Mr. Pfister received his A.B. degree in Economics and German from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1970, and studied in 1968-1969 at the Georg August University in Guttingen, Germany. He received his J.D. degree in 1973 from the Yale Law School. In 1974, Mr. Pfister worked as a law clerk for Judge Samuel Conti of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He associated with Morrison & Foerster in 1975, and became a partner of the firm in 1979.

Mr. Pfister served as Chairman of the Morrison & Foerster firm-wide Litigation Department from 1987 to 1990, and as the Managing Partner for Practice from 1990 to 1992. In this position, he worked closely with the Chairman of the firm and other managing partners and was responsible for coordinating all practice areas firmwide. Mr. Pfister served as Chairman of Morrison & Foerster from 1993 to 1996, and was responsible for all aspects of the firm’s professional, strategic and financial decisions.

Mr. Pfister’s litigation practice has included complex antitrust, securities, and intellectual property actions. His antitrust work has ranged from pretrial and trial of industry-wide price-fixing and monopolization cases to antitrust counseling, including advice regarding the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification legislation and Justice Department merger guidelines. He has negotiated with both the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice on complex mergers, and his antitrust work has included representation of companies and individuals in government grand jury proceedings and civil investigations, as well as in private treble damage actions.

Mr. Pfister’s securities work has included defense of complex class actions, particularly involving technology companies, as well as SEC enforcement proceedings. He has represented companies, officers, directors and special committees of directors in matters involving a full range of disclosure and other business judgment issues.

Mr. Pfister’s intellectual property experience includes work in federal courts and the International Trade Commission, as well as in European jurisdictions in association with local counsel. The matters have involved patent and copyright issues relating to software, semiconductor and other computer technologies.

Mr. Pfister is a member of the Antitrust, Intellectual Property and Litigation Sections of the American Bar Association. In addition to antitrust, securities and intellectual property litigation, Mr. Pfister has had litigation experience in cases involving various aspects of banking, real estate fraud, government procurement fraud, construction, professional malpractice, and white collar crimes.