Andrew P. Averbach served as the NRC Solicitor until November 2025, a position he had held since 2012. In 2025, the NRC awarded him its Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the agency in federal court litigation. Next week, he will begin as a Partner on the Environmental Team of the Business Litigation Practice Group at the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, in Washington DC. Prior to his time at the NRC, he served as Senior Trial Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice. He was in private practice in New York after graduating from the Boston University School of Law and clerking for the Hon. Joseph A. DiClerico (United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire). He is also a graduate of the University of Virginia. Andrew has briefed and argued in the Courts of Appeals in cases where the major questions doctrine has been invoked, and in numerous challenges to the agency's authority to issue licenses for the offsite storage of spent fuel.