Three Morrison & Foerster Lawyers Named Top Latino Lawyers by Latino Leaders Magazine

Latino Leaders Magazine has named Alexis Amezcua, Arturo González, and Ruti Smithline to its list of Top Latino Lawyers for 2021. This is the seventh consecutive year that Latino Leaders Magazine has published its Top Latino Lawyers list. Honorees are selected based on individual achievements and recognitions, community involvement, and affiliation with bar associations.

Alexis Amezcua is a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Litigation Department and has extensive experience representing clients in complex, mass consumer class actions, along with federal MDL proceedings and state court-coordinated proceedings involving various state unfair competition and deceptive trade practices laws. She also regularly counsels clients on pre-litigation strategy, product launches, and risk management in various contexts, including government investigations. Alexis plays a leading role in the firm’s pro bono matters, providing legal assistance and advice to aid the firm’s efforts to reunify migrant families and ensure representation for legitimate asylum seekers. Her commitment to pro bono has been a hallmark of her vocation. She has worked on at least one active pro bono matter on behalf of the Latino community each year for the entirety of her career. She is also a founding member of the Latinx and Women of Color Affinity Groups and she serves as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity Strategy Committee.

Arturo González, chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Commercial Litigation and Trial Group, has had great success in his career representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He may be the only lawyer in the country to obtain defense victories for clients in multiple billion dollar matters and also four jury verdicts in excess of $10 million, including awards of $39.3 and $13.8 million in trade secrets cases.. During his time at the firm, Arturo has made diversity and mentorship his personal top priorities. He considers it an important part of his work to pay it forward by mentoring young attorneys and ensuring at least one woman is on every trial team.

As co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Investigations + White Collar Defense Group and the firm’s Latin America Desk, Ruti Smithline focuses her practice on complex litigation, with an emphasis on white collar criminal defense, SEC enforcement, securities litigation, and corporate internal investigations. She has extensive experience counselling clients on matters involving anti-corruption and bribery concerns and regularly advises on cross-border investigations, global compliance programs and anti-corruption due diligence for acquisitions, joint ventures, and private equity transactions. Ruti was born and raised in Colombia and has conducted investigations, seminars and anti-corruption training in Spanish throughout Central and South America. Ruti is an active contributor to the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, where she served on the selection committee for The TotalLAW Prep Mentorship Program. The program aims to provide mentoring and support to high-potential lawyers of Afro-Descendant and indigenous lawyers from Latin America who seek LLM degrees and secondments with international law firms based in the U.S. or Europe. She also provides pro bono representation for a number of the Center’s key anti-corruption initiatives.