Philip Besirof is a partner in the Litigation Department of Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office.

Mr. Besirof maintains a complex civil litigation practice, principally in the areas of securities class actions, intellectual property disputes, financial services, and business/contract disputes.

In 1993, Mr. Besirof received his bachelor’s degree, with Provost’s honors, from the University of California, San Diego. In 1996, Mr. Besirof received his J.D., with honors, from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Mr. Besirof was a member of the Order of the Coif, and worked as an article’s editor of the Hastings Law Journal. Mr. Besirof served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Fern M. Smith, United States District Judge, Northern District of California.

Mr. Besirof is a member of the State Bar of California; the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California; and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Federal Circuits.

• Successful defense after a jury trial of JDS Uniphase and three of its former officers in the trial of a class action securities case in the Northern District of California.
• Successful defense after a bench trial of a retailer in a putative class action alleging breach of Business & Professions Code section 17200 in Alameda County Superior Court.
• Successful representation of the CEO of a public company in an arbitration alleging breach of contract.
• Successful defense of a client in an Internal Revenue Service investigation of the creation and promotion of unlawful tax shelters.
• Defense of a technology company in the Northern District of California alleging software source code misappropriation.
• Representation of a leading medical device manufacturer in Eastern District of California litigation with allegations of trade secret theft.
• Defense of a leading publishing company in Northern District of California trademark infringement litigation.