Overview
(February 8, 2022, Washington, D.C.) — Steptoe & Johnson LLP is pleased to announce that partner Brigida Benitez will be serving as firm general counsel while maintaining her litigation and investigations practice. She replaces Gwendolyn Prothro Renigar who held the role for several years before becoming the firm's chair on January 1 this year.
Benitez draws on extensive experience representing clients in high-stakes, complex disputes and internal investigations. She has litigated high-profile cases in trial and appellate courts throughout the United States, including the US Supreme Court, and has led internal investigations involving allegations of corruption, financial and accounting fraud, whistleblower complaints, ethics issues, and boardroom advice.
"Brigid brings exactly the right temperament and judgment to the position – she is known within the firm and the legal industry as fair but also resolute and operating at the highest professional ethical standards," said Steptoe chair Gwen Renigar. "I am grateful she has agreed to serve and know that we are in extremely capable hands."
Benitez previously headed the Office of Institutional Integrity of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), an independent office responsible for investigating potential fraud and corruption in IDB-financed activities and implementing anticorruption compliance policies and procedures. She has since represented companies and individuals in investigations by and sanctions proceedings before the World Bank, IDB and the Asian Development Bank.
Benitez is also a past president of the DC Bar, the largest unified bar in the country with more than 100,000 members worldwide. She serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches a course on international business litigation. Benitez has been recognized by Global Investigations Review as one of its 100 "Women in Investigations," by Hispanic Business magazine as a "Woman of the Year," and one of the "100 Most Influential US Hispanics," and most recently, by Latino Leaders magazine as a "Top Latino Lawyer."
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
The diversity of the firm is a critical factor in its success. The firm’s Chair is a woman; the majority of Steptoe's nine offices are managed by women; the majority of Steptoe’s practice groups have women as leaders; and the firm’s twelve-person elected compensation committee is headed by a woman and includes five women as members. The firm's seven-person professional business services leadership is equally diverse, with three of the c-suite made up of women, all of color, and other leaders who openly identify as LGBTQ+.
