At heart, Andrew McCormick is a performer and brings much of that joie de vivre to the workplace. He joined Eversheds Sutherland in 2010, working as a financial litigator lawyer before going in-house to E*TRADE in 2016, then to Morgan Stanley, and most recently to eToro, a fintech company, in January 2022. Andrew says his time in our Washington, DC office was the launchpad for his mission to make the law a more creative profession. He also credits the firm for supporting him during one of the toughest seasons of his life.
Why did you join Eversheds Sutherland?
As a 23-year-old, I was aware of all these firms with fancy names, but I didn’t want to work at a place where I couldn’t excel as a person outside of work. Someone suggested I look at Eversheds Sutherland as a “me” kind of firm. When I interviewed with them, I found out that one of the partners was in a rock 'n' roll band and I was hooked.
How do you reflect on your time with us?
I cherish my time there tremendously because I could be myself, learn a ton, and I met so many great people. I don’t think I could’ve had a better associate experience. I’m not the type to just show up for a job, do my time, and then leave. I’ve always loved the social side of work too: I coached our softball team, and organized sporting events, happy hours, and karaoke (probably too much of that). We did interesting work and had a lot of fun too.
And you were involved with the firm’s “Sutherland Comfort” band?
Yes! There’s a big thing in DC every summer called “Battle of the Law Firm Bands”. The event raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for the homeless. I’m a performer at heart and I was the rapper in the band. Our lead singer was Naseem Nixon , a fellow alum who is a dynamite singer, person, and lawyer. I’ve been buddies with Naseem since we had our very first summer associate lunch together. We made quite the team. I’m six foot three and would come out singing rap songs in ridiculous costumes. Naseem was…not quite six foot three…and would come out crushing classic rock songs in a sparkly dress. We once did a cool mashup of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” and Queen’s “Under Pressure”, which has the same hook line. I came out wearing gold MC Hammer pants. It was hyped! You can see a clip on YouTube . I ended up meeting the real Vanilla Ice whose manager had seen the clip and invited me to meet them for dinner.
Andrew McCormick and Naseem Nixon performing in the “Sutherland Comfort” band
Why did you leave Eversheds Sutherland?
I had two-year old twins and a six-month-old baby at the time (a 4th showed up later) and the big law lifestyle impacted my ability to be the best husband and dad I wanted to be. I also loved the idea of spreading my creative wings even more and working directly with business partners to build cool products.
What was it like at E*TRADE?
I loved it. Eversheds Sutherland taught me how to be an effective lawyer without losing my creative and adventurous spirit and I built upon that at E*TRADE. We had a tremendous legal team full of brilliant professionals, but also really fun people. I’m so thankful my leaders let me chase my passions. I even got the green light to do legal trainings about serious topics, but I would sing songs or tell jokes during the presentations. It’s so important for me as an in-house lawyer to be approachable and for what I say to be memorable and I love using creativity and humor to accomplish those goals.
You then joined eToro?
I was having a good time at Morgan Stanley (which had acquired E*TRADE), but eToro was an adventure I wanted to chase. eToro is a big name overseas, but is just getting started here in the US. I loved the idea of moving beyond litigation and handling all US legal issues. We have big hopes and dreams here and a great team.
In-house lawyers often say they need to keep their advice short and sweet. Is that true for you?
Absolutely. Lawyers – and especially former litigators like me – are often paranoid by nature and may prefer to write every relevant fact and risk in some lengthy memo. There may be some brilliant stuff in there, but if it’s too long or too boring, no one may actually read it. I like to pull my thoughts into quick and hopefully engaging stories and actionable conclusions. My colleagues typically don’t want to hear all the complicated legalese. So if I only have a few moments during a broader meeting to explain a very important legal matter, I better make every second count and tell my story in a captivating and digestible way. Those meetings might not be as exciting as performing in a band, but there are some similarities that have served me well.
Are you still in contact with Eversheds Sutherland?
Yes, even in times of crisis the firm has looked out for me. In January 2020, my wife was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and given an absurdly low chance of surviving. The reaction from my former colleagues was amazing, even though I hadn’t been with the firm for more than four years. People came by with dinners and all kinds of other wonderful things. Bruce Bettigole , who was my partner mentor, and others sent me so many encouraging notes during that season. Carmen Brun, another of my mentors who now runs the US Konexo program, even reached out to my wife directly. Thankfully, my wife is crushing cancer these days. But that was the worst situation I had ever faced, and it meant so much that the Eversheds Sutherland community supported me.
If you would like to add Andrew McCormick to your network, you can connect with him via LinkedIn.
