About Allison Elaine
Allison Elaine Drutchas graduated from Davidson College with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2011. She went on to earn her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2015. Those academic stops set the stage for a career that moves between law, policy, and technology.
Her first post-college role was on the soccer field. In 2011 she served as an assistant women’s soccer coach at Davidson College. The transition to law followed quickly. After law school she joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP as an associate in 2015, where she handled matters typical of a large firm associate while beginning to steer toward regulatory work.
In 2016 Drutchas shifted into the automotive sector as Counsel, Autonomous Vehicles, at General Motors. That job placed her at the intersection of product development and state and federal regulation. She advised teams on legal and regulatory questions surrounding automated driving systems and worked on issues that arose as manufacturers moved prototypes into broader testing and limited deployment.
She has also maintained a steady connection to legal education. Drutchas taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 2017 and later at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2019. Those roles kept her engaged with classroom discussion while she continued her practice in industry settings.
Outside of work, she has served on academic and nonprofit boards. In 2019 she joined the Board of Trustees at Davidson College. In 2023 she accepted a board membership at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, an organization that advocates on disability and mental health issues.
In 2023 Drutchas became Managing Counsel — Regulatory, Policy, Product at Waymo. Her role involves advising on the legal and regulatory aspects of deploying automated driving technology. She is admitted to practice in Michigan and has experience that spans private practice, in-house counsel roles, and teaching. She currently serves as managing counsel at Waymo LLC, where her practice concentrates on regulatory, policy and product matters related to automated driving.
