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In high school, Hinh Tran displayed a knack for the skills that would later serve him as an attorney. As a high school debater, he got used to meticulous research, erudite case construction, and adept articulation. His senior year, he won national and state debate titles, and teachers and mentors recommended that he consider law school to put those talents to good use.
After earning his bachelor’s in political economy with a minor in public policy from UC UC Berkeley, Tran discovered another professional aptitude in the fast-paced start-up world. He worked for Square, now Block, for more than three years, through the company’s IPO. “At Square, I worked on products that would be conceived of and then launched in a matter of months,” Tran says. “I enjoyed building a scalable product that many people use.”
After the detour through Silicon Valley, Tran followed through on his plan to go to law school. He attended the University of Michigan, where he considered a career in academia but realized it didn’t suit his talents and interests. “While I have an intellectual interest in academia, I didn’t necessarily love going to school,” Tran explains. “Law is a technical profession, and so I gravitated toward hands-on learning.”
To gain practical experience, Tran did an externship for a magistrate judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and worked for a clinic that helped start-ups in the Ann Arbor area.
During law school, Tran also discovered a love of teaching. He served as a teaching assistant for four semesters, learning from the example of award-winning professors at the University of Michigan. To this day, Tran keeps one foot in the academic world through his part-time lecturing at the University of Southern California, where he enjoys imparting lessons to the next generation of lawyers.
“At a firm, there are always more senior people to both answer to and turn to for help. In the start-up world, you are the lawyer.”
Hinh Tran
After law school, Tran followed the well-tread path of building out experience by clerking, which he did at the US District Court for the Eastern District of California. He then cut his teeth as an attorney at the boutique firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters in San Francisco, focusing on trial work for tech companies like Netflix, Google, and Facebook.
“After a year and a half, I realized I missed the start-up experience,” Tran reflects. “I enjoy being a litigator, but I missed the speed and velocity of the start-up world. Even at a trial firm, our cases could go on for years.”
As fate would have it, Tran learned about an in-house opportunity at Ramp. The fintech start-up provides a financial automation platform to companies of all sizes. They gave him an offer too good to turn down, he says. “They were and still are a hot start-up, well-funded, with reputable investors and an innovative product. I took the plunge and went in-house—earlier than I had envisioned, but it turned out to be a great decision.”
Tran was particularly impressed with how Ramp uses its lean resources to simultaneously launch multiple products and expand internationally. He started on the product and compliance team and has moved through multiple areas within the company, recently becoming the lead counsel of litigation and employment.
“It’s been my privilege to work with Hinh and the incredible team at Ramp. Hinh’s pragmatic approach to managing employment matters, combined with his forward-thinking vision and commitment to excellence, aligns perfectly with Ramp’s mission to revolutionize financial services,” says Stacey Chiu, a senior associate at Michelman & Robinson, LLP. “It’s been a fantastic experience contributing to the company’s ongoing success, and all of us at M&R look forward to supporting Hinh and Ramp as they continue to lead and innovate.”
At Ramp, Tran has found the ideal blend of opportunities and challenges for his talents and interests. He values the diverse array of perspectives that he finds in-house, especially in his nonlawyer colleagues. He also finds the leadership aspect of his role both challenging and exciting. “At a firm, there are always more senior people to both answer to and turn to for help,” Tran says. “In the start-up world, you are the lawyer. For 90% of decisions, you have to handle things without turning to another.”
Luckily for Tran, his partner, Nicolas Gonzalez, is also a lawyer. The two are only a year apart in their law school graduation years. They have supported and empathized with each other through the demands of their profession.
“Both of us appreciate the perks of dating another lawyer. We understand that sometimes there are deadlines you can’t just make disappear,” Tran says. “It’s great to be able to bounce ideas off each other—obviously, without discussing privileged information. We can learn from each other’s experience and don’t need to seek outside counsel for what could be an expensive question.”
With two attorneys in the relationship and the high intensity of the vocation, Tran also emphasizes the importance of work-life balance. He and his partner intentionally spend their free time doing things they enjoy. “Another important thing that we’ve learned from each other is how to make law a sustainable career,” Tran shares. “You have to carve out space for yourself.”
