Louise Renne

ABOUT LOUISE RENNE

Louise Renne is a founding partner of Renne Public Law Group, and was previously a founding partner of Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai Public Law Group. She leads the firm’s public interest litigation. Ms. Renne pioneered the model of public interest plaintiff coalitions comprised of government agencies, individuals, and non-profit organizations during her 16-year tenure as San Francisco City Attorney. She is known for transforming the traditionally defense-oriented practice of municipal law by creating an affirmative litigation program that won significant victories for cities and counties in California. As a nationally recognized and respected leader in municipal law, she often testifies before federal, state, and other governmental bodies. She is also frequently requested to conduct impartial investigations for local public agencies in high-profile cases.

Some of the public interest cases Ms. Renne has directed include:

A certified national class action involving 250,000 victims, national and state putative class actions, and individual lawsuits involving elder financial abuse. These suits were brought on behalf of senior citizens against insurance companies, banks, and other entities for the sale of inappropriate annuity products to seniors.
A lawsuit on behalf of African American employees in private industry for race discrimination, retaliation, and harassment.
Numerous class-action suits brought on behalf of local public agencies against energy producers, tobacco companies, national banks, gun manufacturers, auto insurers and escrow companies.

RELATED EXPERIENCE

Ms. Renne previously served for 16 years as the elected City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco. As City Attorney she was responsible for providing legal expertise and services to more than 60 operating departments and commissions, each tasked with providing essential government services. She modernized the City Attorney’s office, establishing it as a national leader in the practice of public law by creating a vigorous and enterprising 200-lawyer legal department of highly-skilled litigators, negotiators, and advisory attorneys. She energized and streamlined the Office’s advice function, building widely respected legal expertise in every area of municipal operations, ranging from traditional fields such as land use and public safety to the cutting-edge areas of energy regulation and telecommunications.

Ms. Renne also served as General Counsel for the San Francisco Unified School District where she led the effort to combat corruption existing at the time and established an in-house legal department, and as the City Attorney for the City of Richmond.

Her prior experience includes:

Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for 8 years, where she was chair of the Finance Committee.
California Deputy Attorney General for 11 years. She served in the environmental and criminal divisions, and argued on behalf of the state before the California Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.
Worked in private practice for 2 years.
Staff attorney in the General Counsel’s Office at the Federal Communications Commission for 3 years.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

Allies United for Children, Chair, Board of Directors
San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, former member, Board of Directors
San Francisco Police Commission, former President
Volunteers of Laguna Honda Hospital, former member, Board of Directors
American Cancer Society, San Francisco Chapter, former member, Board of Directors
Friends of the Children, San Francisco Chapter, former Chair, Board of Directors
PGA’s First Tee program, former member, Board of Directors
California Regional Water Quality Control Board, former member
Golden Gate Bridge District, former member, Board of Directors
California Women Lawyers, former President