Rhonda Donato
Principal
Rhonda Donato is a Principal, specializing in the placement of law firm partners, associates and in-house counsel.
Rhonda brings to Solutus a broad range of experience to serve our candidates and clients. She began her legal career as an associate in the litigation group at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, a leading San Francisco firm. She served as a judicial extern to Judge Melvin Brunetti of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal and as a judicial law clerk to Justice Paul Haerle of the First District Court of Appeal. Rhonda was also a supervising attorney and pro bono coordinator at the Northern California Innocence Project, where she worked on post-conviction exoneration proceedings based on DNA evidence and other innocence grounds. She received her J.D. cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law where she was awarded the Emery Law Scholarship and elected to the Law Review.
Rhonda is on the advisory board of the Northern California Innocence Project and is a volunteer with the Berkeley Food Network. Her interests include open water swimming, hiking and fundraising for pediatric health issues. She is married to the Hon. James Donato of the Northern District of California federal court.