425 market street san francisco no . of offices 17 no . of attorneys 988 2015 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 people larren m. nashelsky chair revenue 968.5 million 2015 1 profit per equity partner 1.4 million 2015 1 date founded 1883 founder alexander morrison company type limited liability partnership website www.mofo.com morrison & foerster llp informally referred to as mofo is an major international law firm with 17 offices located throughout the united states asia and europe . 2 the firm has approximately 1 000 lawyers who advise clients across a range of industries and practices including intellectual property patent litigation corporate m & a business restructuring and securities . 3 mofo represents some of the largest and most inovative companies in the world including apple intel lucasfilm bank of america oracle and toshiba among others . 4 mofo is consistently considered to be the most prestigious law firm in san francisco and the wider northern california region . 4 5 contents 1 clients 2 firm leadership 3 offices 4 history 5 rankings and awards 6 pro bono 7 diversity 8 morrison & foerster foundation 9 noted professionals 10 nickname 11 references 12 external links clients edit morrison & foerster represents a broad cross section of clients including leaders in technology and life sciences fortune 100 companies and financial institutions . 6 the firm also advises startup companies and investment funds helping many over the years in their growth and development as industry leaders and familiar household brands . the firm was the lead bankruptcy counsel to residential capital rescap which was among the world s largest real estate origination and servicing companies with more than 15 billion in assets and liabilities prior to its bankruptcy filing . 7 in december 2013 a morrison & foerster bankruptcy team scored a decisive victory for rescap when judge martin glenn of the u.s. bankruptcy court for the southern district of new york confirmed rescap s chapter 11 plan . 8 judge glenn described the proceeding as the most legally and factually complex case that he had presided over in his seven years on the bench . 8 in july 2013 morrison & foerster represented softbank in its 21.6 billion acquisition of a 78 percent stake in sprint nextel . 9 according to the wall street journal the transaction was one of the most complex and unusual deals in the annals of takeovers . 10 the firm also represented softbank a longtime client in alibaba s u.s. ipo the largest ipo in history and in the carve out and restructuring of alibaba s financial services businesses in preparation for the ipo . 11 firm leadership edit chair larren nashelsky chief operating officer pat cavaney managing partners paul friedman craig martin eric piesner tessa j. schwartz corporate department co chairs brandon parris thomas knox finance department co chairs gary lee nicholas spiliotes litigation department co chairs benjamin fox rebekah kaufman tax department co chairs craig fields thomas humphreys david strong 12 offices edit office managing partner s year founded beijing paul mckenzie 1998 berlin jens uwe hinder hanno timner 2013 brussels rony gerrits 1991 denver david strong 1979 hong kong venantius tan 1983 london alistair maughan jonathan wheeler 1980 los angeles david mcdowell 1974 new york brett miller 1987 northern virginia daniel westman 2000 palo alto timothy harris 1985 san diego james mullen 1999 san francisco philip besirof 1883 shanghai paul mckenzie 2003 singapore eric piesner 2013 tokyo kenneth siegel 1987 washington d.c. bradley lui 1979 history edit uc hastings school of law graduate alexander francis morrison 1856 1921 founded the firm in 1883 in san francisco under the name o brien & morrison . 13 his mission was to practice principally in the line of corporation business . 14 in 1891 morrison formed a partnership with constantine e.a. foerster 1860 1898 . 13 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 . 15 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 . 16 the strategy resulting from the so called schroeder s meetings because they were held at the historic san francisco restaurant included ideas for modernizing the practice of law that were radical and innovative for their time . 16 the partners who identified themselves as the young turks 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 . 17 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 . 14 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 . 18 in 1987 the firm merged with prominent new york based litigation boutique parker auspitz and opened its tokyo office . 19 the firm merged again in 1991 this time with ciotti & murashige . 20 a decade later morrison & foerster become one of the largest international law firms in tokyo when it merged with ito & mitomi . 21 in november 2013 the firm expanded its european presence by opening an office in berlin . 22 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 . 23 juve the leading legal trade publication in germany wrote that the transaction highlighted morrison & foerster s prestige mandate . 24 rankings and awards edit in 2015 the american lawyer named morrison & foerster to its a list which recognizes the best overall u.s. law firms across four categories revenue pro bono diversity and associate satisfaction . 25 this was the twelfth consecutive year that the firm has been named to the a list . of the more than 12 000 firms ranked in the 2015 u.s news & world report best lawyers best law firms report morrison & foerster was among the top five firms for the total number of tier one nationwide rankings in the united states . 26 corporate board member has consistently recognized the firm as one of america s best corporate law firms and bti consulting has named the firm to its client service 30 list the top 30 firms on bti s client service a list report for 13 consecutive years . 27 28 the financial times has also recognized the firm as one of the most innovative law firms in north america and asia every year that it has published its innovative lawyers reports in each of those regions . 29 asian legal business alb named morrison & foerster real estate law firm of the year at the 2015 china law awards . 30 in 2014 alb honored the firm s tokyo office with six awards including tax law firm of the year international deal firm of the year for the second year in a row and managing partner of the year kenneth siegel . the firm also received awards for its role in softbank s acquisition of sprint nextel and the related financing including m & a deal of the year tmt deal of the year and debt market deal of the year . 31 chambers asia pacific recognized morrison & foerster as the 2015 japan international firm of the year . 32 this was the fourth time in the five years that the award has been presented that morrison & foerster has received this honor . compensation morrison & foerster is among the highest paying law firms in the world with profits per partner over 1.5 million per year . 34 first year associates are paid a base salary of 180 000 per year and bonuses bring first year compensation to almost 200 000 . 35 36 law students working as summer associates in their 2l summer are paid 3 500 per week . 37 pro bono edit morrison & foerster has been a leader in the pro bono field for more than two decades . it was one of the first firms to create a full time pro bono counsel position which resulted in a broad and sustained engagement that has been replicated by virtually every major u.s. law firm . 33 in 2014 the firm s lawyers devoted nearly 98 000 hours to pro bono work . highlights include two appearances before the u.s. supreme court in the same month in closely watched cases involving reproductive rights and marriage equality . 34 working in tandem with the national center for youth law the firm achieved a 2.075 million settlement for seven former foster youths who were injured while in clark county las vegas custody . the suit was originally filed in 2010 as a class action seeking systemic changes to clark county s child welfare system . 35 in 2014 the firm was successful in bringing a suit against the fbi that forced the agency to disclose information that had been improperly withheld and covered up details about its illegal surveillance of muslim americans in northern california . 36 in new york the firm s finance lawyers regularly participate in the bankruptcy assistance project run by legal services nyc which provides pre petition assistance to low income individuals filing chapter 7 bankruptcy petitions . the firm also serves as pro bono counsel to numerous nonprofits such as the nature conservancy tnc . 37 the firm helped tnc restructure its impact investment program which raises funds to conserve critical landscapes advance practices and policies and broaden support for conservation . the firm has also advised on the corporate structure for sustainable fisheries as well as a reverse auction to purchase from rice farmers the right to flood fallow fields to create temporary wetlands for migratory shore birds . 38 mofo also acted as pro bono counsel to illuminate the arts which created the large scale light installation known as the bay lights . 39 the monumental light sculpture uses 25 000 led lights to create computer generated patterns on the north side of san francisco s bay bridge . 39 outside the united states the firm provides pro bono services on a range of global issues through engagements with advocates for international development the cyrus r. vance center for international justice and pro bono clearinghouses run by trustlaw and pilnet . 40 41 in its annual pro bono survey the american lawyer ranked the firm in the top 10 for both u.s. and internal pro bono work for 2015 . 42 morrison & foerster was also named a 2015 pro bono firm of the year by law360 as well as who s who legal s 2015 pro bono firm of the year . 43 44 diversity edit in 1992 morrison & foerster issued a diversity mission statement expressing a firm wide commitment to continue its work to break down barriers to equal opportunity to value fully the differences among people in our organization while recognizing our similarities and to create an atmosphere in which each individual can develop his or her potential to the fullest extent possible . 45 in 2001 the firm became one of the first major u.s. law firms to elect an openly gay man to serve as chair . 46 keith wetmore led the firm for 12 years . 46 in addition to helping the firm grow its presence in key technology and financial centers in asia europe and the united states he helped set new standards