2023

Legal Options

Reneé Garrick ’12, vice president of business and legal affairs at the public relations software company Muck Rack, has found ways to meld her career with her interests in sports and media.

By: Meghan Kita  Tuesday, July 18, 2023 10:16 AM

Reneé Garrick ’12. Photo by Brooke Slezak

When Reneé Garrick ’12 started her legal career, she gravitated toward an area that had always been a passion for her: sports. She interned with the New York Mets, the Brooklyn Nets and the NBA. Her first long-term position after graduating from Harvard Law School, at the New York City-based firm Debevoise & Plimpton, included intellectual property work for several professional sports leagues.

“It made the work more fun, to do it in a space I already enjoy as a recreational activity,” says Garrick, who’s currently the vice president of business and legal affairs at the public relations software company Muck Rack. “I decided to step away because there came a point where it was very difficult for me to compartmentalize and enjoy sports. I would be watching a game and instead of seeing the game, I’m seeing everything around the game. As you get more experience, you know what’s a fire and what’s not, and you know what you need to be worried about and what you don’t. I feel confident that if I want to re-enter the sports or media space I will be able to do it and have fun with it.”

Garrick, who was a prelaw political science major at Muhlenberg, came into College confident in her future career path: “I felt very, very sure that I wanted to go to law school,” she says. “However, I knew a lot of people who thought they were sure and then [when they got to law school] they weren’t so sure.”

Professor Emeritus of Political Science Alton Slane helped Garrick connect to a local law firm, where she interned the fall of her junior year. It was exactly what she hoped it would be, and the next spring, she participated in the Lutheran College Washington Semester Program and interned with the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.

She began studying for the LSATs and polishing her law school application with help from political science faculty, and during her senior year she was accepted into Harvard Law School. She describes the Harvard experience as “the polar opposite” of her time in Muhlenberg’s small, liberal arts environment, but she knew Harvard’s reputation would keep her options open and connect her to a range of opportunities. (And, “I’m obsessed with the Obamas, so I had to go there,” she jokes.)

For four years after Harvard, Garrick’s work focused on sports. When she needed a change, she moved toward her other primary area of interest: journalism. A position opened at Dow Jones, working primarily with The Wall Street Journal, and she made the move in January 2019.

“My decision at that point was a result of the current events at the time,” she says. “It was one of those pivotal moments in the country’s history, an unprecedented time in terms of how we see the news, how we see journalism and how we treat journalists. Being a part of trying to uphold and protect that was a really important place for me to be at that time.”

Her work still involved protection of intellectual property, as well as prepublication review of sensitive stories and ensuring that journalists entering unfriendly territory were conducting their work in a way that wouldn’t put them at risk. Work was steadily busy throughout her first year. And then, 2020 happened.

“The pace ticked up just a little bit more,” she recalls. “It was a constant go-go-go. The days were definitely a bit longer. Where it might have looked more similar to a traditional 9-to-5 when things were a little bit calmer in the world, it did become closer to an on-call situation. Things could happen at any time.”

Garrick spent about two-and-a-half years with Dow Jones. As she considered her career goals, she envisioned herself in a position that would give her more freedom to grow and shape the company. Muck Rack, a company that was founded in 2009, was looking to hire a full-time lawyer for the first time. It was journalism adjacent, and it would allow her the growth potential she’d been seeking, so she made the move.

“It’s not uncommon for a lawyer to be one of the last hires when a company is in a growth phase. They don’t want to spend the money if they don’t have to,” she says. But that meant, when she started, there was a lot to do. Garrick drafted templates and paperwork for the company’s sales team and trained the team on what was negotiable and non-negotiable. She worked on data privacy, ensuring there were policies and plans in case of a hacking incident. She helped the fully remote company ensure its hiring practices and employee handbook were in line with the regulations in the variety of jurisdictions where employees are located. And, eventually, she hired a second lawyer to work with her.

Garrick has also served as a mentor in Muck Rack’s mentorship program, a rewarding part of her work life that she finds a way to fit into her busy schedule: “I’ve spent time in a lot of different environments professionally. I have experience that I think is valuable to younger employees trying to figure things out,” she says. “I’ve had some really fantastic mentors over my career so far. I don’t know where I’d be if people hadn’t made time for me in that way.”