Jen Patton is chief talent officer for Foley & Lardner LLP, where she is responsible for overseeing and leading the firm’s talent strategy for attorneys and business professionals, including recruitment, professional development, employee relations, benefits and compensation, coaching, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Jen came to Foley from Vinson & Elkins, where she most recently served as director of professional development. In that capacity, she directed all attorney development initiatives, including professional skills training, continuing legal education programming, on-demand learning, individual coaching, and all attorney onboarding, orientation and integration efforts.

She previously spent four years as that firm’s director of lateral recruitment, where she oversaw global lateral recruiting efforts.

Prior to that, Jen served two years as V&E’s director of alumni relations, where she developed the firm’s alumni relations program, created networking and business development opportunities for alumni, and oversaw the design, development and launch of an alumni website and other communications.

Jen is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and practiced with Baker Botts and the Supreme Court of Texas following graduation. She did her undergraduate work at Rice University, where she also played on the Division I varsity basketball team and served three years as captain. Before going to law school, she spent two years as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs.