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MoFo is a Proud Sponsor of BIHC's Elevating Partners of Color Summit, 2022

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The Elevating Partners of Color Summit showcases law firm equity partners, non-equity partners, and senior counsel of color before an audience of influential in-house counsel. This one-day virtual event engages partners of color who have an extensive legal background in their area of expertise. 

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The Elevating Partners of Color Summit showcases law firm equity partners, non-equity partners, and senior counsel of color before an audience of influential in-house counsel. This one-day virtual event engages partners of color who have an extensive legal background in their area of expertise. The one-hour sessions are moderated by in-house counsel and features partners of color from nationally ranked law firms.MoFo Partners are Featured Speakers on the Following Panels:Christin Hill – EGS Crossover Issues for All Lawyers in the Legal DepartmentCrystal Kaldjob – Fintech: Critical TrendsNatalie Fleming Nolen – Antitrust: Strategies to Respond to Recent Regulatory PolicyFredo Silva – Corporate Governance TrendsRoman Swoopes – Copyright and Trademark TrendsMark Whitaker – Patent Litigation Trends II<hr>

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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.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><h5>Shareholder Class Actions</h5><ul><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li><li>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.</li></ul><h5>SEC Investigations</h5><ul><li>Former CFO of Pharmaceutical Company. Represented the former CFO of a pharmaceutical company in an SEC investigation following a multi-year restatement.</li><li>Private Technology Company. Represented a private technology company in an SEC inquiry related to the Company’s compliance with Rule 701.</li></ul>

Christin Hill

Partner

Natalie Fleming Nolen is the Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office and a partner in the Litigation Department. She is a trial lawyer and advocate who focuses on complex civil litigation and regulatory proceedings, with a particular emphasis on resolving antitrust issues and class actions that arise in the financial services industry. She has represented clients in trials in state and federal court, as well as administrative proceedings and arbitration forums.Natalie’s represents financial institutions and fintech clients in a range of matters including complex antitrust litigation and consumer class actions and complex commercial litigation alleging breaches of contract. She has also represented clients from a variety of industries in litigations and arbitrations. She has extensive experience representing clients before federal agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, and large companies being investigated by state regulatory authorities.Natalie also has an active pro bono practice. She led a trial team in a challenge to Title IX rules related to sexual harassment and assault in schools; represented several clients in Immigration Court and successfully obtained asylum and withholding of removal; and helped young clients obtain Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. In acknowledgment of her dedication to providing quality pro bono representation, Natalie was awarded the 2012 New York State Bar President's Pro Bono Service Award in the young lawyer category and was also awarded the Kathi Pugh Award for Pro Bono Service in 2015.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Representing a large financial institution in a large multidistrict antitrust class action litigation and related litigation by individual companies that opted out of the class action.</li><li>Representing a pharmacy benefit manager in civil litigation</li><li>Representing financial institutions, fintech companies and trade associations in civil commercial litigations</li><li>Representing companies in matters involving government regulations and investigations, and litigation involving the government.</li><li>Providing regulatory and pre-litigation counseling and advice to various companies, including financial institutions and fintech companies.</li></ul> Natalie is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Natalie Fleming Nolen

Alfredo Silva is a key member of the firm’s Social Enterprise + Impact Investing Group and the Emerging Companies + Venture Capital practice. He advises companies and investors—particularly in life sciences, agtech, and fintech—on a wide range of corporate and securities matters, with a strong focus on venture capital, growth equity and corporate venture capital financings. Alfredo brings particular expertise in complex restructuring and recapitalization transactions. He also advises both impact-first and return-first investors on building mission lock into their strategies, works with clients to form Delaware public benefit corporations and structure for-profit/non-profit “hybrid” entities that can attract both philanthropic and traditional capital, and on a pro bono basis advises nonprofits and small businesses on formation, structuring and governance matters.In his private company practice, Mr. Silva has served as company or investor counsel in early- and late-stage financings, minority strategic investments and impact investments in over a hundred private companies, including representation of SoftBank and SoftBank Vision Fund in financings with a combined value of over $2 billion, Temasek in its $800 million minority investment in Verily Life Sciences, an Alphabet company, and Visa Ventures in strategic fintech investments around the world.In his public company practice, Alfredo counsels issuers on strategic transactions, such as the stock-for-stock merger of Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. with Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp, as well as corporate governance and compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and stock exchange listing standards, including advising on cutting-edge issues with respect to ESG disclosures and materiality assessments.In addition, Mr. Silva works extensively with nonprofit organizations, providing advice on fiduciary issues, entity formation, structuring and other corporate matters, and assists small businesses pro bono. He incorporated and continues to advise Illuminate, the nonprofit producer of The Bay Lights, a 25,000 LED sculpture on the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, in structuring, corporate governance, and project management matters. Mr. Silva currently chairs the audit committees of the boards of directors of Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, a nonprofit founded by three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry and The New York Times bestselling author Ayesha Curry to unleash the potential of every child, and San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which for nearly 30 years has been pursuing a future where health justice is achieved for all people living with or at risk for HIV, both of which Mr. Silva has previously advised as corporate counsel.Alfredo is recognized by The Recorder as a 2013 Lawyer on the Fast Track, in 2014 was the inaugural recipient of the firm’s Kathi Pugh Award for Pro Bono Service, is a 2017 Lawyers Committee for Legal Diversity Fellow, and was the recipient of the American Bar Association’s 2023 National Public Service Award.

Alfredo B. D. Silva

Mark Whitaker is a leading member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation practice and has more than 35 years of experience crafting legal strategies in high-stakes patent and trade secret litigation. Mark sees the whole board for each of his clients and works closely with them to define a successful litigation outcome and determine the best path to achieve that goal. He has extensive experience navigating the rules and procedures in the nation’s top patent litigation venues, including U.S. district courts, the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Court of Federal Claims.Mark regularly acts as lead counsel in matters involving technologies such as semiconductors, photo/optical technologies, chemicals, and database analytics. His clients do business in a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer products, and telecommunications. He often leads a team of MoFo lawyers representing several defendants in parallel multipatent litigations.A past president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), Mark was elected to their prestigious Fellows membership in 2019. He is a frequent speaker at the American Bar Association, AIPLA, the Practising Law Institute, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, and at numerous CLE events all over the country.Mark is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served first as a surface warfare officer and later as a member of the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Drawing on this background, he currently leads the firm’s MoFoVets affinity network. Following his military service, he began his private practice legal career as a commercial litigator before concentrating on IP and technology litigation.

Mark Whitaker

Sustainability + Corporate Responsibility

MoFo is a Proud Sponsor of BIHC's Elevating Partners of Color Summit, 2022

13 Oct 2022 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM PDT