Chief Operating Officer at SpotDraft and a former environmental lawyer whose career spans law firms, legal operations, and executive leadership in tech. In this episode, Akshay shares what it felt like to leave firm life, take a financial risk for his family, and build a career that better aligned with how he wanted to live and work.

About This Episode

Background

Akshay Verma spent his early years moving between India and the Bay Area, eventually completing much of his schooling in California. A defining moment came during middle school, when a weeklong school trip to Yosemite National Park introduced him to environmental issues for the first time. Lessons on deforestation, waste, recycling, and the ozone layer made a lasting impression, shifting how he understood his place in the world and the responsibilities that came with it.

“I remember exactly where I was sitting… and I was like, my God, if we don’t do something about this, this planet’s done," shares Akshay Verma on You Are A Lawyer.

That early awareness carried forward into Akshay’s academic choices. In college, he pursued an environmental science policy and management minor alongside his primary studies, drawn to the intersection of science, policy, and problem-solving. Before law school, he worked for three years as an IP litigation paralegal, an experience that gave him practical exposure to the legal profession and helped him understand both the realities of legal work and the environments in which lawyers operate.

Why Law School

Law school felt like the most direct way for Akshay to turn his interest in environmental issues into meaningful action. When he took his first environmental law course as a junior in college, it crystallized his plan and gave him a clear professional direction that felt aligned with his values at the time.

“I was like, this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to become an environmental lawyer," explains Akshay Verma on Episode 225 of You Are a Lawyer.

After graduating, Akshay practiced environmental law for six years. While he remained deeply interested in environmental challenges, he began to realize that the version of legal practice he was experiencing didn’t match the future he envisioned for himself. The work itself wasn’t wrong, but it no longer felt like the right container for his skills, curiosity, or long-term happiness. That realization planted the seed for questioning whether staying on the traditional legal path was the only — or best — option available to him.

What Can You Do with a Law Degree

Stepping away from law firm practice didn’t mean stepping away from Akshay’s legal training. Instead, his law degree became a foundation for understanding risk, evaluating complex systems, and communicating across disciplines. His move to Axiom exposed him to legal operations and in-house environments, where legal thinking was applied to business challenges rather than courtroom advocacy.

“It wasn’t risk aversion — it was risk awareness," shares Akshay Verma on Episode 225 of You Are a Lawyer.

That mindset shaped the rest of his career. As Akshay moved into leadership roles at Facebook and Coinbase, and later into his current role as COO at SpotDraft, he continued to rely on the judgment, structure, and analytical skills developed in law school. Rather than limiting him, his legal background expanded what he was able to do, allowing him to operate confidently in roles that required decision-making, influence, and organizational leadership.

Lawyer Side Hustles

Alongside his executive career, Akshay has become deeply involved in teaching and mentorship. He teaches at Santa Clara Law University and regularly speaks to law students and early-career lawyers about the evolving nature of the legal profession. These roles allow him to reflect on how dramatically the landscape has changed since he graduated and to help students see opportunities that didn’t exist when he was in their position.

“The world is literally your oyster right now,” Akshay Verma expresses in Episode 225 of You Are a Lawyer.

While Akshay doesn’t frame this work as a traditional side hustle, it reflects a meaningful extension of his professional identity. Through teaching and public speaking, he contributes to reshaping how lawyers think about success, fulfillment, and career flexibility. His work outside his day job reinforces the idea that a legal career can be expansive, iterative, and deeply personal, not just confined to a single title or track.