Audrey Pumariega

Audrey Pumariega is a commercial and healthcare litigator who spent nearly 15 years in BigLaw, including as a longtime partner at McDermott Will & Schulte. There, she learned how corporations evaluate litigation, what motivates them, and what they fear. She brings that perspective to both sides of a dispute.

Audrey is a close, trusted confidant to her clients — someone who gives practical, candid advice built around what actually serves the client's interests, not what generates the most billable hours. Her clients have included Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, private equity firms, registered investment advisors, technology and telecommunications companies, retailers, accounting firms, celebrities, major hospitals and health systems, physician groups, health insurers, management services organizations (MSOs), and ambulatory surgery centers.

Audrey began her career at Kasowitz Benson Torres, a nationally recognized litigation powerhouse, and later served as an Assistant County Attorney for Miami-Dade County, managing a high-volume caseload before judges across the county.

In the Commercial Space

Audrey's commercial litigation practice covers a broad range of high-stakes business disputes. Her approach is practical and strategic: she understands when a dispute should be resolved efficiently and when the stakes justify a relentless fight.

She has guided clients through contract disputes, partnership and shareholder disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, fraud claims, business torts, and class actions, as well as defamation, libel, trademark, trade secret, copyright, and right-of-publicity disputes. Among other notable representations, Audrey represented a major financial institution in civil actions relating to one of the largest Ponzi schemes in the United States, and defeated multiple lawsuits against international music sensation Armando Perez p/k/a Pitbull alleging claims of copyright infringement, right-of-publicity violation, and various business torts.

Audrey has also represented dozens of employers, employees, sellers, and purchasers in noncompete disputes, with an undefeated record in this space — including victories for Verizon and other large corporations.

In the Healthcare Space

More than a decade at McDermott, the country's premier healthcare law firm, gave Audrey deep healthcare industry and regulatory knowledge. She has appeared before the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Board of Medicine, and her healthcare practice covers physician non-competes, hospital medical staff privileging, payor-provider and reimbursement disputes, healthcare M&A disputes, telehealth, fraud and abuse, and regulatory issues involving physician practices, management services organizations (MSOs), managed care, and clinical supervision. Audrey is a member of the American Health Law Association.

False Claims Act and qui tam matters are a particular focus of Audrey's practice at AXS. Having defended multiple qui tam claims in BigLaw, she now draws on that defense-side experience, together with years of immersion in the healthcare regulatory landscape, on behalf of relators. She works alongside AXS's Washington, D.C. lawyers — longtime DOJ veterans — to pursue these claims.

When she is not working or spending time with her family, Audrey salsa dances, hunts for antiques, and admires Spanish Colonial architecture and decor. Before beginning her legal career, Audrey spent nearly a decade as a FIFA-certified soccer referee — making consequential calls under pressure, often with passionate advocates on both sides.