Profiles in Leadership – Renny Hwang

The FBA is powerfully situated—and bears critical responsibility—to ensure that federal practice and federal courts truly reflect the rich diversity of the nation we serve. The FBA’s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion was established to lead the organization in fulfilling this responsibility by advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, both within the organization, and in the broader legal community. A core component of the Committee’s work involves ongoing guidance from and partnership with Advisory Boards composed of national D&I leaders. By learning from and collaborating with these leaders from around the country, our collective effort toward true diversity, equity, and inclusion in the federal legal community is critically strengthened.

We welcome and encourage you to share these profiles and to join in the work of the FBA D&I Committee.  Learn more about our ongoing work here. 

Tara Norgard

Chair, FBA Diversity & Inclusion Committee

From my home in Minneapolis to his in the Bay Area, this summer Renny Hwang and Brandie Burris grabbed virtual coffee as a part of the FBA’s Diversity & Inclusion Corporate Advisory Board interview series. The conversation fell at a time of reflection and challenge for many current and aspiring attorneys as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to disrupt our personal and professional lives and police violence sparked protests and renewed conversation about diversity, equity, and inclusion across the country.

Renny Hwang                Brandie Burris

Brandie: Renny, thank you for your time this afternoon. I know we are connecting in the midst of unprecedented times, in the wake of the pandemic, heart-wrenching killings of Black Americans by law enforcement, and weeks of protest and unrest across the country. With that in mind, I want to start by checking-in with you. How are you doing?

Renny: I have to admit that it has been a challenging summer both personally and professionally. Professionally, my workload remains busy. For now, I am managing my team’s work remotely.

My team and I are each uniquely impacted by current events. Whether that is a product of recent conversations around Black Lives Matter and systemic injustices faced by Black Americans, a personal impact from Covid-19, challenges working remotely with kids, or some other combination of challenging factors. During this time, I have found it helpful to look for silver-linings. All things considered, my family and I are grateful for what we have. I have also worked to step-back and reflect on what’s important to me. This is one of the reasons I prioritized our conversation. I hope the series calls attention to the need for diversity and inclusion within the federal practice and the legal community more broadly.

And, I really appreciate your first question. I want to ask you too: how are you doing?

Brandie: Thank you for asking. It has been a challenging summer for me too. I am a full-time law student and a parent; my daughter is two years old. Like many working parents the transition to working and learning at-home was a challenge. I also thought I would be spending my summer working at a law firm, but the firm cancelled its summer program due to Covid-19. While I was deeply disappointed when I first got this news, I’m struck by how inconsequential that loss feels in light of the past few weeks. As a Black law student living in Minneapolis, our conversation comes at a time when I am reckoning with the challenges faced by my communityand rethinking my role in fostering positive change. So, like you, I am taking time for personal reflection and introspection.

Renny: Thank you for sharing. Wow, law school with a toddler is very impressive.

Brandie: (laughing) Thank you!

One thing I noticed in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing was a number of law firms and private companies issued public statements admonishing racism and announcing new or reinforced commitments to diversity and inclusion. To you personally, why is diversity and inclusion so important?

Renny: First, I hope commitments to diversity and inclusion become more normalized into our day-to-day lives. These conversations cannot only occur in response to public outrage. As someone whose parents immigrated to this country, I often make connections between my commitment to building diverse and inclusive teams and experiences personal to me and my family. I think about my father often and how he built meaningful relationships and networks of support with people from diverse backgrounds throughout his life. Also, in my career I have seen the importance of diversity on teams and how inclusion, or a lack thereof, impacted me personally. While I have been mostly fortunate in my life and career, I recognize––especially in light of recent events––racial and social injustice are still real challenges within our society.

Our society should be inclusive and should be a place where we all are treated fairly and equally. Also, our country is incredibly diverse, and our workplaces should reflect that reality. There are countless benefits to prioritizing diversity and inclusion. For example, it fosters a range of perspectives and experiences on your team, facilitates mutual respect across teammates, and promotes acceptance and understanding across lines of difference.

 Brandie: Well said. I am also the child of an immigrant! My mother and grandmother are both Jamaican immigrants, so we share that personal connection.

Renny: I wonder when our families immigrated to the country, whether they would have anticipated their children and grandchildren becoming attorneys. We are a society built on the law. And, the “rule of law” is ingrained into the fabric of American society. Still, I doubt whether my parents ever envisioned me attending law school and becoming integrated into our legal process. I imagine this is a common experience for first-generation law students, and relevant to our conversation about the lack of diversity in the profession.

Brandie: Absolutely. Like other law students I know, I review law firm diversity data and notice persistent gaps in representation for women attorneys and attorneys of color. I often wonder how an employer’s diversity statement or recent statement of solidarity translatesinto action. So, for you personally, how does your commitment to diversity and inclusion show up in your work as an attorney?

Renny: The stats are truly revealing. I love working at Google for a lot of reasons: the people, the culture, the amazing benefits. But, personally, what I love most is our active commitment to diversity and inclusion. The legal team at Google “puts its money where its mouth is” and undertakes concrete initiatives to increase diversity in the legal profession. While none of our programs are silver bullets, they are important positive steps forward.

For example, we host an annual Legal Summer Institute and invite law students from under-represented backgrounds to join usfor a week of programming, and then place students with one of our law firm partners for a full summer internship. The program meaningfully engages diverse law students early in their careers and offers exposure to in-house legal careers and legal careers in technology. We also connect students to mentors.

Another example is our diversity accelerator program with outside counsel. With this initiative, we set specific and measurable diversity metrics that we expect our partner law firms to meet. We also require our partners to take specific actions to create and strengthen an inclusive hiring pipeline. Personally, for my litigation team, we highlight diversity as a factor in our outside counsel selection process. So, with every pitch weask for, wealso lookfor diverse representation. And, often, wewill follow-up and ask for more diversity on teams. Based on my experience, it is important to have conversations with our partners early on to establish the importance of diversity and inclusion within the baseline rules of our expected operation.

Another program––one I am especiallyexcited about––is one wherewe provide junior, diverse attorneys the opportunity to make their first federal appellate argument. For many companies, it maybe hard to trust a young attorney with a high-stakes appeal. But, as a client, we are willing to take the leap with our firm partners to operationalize our values on diversity and inclusion. We had our first oral argument in this program scheduled for early this year. When the Covid-19 pandemic prompted thecancellation of the oral argument, we successfully advocated to have the argument rescheduled as a telephonic hearing, providing the junior attorney an invaluable opportunity.

Brandie: Wow, that last program seems pretty special.

Renny: It is pretty special. Essentially, you have a client, law firm, and a federal courtworking together to create a truly rewarding opportunity for junior, diverse attorneys. The program truly takes on the “it takes a village” metaphor. As with many diversity and inclusion initiatives, if only one stakeholder is invested then the initiative is unlikely to go very far, but when we all work together, we can make adifference.

Brandie: I really like the “it takes a village” metaphor. It sounds like the program nicely mirrors our goal with the FBA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee: to bring together various stakeholders within federal practice to ensure our practice and the federal courts better reflect the rich diversity in our country.

Earlier, we chatted about our kids, parenting, and how our kids might decide to enter the legal profession! What would you want the legal profession to look like years from now, when our children might be graduating from law school and looking at their career options?

Renny: In the future, I hope the legal profession is more reflective of society more broadly with diversity reflected at all levels. So not just at the entry-level, but also all the way up thelevels of leadership. If my kids make the decision to go to law school, I don’t want their first thought upon graduation to be “well here’s my glass ceiling.” I want them to view the legal profession as a place where they belong and can succeed, thrive and make a difference. Unfortunately, I am not confident all graduates view their career options coming out of law school that way now.

 Brandie: Thank you for sharing, I dream about a similar future too.

To wrap-up our conversation, I wanted to give you an opportunity to share some advice with our readers. I’m open to whichever group you want to speak to: (1) current law students who want to work on diverse and inclusive teams and are entering the job search process, or (2) your peers who share your commitment to diversity and inclusion, but are earlier in the work and are unsure where to begin.

Renny: Sure, I would be happyto provide some of my thoughts directed at both groups.

To current law school students: Your first job out of law school is a veryformative experience. My advice is to focus on finding a place that is a good fit for you. Early in your career, you want to find a team where you will receive opportunity, support, and mentorship. And, in many ways, by prioritizing diversity and inclusion in your job search, you will likely land somewhere that embraces many of those things. If a student finds herself in a position where she needs to choose between law firms or choose between teams within a law firm, my first question to her would be: what’s your assessment on each team’s commitment to diversity and inclusion?

 To my peers: As attorneys we often have many priorities to balance at a time. Nevertheless, I believe we hold a personal responsibility to support meaningful improvement on diversity and inclusion. For example, the appellate program I mentioned is a relatively small program and, so far, has only impacted a fewattorneys directly. But, any small step in the right direction is good. As attorneys we need to work more proactively to identify our levers of influence. What are the levers of change that might be available to you? Big or small,I suspect we all have more influence and opportunity to make meaningful change than might appear at first glance.

 Brandie: Renny, thank you for your time and for a great conversation.

Renny: Of course, and thank you, Brandie.

 

 About Renny Hwang

Renny Hwang is Director of Litigation for Google. He heads Google’s IP Litigation practice, managing a team of over 20 attorneys and technical advisors. His team handles a docket of approximately 300 patent and other intellectual property matters worldwide. Mr. Hwang also advises on intellectual property issues related to open source, as well as complex licenses, acquisitions and transactions. Previously Mr. Hwang practiced IP litigation in Los Angeles at a global law firm. He also has experience in product management and software development, leading product and engineering teams in building Internet software technologies. Mr. Hwang received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a B.S. in Computer Science and M.S. in Engineering Management from Stanford University.

About the FBA

Founded in 1920, the Federal Bar Association is dedicated to the advancement of the science of jurisprudence and to promoting the welfare, interests, education, and professional development of all attorneys involved in federal law. Our more than 16,000 members run the gamut of federal practice: attorneys practicing in small to large legal firms, attorneys in corporations and federal agencies, and members of the judiciary. The FBA is the catalyst for communication between the bar and the bench, as well as the private and public sectors. Visit us at fedbar.org to learn more.