About rene

Rene, 47, has worked his entire professional career in Portland after attending Willamette University (Salem, OR) for undergrad and law school. Of mixed heritage, his father was a migrant worker in his youth, before ascending first to be a federal prosecutor and then a trial judge. His mother’s family has deep Oregon roots going back to the 1800s, and Rene is the great-grandson of prominent Portland architect Ellis Lawrence.

He is married to his college sweetheart and is a proud father of 3.

  After receiving a Trustee’s Scholarship at Willamette Law School, where he was voted Top Male Student, Rene began his career as a business lawyer at Stoel Rives. In 2005 Rene went in-house at Knowledge Universe and rose through the ranks at what was then Oregon’s largest privately owned employer, eventually managing its Business Law Group, before leading the Corporate Strategy Team. In 2012, Rene opened a law firm, which services business clients throughout the Northwest. In 2019, his law firm acquired a software company, which services business throughout the Northwest and Midwest.  Rene serves as managing partner for both the law firm and software company and successfully navigated the pandemic without laying off or losing a single employee.