| Morrison & Foerster LLP | |
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| Headquarters | San Francisco |
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| No. of Offices | 16 |
| No. of Attorneys | [1,000+] |
| Major Practice Areas | General practice |
| Key People | Keith C. Wetmore (Chair) |
| Date Founded | 1883 |
| Company Type | Limited liability partnership |
| Website | www.mofo.com |
Morrison & Foerster LLP (MoFo) is a full-service and large law firm. Prior to the 2008-9 recession, it had more than [1,000] lawyers in [20] offices. As a consequence of the recession, the firm closed several offices and fired substantial numbers of attorneys and staff. It now has 16 offices, many of which are located in California. The firm was founded in San Francisco, USA in 1883; its largest office is still located there. It was founded by Alexander Francis Morrison, a graduate of UC Hastings College of Law. Its lawyers have experience in a wide range of areas, including corporate, finance and financial services, life sciences and technology, land use and environmental law, litigation, and mergers and acquisitions.
The firm has a presence in China and Japan. Its office in Tokyo, operates closely with its joint enterprise partner, Ito & Mitomi (I&M), and is one of the largest American law presences in Japan, behind the likes of White & Case, and Baker & MacKenzie. With a combined headcount of over [110] attorneys, including [40] Japanese attorneys at I&M and [70] foreign attorneys at MoFo. Unlike some firms, MoFo and I&M continue to operate as independent firms and have not merged their practices, preferring to work as joint enterprise partners only. MoFo also has relatively small offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Morrison & Foerster was the chief international counsel for the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games of 2008. The firms website is written in English, Chinese and Japanese, as well as in Hebrew for the benefit of Israeli clients.
Morrison & Foerster is known best for its litigation and intellectual property practices. It has an IPO practice for emerging technology firms concentrated in its San Francisco, Palo Alto, and San Diego offices, as well as New York and Los Angeles. A limited amount of IPO work is being done out of its Asian offices due to the general downturn in the technology sector.
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Awards
Morrison & Foerster is consistently ranked on the American Lawyer's A-List. In 2005, the firm was ranked #11. In 2006, it moved up to the #6 spot. The firm remained on the prestigious list in 2007 and 2008, ranking #16 and #20 respectively.
In 2008 Morrison & Foerster was crowned at the 2008 ALB Japan Law Awards[1] as the:
- Deal of the Year - M&A Deal of the Year
- Deal of the Year - Japan Deal of the Year
[Query:was this award made to Morrison & Foerster or to Ito & Mitomi, or to both. Verification required]
Nickname
The official firm nickname, approved in 1973, is MoFo, which is also commonly used as an abbreviation/euphemism for motherfucker. As of February 28, 2005, however, the firm has returned to the more conservative Morrison & Foerster, although MoFo is still used as the firm's url: mofo.com.
During the dot-com era of the 1990s, when it was fashionable for American companies to appear irreverent, the nickname was prominently featured in the firm's advertising, both online and offline. It gained further notoriety through a bit by Jay Leno on The Tonight Show [1]. Leno joked that the firm's clients could shout, "Get me my MoFo lawyer!"
Additionally, the popular home game Trivial Pursuit has a question and answer circulating in current versions asking what four-letter nickname is used by worldwide law firm Morrison & Foerster. The answer, of course, is "MoFo".
Offices
Current Offices
Beijing (1998)
Brussels
Denver (1979)
Hong Kong (1982)
London (1980)- Los Angeles (1974)
- McLean (2000)
- New York
- Palo Alto
- Sacramento
- San Francisco
- Shanghai
Tokyo- Walnut Creek
- Washington, D.C. (1979)
Former Offices
Buenos Aires (operated from 1999-2001)- Century City
- Irvine (closed in 2008)
- [[Insert Singapore Flag][Singapore] (closed in 2009)
Noted professionals
- Drew S. Days, III, who served as the U.S. Solicitor General from 1993 to 1996, and who currently is of counsel
- Beth Brinkmann, who was the Assistant to the Solicitor General of the U.S. from 1993 until 2001, and who until 2009 was a partner
- Tony West, a partner in the San Francisco office and former federal prosecutor, is currently assistant attorney general for the Civil Division in the Department of Justice
References
- ^ www.legalbusinessonline.com.au
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
