Morrison & Foerster

Last updated

Morrison & Foerster LLP
Morrison and Foerster logo.svg
Headquarters 425 Market Street
San Francisco
No. of offices17 (2019) [1]
No. of attorneys750 - 1000 (2019) [1]
Major practice areas Mergers and acquisitions, litigation and arbitration, corporate finance, corporate restructuring, securities, banking, project finance, energy and infrastructure, antitrust, tax, intellectual property, life sciences
Key peopleEric McCrath (Chair)
Revenue$1.15 billion (2020) [2]
Profit per equity partner$2.05 million (2020) [2]
Date founded1883
FounderAlexander Morrison
Company type Limited liability partnership
Website www.mofo.com

Morrison & Foerster LLP (also known as MoFo) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, with 17 offices located throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe.

Contents

History

Alexander Francis Morrison Alexander Francis Morrison.png
Alexander Francis Morrison

In 1883, Alexander Francis Morrison (1856–1921), an alumnus of the University of California, Berkeley, and Hastings College of the Law, founded the firm's oldest ancestor in San Francisco under the name O’Brien & Morrison. [3] His aim was to practice "principally in the line of corporation business." [4]

In 1891, Morrison formed a partnership with Constantine E.A. Foerster (1860–1898). [3] However, Foerster died in 1898 at age 37 from tuberculosis. [5] After his death, other attorneys came in as partners and the firm's name changed several times over the next two decades.

By late 1924, the firm of Morrison, Dunne & Brobeck had seven partners and eight associates. [6] On November 29, 1924, everyone arrived at work to find on their desks a letter signed by partners Herman Phleger, William I. Brobeck and Peter F. Dunne which announced the "reorganization" of the firm. [6] By "reorganization" they actually meant dissolution of the firm, effective December 31, 1924. [7] Morrison's widow May was furious at the three men for wrecking the firm which she regarded as her late husband's legacy and prohibited them from using the Morrison name. [8]

A 1996 history of the Brobeck firm claimed that Phleger had persuaded Brobeck and Dunne that the law firm would be more profitable if they ejected the four other partners, so the three of them suddenly fired and locked out the four other partners, who then had to break into the office with a fire axe to retrieve their files. [8] However, this story may be apocryphal because the Morrison firm's files include documents showing that the attorneys had attempted to provide for the "orderly dissolution of the old firm", the transfer of its files, and the settlement of fees for pending matters. [9]

The firm's attorneys organized two new law firms which began operations in January 1925: Dunne, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison (later renamed Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison) and Morrison, Hohfeld, Foerster, Shuman & Clark. [8] The "Foerster" of the latter firm was not the late Constantine E.A. Foerster, but his son Roland, who had joined the Morrison firm as an associate in 1916. [10] May Morrison was affectionate towards the four founding partners of the latter firm and actively assisted them in creating a new firm to carry forward the legacy of the old one. [11] They were the "favorites" of her late husband Alexander, whom she called "Aleck", and she thus referred to them as "Aleck's Boys". [11]

Starting in the 1920s and 1930s, the firm developed a deep client roster, which brought stability to sustain the firm over the next three decades. [12]

In the 1960s, a group of young partners—John Austin, Dick Archer, and Bob Raven—set out to reinvigorate the firm in response to stagnant revenue and changes in the business and social environment. [13] The strategy, resulting from the so-called "Schroeder's meetings" because they were held at the San Francisco restaurant, included ideas for modernizing the practice of law. [13] The partners replaced outmoded policies and insisted on budgets and operational plans. The firm started to recruit at law schools and began hiring women lawyers. In time, the firm rebuilt its litigation practice by training new associates on small bank cases. [14]

In 1974, the firm expanded outside San Francisco and opened an office in Los Angeles to better meet the needs of longtime client Crocker National Bank. [4]

Soon after, the firm expanded again, opening an office in Washington, D.C. in 1979 and its first non-U.S. office in London in 1980. [15]

In 1987, the firm merged with New York-based litigation company Parker Auspitz and opened its Tokyo office. [16]

The firm merged again in 1991, this time with Ciotti & Murashige. [17] A decade later, Morrison & Foerster became one of the largest international law firms in Tokyo when it merged with Ito & Mitomi. [18]

In 2003, Morrison & Foerster received their first 100% rating on HRC's Corporate Equality Index indicating they met all 7 of that year's criteria for having a positive record "toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors". [19]

In November 2013, the firm expanded its European presence by opening an office in Berlin. [20] The following month, the German team advised Axel Springer, one of Europe's largest media companies, on its acquisition of N24 Media, Germany's largest independent producers of information. [21] [22]

In 2022, Morrison & Foerster was a founding member of the Legal Alliance for Reproductive Rights, a coalition of United States law firms offering free legal services to people seeking and providing abortions in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , which overruled Roe v. Wade . [23]

Clients

The firm was the lead bankruptcy counsel to Residential Capital. ResCap. [24] and secured their chapter 11 plan. [25]

In July 2013, Morrison & Foerster represented SoftBank in its $21.6 billion acquisition of a 78 percent stake in Sprint Nextel. [26] According to The Wall Street Journal, the transaction was "one of the most complex and unusual deals in the annals of takeovers." [27] The firm also represented SoftBank in Alibaba's U.S. IPO—the largest IPO in history. [28]

Morrison & Foerster Foundation

Formed in 1986, the Morrison & Foerster Foundation is a charitable foundation funded mainly by the firm's partners. [29] In total, the Foundation has donated $44 million to nonprofit organizations since its inception. [30]

In 2015, Law360 recognized Morrison & Foerster as one of the 10 Most Charitable Law Firms. [30]

Offices

OfficeManaging Partner(s)Year Founded
AustinBradley D. Wine2022
BeijingPaul McKenzie1998
BerlinDirk Besse, Andreas Grünwald2013
BostonDavid Ephraim2019
BrusselsAlex van der Wolk1991
DenverErik Knudsen1979
Hong KongTimothy Blakely1983
LondonAndrew Boyd, Annabel Gillham1980
Los AngelesPurvi Patel1974
New YorkJamie Levitt1987
Northern VirginiaCharles Katz2000
Palo AltoTimothy Harris1985
San DiegoJulie Park1999
San FranciscoCaitlin Blythe1883
ShanghaiPaul McKenzie2003
SingaporeShirin Tang2013
TokyoKenneth Siegel1987
Washington, D.C.Joseph Palmore1979

Noted professionals

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King & Spalding</span> American law firm

King & Spalding LLP is an American multinational corporate law firm that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices located in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It has over 1,300 lawyers in 23 offices globally. It is Am Law 100, Global 30, and white-shoe firm.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York City. Known as a white shoe law firm, Cleary employs over 1,200 lawyers worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DLA Piper</span> Multinational law firm

DLA Piper is a law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it was the third largest law firm in the United States by revenue.

Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld was an American jurist. He was the author of the seminal Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning and Other Legal Essays (1919).

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP is a global white shoe law firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The firm employs approximately 800 attorneys throughout 33 offices around the world.

Bracewell LLP is an international law firm based in Houston, Texas, that began in 1945. The firm has approximately 350 lawyers, and has United States offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Hartford, San Antonio, Seattle, Dallas and Austin, as well as offices in Dubai and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiley Rein</span> American law firm

Wiley Rein LLP is one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C., United States. With 240 lawyers, the firm represents clients in complex regulatory, litigation, and transactional matters. Many of the firm's lawyers and public policy advisors have held high-level positions in the White House, on Capitol Hill, and in federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The firm operates in industries including energy, manufacturing, defense, aerospace, intelligence, information technology, professional services, telecommunications, health care, architectural and engineering (A&E), and construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy J. Heaphy</span> American lawyer

Timothy J. Heaphy is a white-collar criminal defense attorney, law professor and a former United States attorney for the Western District of Virginia. He served as the lead investigator for the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison</span>

Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP was a large law firm based in San Francisco, California, United States. In 2003, the firm was liquidated under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, after it had lost a substantial amount of money in the dot-com bubble and merger talks with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius had fallen through.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saul Ewing</span> United States-based law firm

Saul Ewing LLP is a U.S.-based law firm with 18 offices and approximately 425 attorneys providing a broad range of legal services. Its offices are located along the East Coast from Boston to Miami and extend into the Midwest by way of Chicago. On September 1, 2017 Saul Ewing LLP and Arnstein & Lehr LLP merged to form Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP. In November 2022, the firm changed its name back to Saul Ewing LLP as part of a rebrand effort. On August 1, 2023, the firm merged with Los Angeles based Freeman Freeman & Smiley.

Reed Smith LLP is a global law firm with more than 1,500 lawyers in 30 offices throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Crowell & Moring is an international law firm headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Chicago, Denver, London, Brussels, Doha, and Shanghai. With approximately 600 lawyers, the firm advises multinational corporations on regulatory, litigation, corporate, and investigations matters. As of 2022, Crowell & Moring is ranked among the top 100 law firms in the United States in The American Lawyer's "AmLaw 100" list, based on gross revenue.

Thompson Coburn LLP is a U.S. law firm with offices in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Southern Illinois, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. The firm has been especially active in the field of product liability.

Covington & Burling LLP is an American multinational law firm. Known as a white-shoe law firm, it is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and advises clients on transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. The firm has additional offices in Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Dubai, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Boston.

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm has twenty-two offices, including U.S. offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Washington State, and the District of Columbia, and has presence via international offices in Japan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Sweden. The firm is particularly known for its intellectual property practice. Clients have included Google in litigation related to its Google Print product, and Sony in its suit against 21-year-old hacker George Hotz for jailbreaking the PS3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cooley LLP</span> American international law firm

Cooley LLP is an American international law firm, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices worldwide. The firm's practice areas include corporate, litigation, intellectual property, fund formation, public markets, employment, life sciences, clean technology, real estate, financial services, retail, regulatory and energy.

This page lists notable alumni, students, and faculty of the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, a public law school in San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian</span> Law firm based in California

Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian LLP is an international law firm headquartered in Silicon Valley in California. The firm focuses exclusively on business law and commercial matters for venture-backed and public technology and life science companies and venture capital investors, while performing no litigation work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Phleger</span> American attorney and politician

Herman Phleger was American attorney and politician who served as Legal Adviser of the Department of State from February 2, 1953, to April 1, 1957, under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He succeeded Adrian S. Fisher and was succeeded by Loftus Becker. In 1959, he negotiated and signed the Antarctic Treaty on behalf of the United States. He is the namesake of the Phleger Estate.

References

  1. 1 2 "Morrison & Foerster LLP|Company Profile|Vault.com". Vault. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "MoFo unveils 10 percent increase in revenue as PEP breaks the $2m benchmark". www.globallegalpost.com. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  3. 1 2 O’Hara, Eileen, et al. (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelly. pp. 5
  4. 1 2 McAfee, David (July 21, 2014). California Powerhouse: Morrison & Foerster. Law360. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  5. ↑ O'Hara, Eileen (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelley. p. 11.
  6. 1 2 O'Hara, Eileen (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelley. p. 28.
  7. ↑ O'Hara, Eileen (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelley. p. 47.
  8. 1 2 3 O'Hara, Eileen (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelley. p. 30.
  9. ↑ O'Hara, Eileen (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelley. p. 31.
  10. ↑ O'Hara, Eileen (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelley. p. 46.
  11. 1 2 O'Hara, Eileen (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelley. p. 46.
  12. ↑ O’Hara, Eileen, et al. (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelly. pp. 71
  13. 1 2 O’Hara, Eileen, et al. (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelly. pp. 77
  14. ↑ O'Hara, Eileen, et al. (2006). Morrison & Foerster LLP: The Evolution of a Law Firm. RR Donnelly. pp. 79
  15. ↑ Moore, Tom (July 9, 2014). Morrison & Foerster Appoints Paul Friedman to Newly Created European Managing Partner Role. Legal Business. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  16. ↑ Sandburg, Brenda (March 3, 2006). . The American Lawyer. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  17. ↑ Somers, Terri. (September 4, 2007). Chemist in her element in biotech patent law. San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  18. ↑ Smith, Heather (December 4, 2003). Made in Japan. The American Lawyer. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  19. ↑ Human Rights Campaign (2003). 2003 Corporate Equality Index. Page 25. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  20. ↑ Smith, Jennifer (September 24, 2015). Willkommen in Deutschland: Morrison & Foerster Opens in Berlin. Wall Street Journal Law Blog. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  21. ↑ Bulkeley, Andrew (December 11, 2013).Morrison & Foerster snares Springer mandate for N24 purchase Archived 2015-11-22 at the Wayback Machine . The Deal. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  22. ↑ Juve (December 10, 2013). Buying N24: Springer brought Morrison & Foerster first German prestige mandate. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  23. ↑ Lancaster, Alaina (June 1, 2022). "20 Law Firms Offer Pro Bono Legal Services to Defend Abortion Rights". Law.com. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  24. ↑ Chutchian, Maria (December 11, 2013). ResCap Ends Bankruptcy As Judge Confirms Liquidation Plan. Law360. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  25. ↑ Checkler, Joseph (December 11, 2013). Bankruptcy Judge Confirms ResCap Liquidation Plan. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  26. ↑ Bulkeley, Andrew (October 15, 2013). "Softbank forges Sprint takeover deal." Archived 2015-11-22 at the Wayback Machine The Deal. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  27. ↑ MoFo Advises SoftBank in Landmark Sprint Nextel Acquisition. (Press Release). July 11, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  28. ↑ MoFo Advises SoftBank on Alibaba's IPO. (Press Release). San Francisco, California: Morrison & Foerster LLP. September 19, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  29. ↑ MoFo Foundation Morrison & Foerster. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  30. 1 2 Maleske, Melissa (September 29, 2015). The 10 Most Charitable Law Firms. Law360. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  31. ↑ Stephen A. Crockett Jr. (February 11, 2019). "Virginia Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax's Law Firm Places Him on Leave, 4 Staffers Resign Following 2nd Sexual Assault Allegation". The Root . Retrieved February 12, 2019. Morrison & Foerster, the law firm where Fairfax was named partner last September
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.