Diane Pritchard is Of Counsel in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office, where she is a member of the Litigation Department. Her practice focuses on antitrust and complex business litigation.

Ms. Pritchard has substantial trial experience and has handled numerous appeals in the California Court of Appeal, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. A representative sample of some of the matters Ms. Pritchard has handled includes:

• Representing El Paso Corporation in antitrust litigation and class actions involving the natural gas and electricity industries in state and federal courts in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.
• Representing a major insurance company in class action litigation alleging fraud in the marketing of variable rate premium insurance policies.
• Representing an insurer in the trial court and on appeal in numerous environmental coverage actions.
• Representing a large bookselling chain in litigation involving federal and state antitrust and unfair competition claims.
• Representing various energy companies and large energy users in federal court litigation regarding the California electricity markets and in proceedings before the California Public Utilities Commission.
• Successfully defending a major accounting firm at the trial and appellate court level in a series of securities class actions.
• Representing a developer in land use, regulatory, and environmental challenges to a major commercial and residential real estate development.
• Successfully defending a major public university at the trial and appellate court level in a class action involving its pension plan and early retirement benefits.
• Representing a major securities firm in a series of cases involving broker misconduct.
• Successfully representing a major computer manufacturer in litigation involving the taxability of computer software operating systems.
• Prosecuting and defending patent, copyright, trade secret, and unfair competition cases in the computer, biotechnology, and banking industries.

Ms. Pritchard received her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude , from Northeastern University in 1975. She received her master’s degree from Columbia University in 1976, and her law degree, cum laude , from New York University School of Law in 1980, where she was Order of the Coif and Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review . Upon graduation, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable James L. Oakes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.