RENEE LAWSON
J.D.: 1996
Litigation
San Francisco
Renée Lawson became part of our team when more than 150 lawyers from Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison joined Morgan Lewis in February 2003. To help our new colleagues make the transition, Morgan Lewis developed a “buddy system,” through which each new employee was matched with a peer in another office – someone who kept in touch by telephone and e-mail, answered questions and provided advice and support.
My “buddy” is located in Philadelphia as part of the litigation practice; he was great with helping me identify firm resources and providing background and perspective. We had such a great rapport that when I finally met him in person, it was like meeting an old friend.
This is a big organization, but there’s a real people-to-people connection here. Morgan Lewis went out of the way to make what might have been a difficult transition as easy as possible. The integration team, composed of legal and nonlegal staff was phenomenal – they were totally committed to getting everyone settled and were willing to cut through bureaucracy to make sure we achieved our goals.
In addition to integrating the people, we also had to integrate technology. Morgan Lewis’ IS department has a lot of great expertise, and we focused on combining the technological knowledge of both firms to do some exciting things for clients.
I’m currently managing a pilot technology project for one of our largest clients, the leading Internet networking company in the US. They want a web-accessible and efficient work area, where they can capture and share work product quickly and efficiently online. We’re developing a customized web-based extranet with several different levels of security access – kind of an electronic case room. This client expects to be on the cutting edge of technology in everything it does. Fortunately, we have the resources to meet that expectation.