Rodney Akers

Rodney R. Akers retired in 2023 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, having served four Pennsylvania governors as Deputy General Counsel in the Governor’s Office of General Counsel (OGC).  His chief responsibilities included managing the business and technology aspects of the Office of General Counsel, which oversees over 500 attorneys serving more than 30 executive branch Commonwealth agencies.  Mr. Akers chaired OGC’s hiring committee, and supervised the agency’s professional responsibility training activities, interagency practice groups, and law student outreach programs.  He was responsible for OGC law practice management and legal technology initiatives, as well as the overall administration of outside counsel who provide legal services to OGC agency offices.  In addition to his duties as Deputy General Counsel of the Commonwealth, Mr. Akers served as chief counsel to the Patient Safety Authority (2015-2023), Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (2017-2023), the Council on the Arts (2017-2023), and the Office of the First Lady (2017-2023).

Before his service at OGC, Mr. Akers practiced at a global law firm and in the law department of the City of Pittsburgh.  Mr. Akers’ principal areas of practice expertise are in information technology, intellectual property, regulatory compliance, and contracts.  He has extensive experience in e-commerce, information privacy, and cybersecurity issues.  Mr. Akers has represented clients from both the private and public sectors before regulatory bodies, and negotiated a variety of complex contracts, licenses, and agreements.  

Since retiring from OGC, Mr. Akers has remained active in several community-focused endeavors, including the organized bar, where he currently serves on the Board of Governors of both the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Allegheny County Bar Association, holding various roles, including membership on both organizations' Boards of Governors.  In addition to the foregoing, Mr. Akers is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, a position he held before his OGC tenure.  He received his Bachelor of Arts with honors from the University of Virginia, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School.