Lawrence Mendenhall is Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary at Humanity United. In this role, he is responsible for advising the Board of Trustees on governance and risk-management matters, counseling the Humanity United team on legal issues affecting the organization’s programs and operations, and supporting its compliance efforts. Before joining Humanity United, Lawrence served as the Hewlett Foundation’s inaugural general counsel, responsible for successfully establishing its first legal department, and as deputy director of legal affairs at The Pew Charitable Trusts, where he helped spearhead Pew’s change from domestic grant-making foundation to international operating nonprofit.  Lawrence began his career advising high net-worth individuals, private foundations, and public charities as an associate at the New York law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, after clerking for the Hon. Michael R. Murphy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

Lawrence holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder; a law degree from New York University School of Law, where he was executive editor of the New York University Law Review; and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.