Firm Profiles

Founded in San Francisco in 1883, Morrison & Foerster may have arrived a bit too late for the gold rush, but it has managed to strike pay dirt all the same. Along the way, for a corporate law firm, it has managed to carry itself with some insouciance, taking pride in its street name MoFo. A regular on The American Lawyer’s A–List—which homes in on the most elite firms by looking at both economic and noneconomic metrics—MoFo also boasts a top–rated litigation group. It earned honorable mentions in our 2010, 2008, and 2004 Litigation Department of the Year competitions (the contest is held every two years), and was a finalist as IP Litigation Department of the Year in 2008.

Indeed, technology–focused clients—from Internet start–ups to established life science companies—provide a large portion of MoFo’s workload. The firm was one of the first to plant stakes in Silicon Valley (opening an office in Palo Alto in 1985), and it has followed with offices in other major technology centers, including San Diego and Northern Virginia. Other core areas of practice include financial services, corporate, capital markets, and real estate.

Typical of many large firms, MoFo has 16 offices, with six abroad. Its most important overseas outpost is in Tokyo. At about 120 lawyers, the office is the largest foreign law office in Japan, one with a client list that produces work on both sides of the Pacific.

MoFo has never been one of the ber–profitable firms that can be found among The Am Law 100. Instead, its PPP figures ($1 million plus) have generally fallen in the bottom half of The Am Law 100. Those numbers took a hit, too, during the economic crisis—as did the firm’s head count: MoFo laid off 53 lawyers and 148 staff in January 2009. Morale didn’t stay down for long, though. A fifty–sixth place ranking on The American Lawyer’s 2010 Midlevel Associates Survey turned into a thirty–fourth place finish in 2011.

In other noneconomic measures, MoFo scores even higher. Its pro bono program has been one of the industry’s most successful; with attorneys averaging 106 hours of volunteer legal work, MoFo placed sixteenth of 200 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2010 Pro Bono Report. And with minorities composing nearly a quarter of its U.S. lawyers, and 11 percent of its partnership, the firm ranked eighth (of 194 firms) on our 2011 Diversity Scorecard.

—Updated as of 1/1/12