Paul Renne joined Cooley's Litigation Department in 1964 after serving three years in the United States Department of Justice, first in the Civil Rights Division and then as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Prior to joining the Kennedy Justice Department he clerked for Judge Edwin D. Steel, Jr., U.S. District Court of Delaware and was an associate in a New York law firm. He became a Cooley partner in 1968, served as Chair of Cooley's Litigation Department for many years and served as the firm's General Counsel from 2000 to 2009.
Although always a general civil litigator his primary focus was on litigating complex business disputes, with special emphasis on securities litigation, accountants' malpractice, trade secrets and intellectual property matters. He tried in excess of 100 jury trials, including two lengthy jury trials, one of four months and the other of five months, in which he successfully defended clients against allegations of securities fraud.
Mr. Renne received a law degree from Harvard University in 1959. He attended the University of Minnesota from 1948 to 1951 and received an A.B. from that school in 1956 after serving five years as a jet fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force where he flew 20 missions during the Korean War.
Based on his extensive trial experience, Mr. Renne was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, serving for two years as State Chair of the College for Northern California. He is a member of the American, California and San Francisco Bar Associations and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Litigation Section, California State Bar. He has consistently been listed in The Best Lawyers of America as well as recognized as a "Super Lawyer" in the Bay Area. He is the author of a number of articles, including one in Volume 29, Vanderbilt Law Review, "Eliminating Redlining by Judicial Action: Are Erasers Available," and a chapter on "Final Argument" in the Practicing Law Institute publication, Civil Trial Practice. For a number of years, he was adjunct professor of law at Golden Gate University, where he taught a trial practice course and has lectured on trial practice to numerous legal groups, including California's Continuing Education of the Bar.
Mr. Renne is a member of the American Arbitration Association Commercial Panel, completing both the Arbitration I and II courses given by AAA and continues to serve as an arbitrator in civil cases. In addition, he continues to serve as a mediator in numerous cases for both the Bar Association of San Francisco and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Mr. Renne is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia (1959), New York (1961) and California (1964), as well as the Supreme Court of the United States.
