| Morrison & Foerster LLP | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | San Francisco |
| 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 large full-service law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in 15 offices. The firm was founded in San Francisco, USA in 1883, and 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 including real estate, securitization, joint ventures corporate, finance and financial services, life sciences and technology, land use and environmental law, IP litigation, joint ventures, strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions. Morrison & Foerster was the chief international counsel for the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games of 2008.
Morrison & Foerster has an IPO practice for emerging technology firms concentrated in its San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Diego, New York, and Los Angeles offices. IPO work is also being done out of its Asian offices in China and Japan.
Contents |
Morrison & Foerster is consistently ranked on the American Lawyer's A-List. In 2005 the firm was ranked #11, in 2006 #6, in 2007 #16, in 2008 #20, in 2009 #8, and in 2011 #13.[1]
In 2008 Morrison & Foerster was crowned at the 2008 ALB Japan Law Awards[2] as the:
The firm nickname is "MoFo". As of 28 February 2005, however, the firm has returned to the more conservative Morrison & Foerster, although MoFo is still used as the firm's URL: mofo.com. It has not officially explained why it returned to its conventional name, although it has been speculated the reason is its similarity to the diminutive form of "motherfucker."
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.[3] Leno joked that the firm's clients could shout, "Get me my MoFo lawyer!"
Additionally, the 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".