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About Us

ZwillGen is a boutique law firm focused on helping clients navigate emerging technology and data-related legal challenges.

ZwillGen Washington Office

Leaving behind the bureaucracy of Big Law has allowed us to focus on one thing—delivering high value legal advice to help our clients make the most of new technologies.

We have built a strong practice counseling leading Internet, media, and tech companies and handling their high profile online legal issues.

Following years of running practice groups at the nation’s largest law firms, ZwillGen was founded on the principle of delivering thoughtful and practical solutions more efficiently.

Today, we offer unique services from a team of highly specialized attorneys, some of whom have spent the last 20 years developing their knowledge and experience with leading clients, firms, and issues. We make legal advice more accessible to our clients by offering alternatives to the traditional hourly law firm model, including innovative approaches that directly align firm incentives with client success.

Learn about our practice areas →

Our History

What began in 2010 as a big idea in a small Washington, DC row house has become a thriving coast-to-coast law firm with nearly thirty attorneys and fourteen staff members spread over four offices in Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Founded in 2010 by Marc Zwillinger and Christian Genetski, Zwillinger Genetski LLP was known for its pioneering, anti-Big Law spirit and practical advice. In 2011, Zwillinger Genetski LLP began to grow and was rebranded as ZwillGen PLLC. By 2014, ZwillGen outgrew its Dupont Circle row house and moved a few blocks away to its current home at 1900 M Street NW.

In 2016, ZwillGen opened its California Subsidiary, ZG Subpoena Solutions, to help clients process third-party data requests. That same year, Managing Member and Founder Marc Zwillinger became known as “Apple’s Secret Weapon” for his representation of the company in Apple v. San Bernardino.

Today, ZwillGen continues to be known for its pioneering spirit and practical advice as it helps clients both big and small in a wide range of industries tackle emerging technology and data-related legal issues.

Billing Philosophy

We believe the existing hourly law firm model is outdated and misaligns the interests of lawyers and their clients. Law firms should be rewarded for helping clients efficiently solve problems and discouraged from spending more time than necessary to achieve the same result. That’s why we have alternative pricing models. On every matter, our goal is to find the right pricing structure to align our incentives with your success.

  • 1

    MONTHLY RETAINERS

    We handle all of the legal work in a given area or subject matter for a monthly retainer, which we can adjust upward or downward as the work ebbs and flows.

  • 2

    FLAT RATE/PROJECT FEES

    Under this model, we take the risk that we have underestimated the time that needs to be spent. If it takes longer, you still don’t pay any more. If we are very efficient, we get the benefit of our efficiency.

  • 3

    SUCCESS FEES

    Even in the simplest matters, like creating Terms and Conditions for a website, you know how to measure success, and we want to deliver that result. Accordingly, you pay us a reasonable rate or fee for the work and agree on an additional fee to be paid if we are successful, however you decide to define it.

  • 4

    ONE RATE HOURLY PRICING

    Because we work collectively to solve your problems, nearly all of our lawyers are available for the same rate, except our Fellows. Our Fellows are one or two years out of law school and we bill them at half the price of an experienced attorney. They are perfect for those legal tasks you don’t want to pay a 20-year legal veteran to do, but that are more sophisticated than what a paralegal should be doing.

Achievements

Since our founding, we have been consistently recognized and ranked by some of the legal industry's leading publications for our client service and commitment to diversity.

  • Ranked 7th in Law360's 2021 Glass Ceiling Report for our female Shareholder representation

  • Voted by peers as a Best Law Firm for Privacy & Data Security (2022)

  • Listed by BTI as a Most Recommended Law Firm (2021)

  • Recognized as a leading law firm in Privacy & Data Security for 11 consecutive years
    (2011-2021)

  • Regionally ranked as a Tier 1 Best Law Firm in the 2021 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers Best Law Firms

  • Nationally ranked as a Tier 2 Best Law Firm in the 2021 edition of U.S. News – Best Lawyers Best Law Firms

  • Listed in Vault's Top 150 Under 150

  • Law360 Privacy Group of the Year (2018)

  • Law360 Consumer Protection Group of the Year (2018)

Ranked in Chambers USA 2021 🏆

We have been ranked in Chambers USA for the 11th consecutive year as a leading privacy and data security law firm. In addition to our firm ranking, Founder and Managing Member Marc Zwillinger is ranked in Band 1 and Kandi Parsons is newly recognized as an Up and Coming lawyer in the privacy and data security space.

View our Chambers Profile →

Chambers Highlights

"I am very happy with the team,” says a client, noting: “They are experts in their space, which is cybersecurity and data privacy, and are knowledgeable and responsive."

–ZwillGen Client, 2021

"I am a huge fan of ZwillGen for their approachability, responsiveness, and the pragmatism of their advice. It is a really high-quality firm and I always recommend them to people. They have really reasonable rates and have built their presence around the intersection of tech and privacy."

–ZwillGen Client, 2021

"They are subject matter experts on all things privacy and security,” reports a client, who describes the team as “really collaborative, creative and intelligent, helping us to understand and evaluate risk from all angles, and excellent at helping us think through the implications of all the intersecting laws."

–ZwillGen Client, 2021

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