The incoming deputy general counsel for the largest Web3 marketplace for non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrency collectibles forecasts that next year will be a pivotal year for digital asset policy and regulation, particularly as it relates to in-house attorneys.

Laura Brookover joined Ozone Networks Inc.’s OpenSea as the company defeated a class action lawsuit dismissed by investors who claimed the online marketplace misled investors that the NFTs sold on its website did not constitute the sale of securities. Brookover said that this allows the company with a “scrappy startup mentality” to focus more on innovation and, for her, an evolving role to complement that aim.

“If you do litigation and in-house at a crypto company, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has papered the industry with Wells notices,” Brookover said. “Whenever crypto lawyers got together, that is what they talked about. But with the election of Donald Trump, that’s going to change, and the role of in-house counsel at a crypto company will change, too.”

President-elect Donald Trump has been vocal about his intentions to “fire” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who critics claim is running an anti-crypto regime. The SEC sent a Wells notice to OpenSea in August, but it is not clear whether the case will move forward under new leadership in Washington. Regardless, she said, the filing of amicus briefs by crypto in-house counsel to “put their position out there,” for instance, will be relied on less in the years ahead.

“The amicus brief approach was unique to the 'regulation by enforcement' regime where there is not an open dialogue with the agency that thinks it’s the primary regulator,” Brookover said. “When there is a more productive relationship between industry and regulators, advocacy can take many forms. You can provide comments on open rules. There are informal opportunities to meet with members of Congress and their staff to educate them on how crypto works.”

Brookover did not expect to find herself in the legal industry growing up. When she enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a degree in English, she set out to become a magazine editor. However, after an internship at Oprah Magazine, she decided to pursue a career in the law.

After graduating from Georgetown University Law Center, she clerked for U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. From there, she worked as an associate at Covington & Burling, joined the U.S. Commodity Futures and Trading Commission, and then returned to the Am Law 30 firm as special counsel.

However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Brookover yearned to work as “part of a team” in which there was a “furtherance of some mission or goal.” That led to a position at Strike as assistant general counsel, to senior counsel and head of litigation and investigations at Consensys, and now deputy general counsel at OpenSea. She will be under the leadership of general counsel, Adele Faure.

“You never know ahead of time the twists and turns your career is going to take,” said Brookover, who noted that she will lead litigation regulatory efforts at the company. “Because if you asked me before, I never would have told you that I’d be working at a crypto company, but it’s absolutely the right place for me.”