Brenner is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Hogan & Hartson and serves on the adjunct faculty of Georgetown Law School. He was formerly senior vice president for law and regulatory policy at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he served as director of the Communications Law Program and as a member of the faculty at UCLA Law School. He also served as counsel to the Los Angeles office of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. Brenner was senior legal advisor to Chairman Mark Fowler of the Federal Communications Commission from 1981 to 1986, and was also vice chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the ITU World Radio Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Brenner is a past consultant on telecommunications for the RAND Corporation and the International Media Fund and senior fellow at The Annenberg Washington Program.

Brenner has a B.A., M.A., and J.D. from Stanford University and attended the Executive Program at the Stanford School of Business. He is co-author of a leading cable treatise on cable television law. Brenner serves on the board of directors of Cable Positive, the cable industry’s AIDS awareness and support organization. He has also served on the board of advisors of Falcon Cable Systems, and was a member of the board of trustees of Stanford University from 1982–1987. From 1986 to 1991, he was appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate as a member, and served as vice chairman, of the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.