Julie Hwang

General Counsel,
Benchling, Inc.

Metro Region: San Francisco Bay Area

Member Since: 2020

Julie is a second-generation Korean American who was born and raised in Southern California. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s, and her father worked as an aerospace engineer and her mother owned small dry cleaners, where Julie worked after school from 5th grade through high school. Despite aspiring to leave California, Julie went to college at Stanford University and law school at UCLA.

Julie is an experienced corporate attorney, with deep knowledge in corporate governance matters, corporate transactions, and the intersection of consumer finance regulation and technology. She started her legal career working with technology startups and their investors at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., and then Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where she advised private and public companies on corporate and transactional matters, including M&A, venture capital financings, start-up counseling, corporate governance, corporate securities, and IPOs. After 10 years in big law, she moved in-house as Assistant General Counsel at One Kings Lane, a home decor e-commerce platform. Julie is currently Deputy General Counsel at Benchling, Inc., a SaaS company focused on the life sciences and biotech space. Prior to Benchling, Julie served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary at Prosper Marketplace, a fintech company in San Francisco. She oversees all of Prosper’s legal and regulatory affairs and leads the company’s legal and compliance teams. She is also a board member of the Marketplace Lending Association, a trade association founded by Prosper and other key fintech companies committed to transparent, consumer-focused, and responsible lending by financially innovative companies.

Julie lives with her husband and two young children in San Francisco.