Mark Foster is a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office. His practice centers on representing public companies, and their directors and officers in securities fraud class actions, shareholder derivative lawsuits, and board investigations. Mr. Foster routinely defends clients in connection with shareholder lawsuits that allege violations of federal and state securities laws, breach of fiduciary duty, and insider trading. Mr. Foster has won dispositive pre-trial motions, defeated preliminary injunctions, prevailed on the merits at trial, and preserved victories on appeal.
Mr. Foster has extensive experience with defending claims asserted under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act, the California Corporations Code, and the Delaware General Corporations Law. He also has defended cases relating to executive compensation decisions and disclosures, say-on-pay issues, and in connection with challenges to proposed mergers, acquisitions and other changes of control involving public companies.
Mr. Foster regularly helps corporate boards respond to various types of shareholder demands, including for board action and inspection of books and records. He also routinely advises directors, officers, and in-house counsel on disclosure and corporate governance matters to help avoid or minimize litigation risk. He has represented clients in a wide variety of industries, including semiconductors, solar, social media, consumer products, medical devices, e-commerce, software, hardware, data storage, pharmaceuticals, personal safety, defense engineering, telecommunications, entertainment, finance, and insurance. He has litigated in federal and state courts throughout California, the Delaware Court of Chancery, and in other jurisdictions throughout the country.
Mr. Foster has an active pro bono practice and has been awarded the State Bar of California's Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services on multiple occasions. He has successfully represented immigrants in removal and asylum proceedings and indigent clients in section 1983 litigation involving claims arising under the Fourth and Eighth Amendments.
Before joining Morrison & Foerster, Mr. Foster was a securities litigator at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. Mr. Foster graduated first in his class from Santa Clara University School of Law, and was elected to the Order of the Coif. While in law school, he was a Dean’s Fellow with a full-merit scholarship, served as senior production editor of the Santa Clara Computer High Technology Law Journal, and earned American Jurisprudence Awards in seven subjects.
Mr. Foster’s representative engagements include the following:
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