Bash variable from command with pipes, quotes, etc

VAR=$( dig axfr @dc1.localdomain.com localdomain.com |
     grep -i Lawler |
     awk '{ getline ; $1=substr($1,1,length($1)-1); print $1 ; exit }' )

Use backtics instead of quotes:

VAR=`dig axfr @dc1.localdomain.com localdomain.com | grep -i Lawler | awk '{ getline ; $1=substr($1,1,length($1)-1); print $1 ; exit }'`

Backtics actually mean "run whatever is in here and return standard out as the expression's value", but quotes don't do that.