Renée T. Lawson

Partner

Renée T. Lawson is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice and West Coast leader of the eData team.

Ms. Lawson's practice focuses on commercial litigation and counseling, with an emphasis on breach of contract, fraud, antitrust, intellectual property, unfair business practices, and records management and electronic data issues. Ms. Lawson has represented both plaintiffs and defendants, and her clients have included some of Silicon Valley's largest technology companies as well as individuals and smaller companies. For the last five years, she has spent considerable time defending intellectual property suits as well as counseling clients on electronic data issues.

Ms. Lawson has considerable experience readying cases for trial. Recent cases include a successful defense of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas (Alcatel USA, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc.) and a successful midtrial defense verdict for Cisco Systems, Inc. in Minnesota District Court (NeoNetworks, Inc. v. Cree, et al.). The National Law Journal selected Ms. Lawson and her team for its "Defense Hot List" in 2006. She also has been named one of the "Best Lawyers in the Bay Area" by Bay Area Lawyer magazine.

Ms. Lawson also has extensive experience with litigation avoidance and counseling, specifically in eData. A vital part of our Litigation Practice, eData is an expanding practice area created at Morgan Lewis to address the impact of electronic data on business and legal strategies. Formerly known as Legal Logistics, eData helps clients meet increasingly demanding regulatory and legal requirements with cost-effective prelitigation risk management, eDiscovery consulting, and document review.

As a senior member of the eData team, Ms. Lawson concentrates on issues related to compliance, records retention, litigation readiness, electronic discovery and the monitoring of electronic communications. She has been a presenter on eData issues for the American Bar Association, American Legal Media, and Practising Law Institute.

eData is a national team with both West Coast and East Coast capabilities. The team plays a large role in defending clients in matters ranging from product liability, mass torts, antitrust, M&A, regulatory, white collar, compliance, construction, and insurance coverage, to complex commercial litigation.

Ms. Lawson earned her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1996. She earned her M.A., examination magna cum laude, in German from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1992 and her B.A. in German from Santa Clara University in 1990.

Ms. Lawson is a member of the California State Bar and is admitted to practice in all California state courts, the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Central Districts of California, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits. She also has been previously admitted pro hac vice for federal court matters in Texas. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the Bar Association of San Francisco.