Even during the decades that Andy Sommer successfully practiced corporate law with a leading global law firm, he knew that someday he wanted to play a role in the nonprofit world. A native of New York City, he had a successful legal career at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where his international practice focused on mergers and acquisitions before he became the firm’s first General Counsel in 2011.

Throughout his career, Sommer did pro bono work for human rights organizations; he recalls the excitement he felt as a young lawyer working on a landmark civil rights case that opened the door to women working in the New York City Fire Department. When he retired in 2018, already a member of the Board of Directors of Engenderhealth, a sexual and reproductive health and rights organization active in Africa and Asia, he thought he would serve on nonprofit boards with a principal focus on international human rights issues.

In 2019, Sommer and his wife Susan Ross joined the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) and became part of “a group of really remarkable and interesting people from all over the world.”  Sommers found that the ALI program “refreshed my sense of excitement about impact work.” He became aware of the expertise and hands-on skills he could bring to a nonprofit’s daily operations.

Then, he was asked to recommend someone for a job as the first General Counsel of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a global legal advocacy organization dedicated to advancing reproductive rights as fundamental human rights. The Center has participated in every major U.S Supreme Court abortion case since its founding in 1992, and has strengthened laws and policies around reproductive rights in over 60 countries across five continents. The organization has shaped the legal precedent for reproductive rights in multiple victories in national courts around the world, United Nations committees, and regional human rights bodies.  It is set to square off again in the U.S. Supreme Court this fall against the state of Mississippi on behalf of its long-time client Jackson Women’s Health Organization in another critical reproductive rights case.     

When asked if he would consider the job, Sommer’s initial response was “Absolutely not. I am retired.”  However, spurred by his ALI experience, he realized the position was where he could have the most impact. “There's no dearth of nonprofits and social impact organizations. I knew I could serve best by working with and advising an existing organization rather than starting a new one,” he said. “And I quickly recognized that inaugurating the General Counsel function at the Center, whose work I had long admired, was an almost ideal opportunity to do that.” He agreed to discuss the position and was hired. He was soon put to the test.

Sommer’s first week on the job came in spring of 2020 just before oral arguments on an abortion-related case at the U.S. Supreme Court. He participated in a women’s rights demonstration on the steps of the courthouse while his Center colleagues argued inside. Two days later, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of offices around the country, including the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Sommer launched into full crisis-management mode to guide the organization’s transition to remote work.

That summer brought demonstrations over the murder of George Floyd, and the Center joined the national discussion on diversity, equity and inclusion. Together with others in the Center’s senior management team, he has played key role in stewarding its work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

It’s not much of a retirement, but it’s what Sommer envisioned doing after ALI. “I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to be so intensively engaged in work to which I am passionately committed for an organization that I deeply care about,” he said.