Three disciplines, one room.

open source law, strategy and analysis

Andrew is a practising lawyer, qualified in England and Wales (and as a solicitor in Ireland, non-practising), and a former software developer. With over thirty years in the technology field, he is one of the leading free and open source software lawyers, working at the intersection of open source compliance and the legal framework that supports it.

“Katz is one of the world’s leading legal experts on open source and open hardware licensing.”

Chambers and Partners, 2024

Ranked · Information Technology & Outsourcing, London — Chambers UK 2026

He advises on technology law, software licensing and distribution, open source licensing and compliance strategy, business structures and models, open hardware, open data, and the legal aspects of AI — particularly the IP and regulatory dimensions of large language models. His clients range from specialist start-ups to some of the world’s largest technology companies, alongside governments, foundations, public sector bodies, academic institutions and transnational organisations, spanning China and the Far East, North America and Europe. Previous clients include Canonical (Ubuntu), the Linux Foundation and the Eclipse Foundation.

Andrew founded Orcro in 2018 to combine open source specialism with legal expertise under one roof — software engineering, community engagement, training, DevOps, change management and business process analysis — and has partnered with one of the world’s leading insurers on an open source risk-management framework. He also practises as a technology solicitor at leading London intellectual property firm Bristows LLP, where he heads the firm’s Open Source team.

“One of the best lawyers I know in the field of IT, FOSS, Open Source Hardware and Open Data. With his commendable technical skills, he is able to deduce the real issue even from the more complex issues… my go-to person for all the latest and complex legal issues pertaining to OSHW.”

Shane Coughlan · former Legal Team Lead, Free Software Foundation Europe

Standards & licences

Andrew drafted the widely used Solderpad Open Hardware Licence and was sole external counsel on the drafting team of the CERN Open Hardware Licence, navigating the suite through SPDX and OSI recognition. He negotiated the business transfer of the CentOS project to Red Hat, and was lead author of the Open Hardware section of the European Commission’s Impact Study on Open Source Software and Hardware, frequently cited by MEPs and the Commission in EU law and policy. Within the Linux Foundation’s OpenChain project he has chaired the UK and Education WorkGroups, drafted and maintains the OpenChain template open source policy, serves as an OpenChain Ambassador, and is currently developing the OpenChain Capability Maturity Model. He is project lead of the Eclipse Foundation’s Corinthian Project, publishing template legal documents for technology transactions across the software supply chain.

Academia & publications

Andrew is co-author of Open Source Law, Policy and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2022) and numerous books and papers on open source and technology law. He is Honorary Professor of Law at Queen Mary, University of London — where he taught postgraduate free and open source software law for seven years and teaches again in 2026 — and a visiting researcher on standards and open source at the University of Skövde, Sweden, co-authoring with its Software Systems Research Group. He commences a PhD on the success factors of open source software and open technologies at Oxford Brookes University in 2026, where he also sits on the Law School’s advisory board. He is a Fellow of Free Software Foundation Europe and of the Open Forum Academy, and founding editor of JOLTS, the Journal of Open Law, Technology and Society.

Affiliations & credentials

Boards (past & present): Telecommunications Industry Association · MariaDB Foundation · Public Software CIC · General Counsel, OpenUK
Advisory: lowRISC · OpenHW Group · FOSSi Foundation licensing panel · UN Technology Innovation Labs · SurgHub · Journal of Open Hardware
Credentials: Law degree, Churchill College, Cambridge (Entrance Scholar) · Qualified 1993 · Certificate in US Copyright Law, Harvard Law School/Berkman Center, 2014
Academic profile: Google Scholar

automating legal compliance with open source tools

Alex is a senior FOSS compliance engineer who uses open source software tools to automate legal compliance processes — the hands inside the toolchain on every technical engagement.

He graduated as a statistician and began his career as a data scientist in Oxford, using AI frameworks and predictive models to advise on high-value business decisions for private clients. His MSc in Data Analytics explored the homoiconic nature of programming languages — how code itself can be treated as data — a perspective that turns out to be exactly right for compliance work, where the codebase is the evidence.

At Orcro, Alex uses the R programming language and GNU/Linux system utilities to explore client codebases for compliance issues, craft the documentation and processes needed to comply with open source licences, and help clients integrate compliance software into their existing toolchains.

complex business change, delivered

Stephen is an experienced business leader and advisor with over thirty years in management consultancy, focused on the leadership capabilities organisations need to put new strategies — particularly data strategies — into action.

Innovation in data offers organisations significant opportunity, but realising it demands organisational change: new capabilities in customer-facing services, systems development and asset operations that have to be both deliverable and sustainable. Stephen advises clients on how to achieve this and partners with them to drive change through — while keeping culture humane and retaining the commitment of valued people. He has particular experience transforming aviation, healthcare, energy, water and education services through digital adoption, organisational performance, asset design, capital programme delivery and operating-model change.

After a thirteen-year career with Arup — where he was managing director of the UKIMEA consulting unit, global practice leader for operational excellence, and responsible for a 2,000-strong UK consulting business spanning advisory, planning, digital and advanced technology services — Stephen established Arteq of London in 2023, focused on embedding the leadership capabilities that turn strategy into action. He is an experienced speaker at conferences and training events.