Washington, D.C. (October 20, 2008) – Morrison & Foerster LLP is pleased to announce that David M. Lynn, former Chief Counsel of the Division of Corporation Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will join the firm as a partner, resident in the WashingtonD.C. Office.  Mr. Lynn will be the Co-Chair of Morrison Foerster’s Global Public Companies Group.

Mr. Lynn was the Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance from 2003-2007. He joined the SEC as Chief Counsel shortly after adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.  As a result, he was intimately involved in implementing and interpreting the record amount of SEC rulemaking that occurred in the wake of SOX.  In 2006, he led the rulemaking team that drafted sweeping revisions to the SEC’s executive compensation and related party disclosure rules. Mr. Lynn initially served on the SEC staff from 1995-2000 as an Attorney-Advisor and subsequently a Special Counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance. While in private practice from 2000-2003, he advised a wide range of clients on SEC matters, securities transactions, acquisitions and corporate governance.  After leaving the SEC in 2007, Mr. Lynn has been theco-editor of TheCorporateCounsel.net, where he co-authors one of the most widely-read blogs on securities, governance and corporate law matters.  He will maintain his role as co-editor of TheCorporateCounsel.net.

“David is an outstanding addition to our leading corporate securities transactional, compliance and litigation practices,” said Robert Townsend, the Chair of the firm’s corporate practice. “His expertise on SEC disclosure and regulatory matters, including executive compensation and corporate governance, will further distinguish our service to clients in this increasingly complex regulatory environment.  He is a true thought leader in the securities bar.”

“It is a great honor for me to be joining Morrison & Foerster’s world-class corporate practice,” said Mr. Lynn. “I am very excited to have the opportunity to utilize my regulatory expertise at this outstanding firm while working with such an incredibly talented team of lawyers.”

Mr. Lynn received his law degree from University of Maryland School of Law in 1995 and was the winner of the Joseph Bernstein Prize for the most significant piece of legal writing submitted for publication in The Business Lawyer. Most recently, Mr. Lynn co-authored The Executive Compensation Disclosure Treatise and Reporting Guide with Broc Romanek and Mark Borges.