The Law Department is pleased to announce that Mayor-elect, Cherelle Parker, has selected Renee Garcia, current Litigation Chair, to serve as City Solicitor under her leadership. After Parker takes office on January 1, Garcia will be named Acting City Solicitor until she is confirmed as City Solicitor by City Council.
ABOUT RENEE GARCIA
Renee Garcia is an award-winning litigator and advocate committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. For over a decade, she has excelled in litigation, strategic planning, risk management and legal analysis – all while keeping social justice at the forefront of her work.
Renee Garcia has served at the Chair of the Litigation Group since March of 2021. She leads six units in the Law Department, supervising 130 people in the areas of Torts, Code and Public Nuisance, Civil Rights, Appeals, Affirmative and Special Litigation, and Labor and Employment. She spends much of her time counseling city work groups, and defining, implementing, and assessing legal and policy issues for City agencies as they pertain to litigation strategy.
Under Garcia’s leadership, the Litigation Group has spearheaded legal efforts to address the City’s most complex challenges, including the initiation of litigation aimed at holding firearm manufacturers and distributors accountable for reckless business practices perpetuating Philadelphia’s gun violence crisis. She was central to the negotiation of the George Floyd protest lawsuit settlements, the investigation of the MOVE remains, and the collection of over $200 million as a result of the City’s litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors. She has also counseled client departments through efforts to achieve accessibility, affordable housing, and environmental justice across the City.
Prior to her role in the Law Department, Garcia held litigation positions at Hogan Lovells US LLP and PNC Bank.
Garcia’s passion for her work, especially as it relates to increasing diversity and inclusion efforts within the law field and the community, led her to chair the PNC Legal Pro Bono Committee and independently provide pro bono legal services through the Senior Law Center, Support Center for Child Advocates, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, amongst others. She also served as former Director on the Board of Community Legal Services/Philadelphia Legal Assistance, and currently serves on the Boards of the Planned Parenthood of Southeast Pennsylvania, the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania and arts non-profit, Intercultural Journeys. Garcia is also a Fellow, Pathfinder, and a Mentor with the Leadership Counsel on Legal Diversity, and joined the Forum for Executive Women in 2022.
Garcia received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2008 and her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University in 2003. Because of her tireless efforts, she earned accolades as the 2020 AL DÍA Top In-House Lawyer Award; the 2017 PNC Market All-Star Award; the 2017 Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s Young Hispanic Corporate Achiever Award; and the 2015 Rising Star Corporate Counsel Award from the Philadelphia Business Journal.
