About Hewitt
Hewitt Wolensky's career moves between government, academia and private practice. He built an early record in federal service before returning to California to practice and teach. His path shows recurring engagement with federal courts and administrative institutions.
He completed undergraduate work at Harvard University in 1978, majoring in Government. He earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1983. Immediately after law school he clerked for two judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: the Honorable Roger Robb and the Honorable George McKinnon.
Those clerkships led quickly to roles in the executive branch. In 1984 he served as Special Assistant to Attorneys General William French Smith and Edwin Meese at the U.S. Department of Justice. The following year he worked as Assistant Counsel at the White House. In 1986 he held General Counsel positions at the National Endowment for the Humanities and at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Around the same time he became involved with the Administrative Conference of the United States in Washington, D.C.
Wolensky moved into private practice in the late 1980s and has alternated between firm work and teaching. In 1989 he joined Pettis, Tester, Kruse & Krinsky in Irvine, California as associate and later partner. He helped found Hewitt & Oneil, LLP and was a partner there beginning in 1993. In 1995 he took on a teaching role at Chapman University as a Professor of Law. In 2009 he returned to private practice as a partner at a firm bearing his name.
His admissions cover multiple federal and state forums. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted in California. He also holds admissions to the U.S. Claims Court, the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. That mix of admissions reflects years of practice that span administrative law, federal litigation and appellate work.
Colleagues and students have known him for moving comfortably between government files and courtroom dockets, and for teaching law students while continuing active practice. He has combined public-sector roles, appellate clerkships and private-firm partnerships into a career that crosses Washington and California.
He currently practices through Hewitt Wolensky LLP and maintains an active bar status, handling matters in federal and state courts and advising clients on administrative and appellate issues.
