In 1995, he joined Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C., as an associate. In that position, he helped litigate the challenge to the Communications Decency Act, the first U.S. effort to censor content on the Internet. The case eventually worked its way up to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously in Reno v. ACLU that the anti-indecency measures in the bill violated the First Amendment.

McLaughlin then headed over to Capitol Hill in 1997 as counsel to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), where he helped the congressman lead a campaign finance investigation.

In 1998, he returned to Harvard as a fellow at the Berkman Center. There, he studied the Internet's technical administration and self-regulation and the role of constitutional law in cyberspace. He also worked on Internet policy and infrastructure projects in a number of developing countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Mongolia.

In 1999, Andrew helped launch Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a global non-profit organization that coordinates the Internet's systems of unique identifiers, such as domain names and IP addresses.

Google

In 2004, McLaughlin accepted a new job at technology giant Google, where he ran the Global Public Policy division. In that position, he focused on freedom of expression and expanding Internet infrastructure and online services in developing countries.

In July 2009, he joined the Obama administration as deputy U.S. chief technology officer, where he is the White House lead on Internet policy and works on technology initiatives like Open Government, health information, the smart grid and cybersecurity.

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