Christin Hill is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s San Francisco office and a member of the firm’s Securities Litigation Group. Christin has extensive experience representing clients in securities class actions, derivative actions, and other complex civil litigation in both federal and state courts, as well as in government and internal investigations.

With 20 years of experience, Christin focuses her practice on securities, corporate governance, and other complex business litigation, including the defense of securities class actions, derivative suits, and M&A-related class actions. In addition to representing clients in state and federal courts, she also represents companies, boards, and special committees in government and internal investigations and counsels public and private companies and their directors and officers about a wide range of issues relating to corporate governance, disclosure obligations, and litigation risk and strategy.

Before joining Morrison Foerster, Christin served as senior counsel at Uber Technologies, Inc., where she managed complex civil litigation including consumer class actions, intellectual property matters, and government investigations. She was also a lead member of Uber’s global compliance team, through which she created and implemented new compliance policies and training programs and advised company management in responding to government inquiries.

Christin also served as an assistant district attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, where she successfully prosecuted three misdemeanor criminal jury trials. Early in her career, she served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable John A. Houston in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Representative Experience

Shareholder Class Actions

• In re Unity Software Inc. Securities Litigation (Northern District of California). Represented Unity Software and its former officers and directors in a Section 10(b) securities class action and related derivative actions alleging that the company misled investors about alleged defects with its technology. The court granted our motion to dismiss in full. A complete defense victory.
• Water Island Event-Driven Fund v. MaxLinear (Southern District of California). Representing MaxLinear and its officers and directors in multiple securities lawsuits alleging defendants made false or misleading statements about the company’s intent to complete a merger with Silicon Motion. We won dismissal with prejudice of the securities class action.
• Pearlstein v. BlackBerry Ltd. (Southern District of New York). Represented BlackBerry and its former officers in a securities class action related to BlackBerry’s accounting for its sales of BlackBerry 10 devices. Christin was part of the trial team that prepped the case for trial. The case settled days before trial was set to begin.
• Broadscale OC Investors v. Clayton (Delaware Chancery Court). Representing Amazon in litigation brought by investors of Owl Cameras, Inc. The plaintiff alleges that Amazon aided and abetted the Owl Cameras board of directors in a breach of fiduciary duty.
• Murphy v. Precision Castparts Corp. (District of Oregon). Following years of litigation, secured a summary judgment win for Precision and its CEO and CFO in a Section 10(b) securities class action related to Precision’s earnings targets. The result was a complete victory for the defendants. Plaintiffs appealed, and Christin has continued to defend Precision on the appeal.
• Klein v. Ellison et al. (Northern District of California). Secured a motion to dismiss win for the Oracle board of directors in a shareholder derivative action claiming that Oracle’s board misled investors about a commitment to diversity. The result was a complete victory for defendants.
• Rosenow v. Facebook (Southern District of California). Representing Facebook in litigation alleging that Facebook violated certain privacy laws in reporting user messages to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Secured a motion to dismiss the initial complaint.
• In re Ocera Therapeutics, Inc. (Northern District of California; Ninth Circuit). Secured a motion to dismiss for Ocera and its directors in a consolidated class action in the Northern District of California resulting from its merger with Mallinckrodt plc. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the decision.
• Technology Storage Company. Represented a technology storage company in a shareholder class action alleging Section 11 violations in connection with the Company’s IPO. The case was resolved via an early settlement.
• Energy Company. Represented an energy company specializing in unconventional oil and natural gas assets and its executives in a shareholder class action asserting claims under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933. Obtained summary judgment and dismissal.
• AI Computing Company. Represented an AI computing company in a shareholder class action alleging that the Company failed to disclose certain product defects in violation of Section 10(b) and Rule 10(b)(5). Obtained dismissal upon motion to dismiss, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal.
• Financial Services Company. Represented the former president of a financial services firm in shareholder class actions and an SEC enforcement action relating to the Company’s mortgage-backed securities.
• Global Venture Investor. Represented partners at a venture capital firm in a shareholder class action alleging Rule 10(b)(5) violations arising from NewsCorp’s acquisition of Myspace.com.

SEC Investigations

• Former CFO of Pharmaceutical Company. Represented the former CFO of a pharmaceutical company in an SEC investigation following a multi-year restatement.
• Private Technology Company. Represented a private technology company in an SEC inquiry related to the Company’s compliance with Rule 701.