Profile

Carole Rendon

Partner,
BakerHostetler

My Contact Information

BakerHostetler
Cleveland, OH
Work: (216) 861-7420

Social Links

Chapter Location

Ohio

Bio

Carole Rendon is a partner based in the Cleveland office of BakerHostetler, where she serves as a member of the Policy Committee, the firm’s national board of directors. From February 6, 2016 through March 1, 2017, she was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on July 15, 2016. From November 2009 through February 2016, Ms. Rendon served as the First Assistant United States Attorney, the first woman to hold that position in the Northern District of Ohio. 

During her time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ms. Rendon served as lead counsel on the comprehensive investigation of the Cleveland Division of Police that resulted in a Consent Decree requiring significant changes in policies and procedures governing the use of force, crisis intervention, community engagement, bias-free policing, search and seizure, accountability, training, equipment and staffing. It is viewed as a national model for police reform. She was instrumental in developing the U.S. Attorney’s Heroin and Opioid Task Force, which seeks to find comprehensive solutions to Northern Ohio’s opioid epidemic. Ms. Rendon also was a driving force behind the creation of the Northeast Ohio Cyber Security Consortium, a cross-sector public-private partnership designed to reduce the region’s vulnerability to cyberattacks. In the wake of the Cuyahoga County corruption scandal, Ms. Rendon helped develop the Northeast Ohio Business Ethics Coalition, providing training and guidance to our region’s business community.  

Ms. Rendon is a 1987 graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and a 1984 graduate of Northwestern University. She began her career as a law clerk to the Honorable Joel M. Flaum on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1988, she entered the Attorney General’s Honors Program in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice and was assigned to the Organized Crime Strike Force in Boston, Massachusetts, which later merged into the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In 1998, Ms. Rendon returned home to Cleveland, where she engaged in the private practice of law at Messerman & Messerman and later at Giffen & Kaminski, handling complex civil and criminal cases in both federal and state courts.

Practice Areas

  • Complex Commercial Litigation
  • Corporate Crime
  • Crisis Management
  • Government Investigations
  • Healthcare
  • Internal Investigations
  • Qui Tam; Whistleblower Defense
  • State Attorney Generals
  • Title IX
  • White Collar Crime