Pro Bono

Senior Of Counsel Jack Londen and Morrison Foerster were given LAFLA’s Pro Bono Service Award at its Access to Justice Gala. Jack has been extraordinarily committed to pro bono service throughout his long career at the firm, with notable impacts on improving education for low-income children and children of color in California, so is aptly being honored for “pioneering leadership on access to justice in California.”  The award also recognizes MoFo’s disaster response efforts (through wildfires, mudslides, and most recently, the Los Angeles fires) and its support of LAFLA’s student programs. 

The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice recognized MoFo during its annual Michael Cooper Celebration of International Pro Bono Excellence on May 21, 2025 in New York City. The Vance Center cited MoFo’s work with the international organization Namati designed to help Indigenous and local communities negotiate the terms of carbon project deals involving their lands, and with the Environmental Investigations Agency to aid its advocacy with U.S. policymakers who are part of the international negotiations to produce a Global Plastics Treaty.

Massachusetts Laywers Weekly presented Boston litigation partner Nathaniel Mendell with its 2025 Excellence in Pro Bono Work Award at its annual luncheon. The publication honored Nate for his pro bono work across a range of subjects, including criminal justice, women’s rights, environmental preservation, and immigration and citizenship status.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF) selected Morrison Foerster to receive its 2025 Father Cuchulain Moriarty Award for extraordinary pro bono contributions to the nonprofit’s Asylum Project.

Jamie Levitt, Managing Partner of the firm’s New York office and Chair of the Morrison Foerster Foundation, will be honored at the first annual Lawyers for Children (LFC) Pro Bono Awards Breakfast to celebrate her efforts in representing and advocating for vulnerable children in family court proceedings to protect their legal rights and interests.

LFC is a children’s law office that aims to give children in foster care, youth justice, child custody and other family court proceedings a voice in the decisions that will change their lives.

Singapore litigation partner Daniel Levison accepted an award for MoFo from the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice during its 2024 Michael Cooper Celebration of Pro Bono Excellence on May 7, 2024. This annual event celebrates law firms that have made notable contributions to high-impact pro bono projects in the previous year. MoFo was honored for leading an ambitious project for pro bono client Human Rights Watch: surveying the laws and standards governing gender-affirming care in dozens of jurisdictions around the world. This short video about the project features Dan, London litigation partner Chiraag Shah, and Hong Kong associate Gigi Yuen. 

Jamie Levitt, Managing Partner of Morrison Foerster’s New York office, was presented with the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest’s Law & Society Award at its annual luncheon. The award recognizes those who have played an integral role in advancing efforts to achieve justice for all New Yorkers. The Honorable LaShann DeArcy Hall of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (and proud MoFo alumna), introduced Jamie, noting, “Lawyers have the ability and obligation to do deep and meaningful work that makes our city, country and world a better place. Jamie lives this model.”

Michael Jacobs, who recently retired from Morrison Foerster, has been named by the American Bar Association (ABA) as the 2024 recipient of the John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award. This award is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the quality of justice in legal communities, ensuring that the legal system is open and available to all.

Michael is being honored for his efforts over 25 years to give tangible form to the California state constitution’s promise of equal educational opportunity for all schoolchildren. He has accomplished this through a series of impact pro bono cases that have dramatically improved the quality of education for countless K-12 students in California public schools. Please see press release.

Morrison Foerster was honored with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo’s Guardian of Justice Award for the firm’s profound commitment to justice. MoFo attorneys’ work has included conservatorships for family members who are caring for adults with disabilities; guardianships and adoptions when parents cannot care for their children; restraining orders for domestic violence survivors; estate planning and other assistance to low-income seniors; and help for tenants facing eviction.

The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono recognized the firm’s extraordinary pro bono services in the ABA’s Free Legal Answers program. MoFo lawyers earned this distinction for answering 90 civil legal questions posed to ABA Free Legal Answers last year. Our California-licensed lawyers participate in the ABA Free Legal Answers program, which allows users to post legal questions to be answered online by pro bono attorneys.

Michael Jacobs, who recently retired from Morrison Foerster, has been named by the American Bar Association (“ABA”) as the 2024 recipient of the John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award. This award is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the quality of justice in legal communities, ensuring that the legal system is open and available to all. Michael retired from MoFo in March 2024 after four decades at the firm.

Michael is being honored for his efforts over 25 years to give tangible form to the California state constitution’s promise of equal educational opportunity for all schoolchildren. He has accomplished this through a series of impact pro bono cases that have dramatically improved the quality of education for countless K-12 students in California public schools.

American Lawyer named Morrison Foerster as the winner of its 2023 Corporate Purpose Award in recognition of the firm’s reproductive rights work since the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion with its 2022 Dobbs decision. In the wake of that decision, MoFo’s Data, Cyber + Privacy team quickly issued MoFo Privacy Tips for Protecting Reproductive Rights, offering guidance for individuals, reproductive healthcare providers, and technology companies to safeguard personal health information. Post-Dobbs, MoFo lawyers have continued to litigate important reproductive rights cases, now focused on the danger posed to women by state abortion bans whose vaguely worded medical exceptions prevent women from getting necessary medical care when pregnancy-related conditions seriously endanger their health or lives. The AmLaw award also recognizes MoFo’s leadership forming the Abortion Defense Network, which has brought together top law firms and reproductive rights organizations to create a nationwide resource for abortion-related confidential, free legal advice.

Kids in Need of Defense, or KIND, named MoFo associate Tannyr Pasvantis as one of three recipients of its annual KINDness Matters Pro Bono Awards for the Washington, D.C. area. Tannyr, who recently relocated to the San Francisco office, has represented both children and adults with immigration matters over the last year, including a T-visa for a child victim of human trafficking, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status applications, and work authorization applications.

Casa Cornelia Law Center awarded San Diego attorney Caroline Pohl its Pro Bono Publico Award, recognizing her exceptional dedication to her pro bono client.  Caroline led a MoFo team that won asylum for a man from Iran who had been persecuted for practicing his Christian faith. 

Oasis Legal Services presented the firm with the Trailblazer Award for the firm’s work conducting country conditions research in support of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. 

The American Bar Association’s Business Law Section recognized San Francisco corporate partner Alfredo Silva with its National Public Service Award. The award recognizes the exceptional depth and breadth of Alfredo’s pro bono work. He is a skilled nonprofit advisor; was instrumental in organizing the Bay Area’s pro bono response to the devastation wreaked on small businesses by the Covid-19 pandemic; and led the firm’s collaboration with the Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation to prepare a global report to policymakers on accelerating the formation and growth of social enterprises.

ACLU SoCal presented its Pro Bono Award to MoFo, honoring the firm for being a “true ally.” The organization cited the firm for multiple projects, such as providing legal research and analysis to its education equity team, support to the LGBTQ equity team and community partners, unstinting tax advice, and willingness to undertake “the small and unglamorous projects that can make all the difference.” The ACLU SoCal also individually recognizes San Diego tax partner Shane Shelley and Los Angeles tax associate Lauren Keller for their extraordinary pro bono contributions. The awards were presented June 1^st at the group’s Advocates for Justice reception in Los Angeles.  

New York litigator Jamie Levitt, who is managing partner of the New York Office, was chosen by the Women in Law Section of the New York State Bar Association to receive the 2023 Kay Crawford Murray Memorial Award. The award celebrates Jamie  for “ recognizing the value of diversity in the legal profession and for dedicating her time to advance the professional development of women attorneys.”