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MoFo Named a Finalist in Six California Legal Awards Categories

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Morrison Foerster earned finalist recognition in six categories at Law.com’s California Legal Awards 2026, highlighting the...

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About Morrison Foerster

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Morrison Foerster earned finalist recognition in six categories at Law.com’s California Legal Awards 2026, highlighting the strength of our lawyers, leadership, and impact across high-stakes matters.These recognitions reflect work that shapes industries, advances communities, and delivers results where it matters most.Finalist highlights include:<ul><li>Tech Industry Litigation Department of the Year Morrison Foerster’s IP Litigation practice delivered landmark wins in AI and high-tech disputes, including precedent-setting fair use rulings, record-breaking settlements, and complete defense victories that shape the legal framework for emerging technologies.</li><li>Dealmakers of the Year “SoftBank’s Record-Breaking $41 Billion Investment Round in OpenAI” – A cross-border M&A team led by Kenneth A. Siegel, Eric T. McCrath, and Christopher C. McKinnon designed a novel investment structure for SoftBank’s $41 billion investment round in OpenAI, the largest venture financing round to date.</li><li>Distinguished Leader Honorees As chair of Morrison Foerster, Eric T. McCrath led the firm to a record-setting financial performance while remaining deeply engaged in high-stakes client work.</li><li>Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year Joseph C. Gratz leads the defining cases shaping how copyright, fair use, and the DMCA apply to generative AI, securing early precedent-setting wins while guiding companies at the center of the AI economy through high-stakes litigation.</li><li>Office Managing Partner of the Year Thomas T.H. Chou is recognized for his leadership of the Los Angeles office, guiding clients and teams in response to the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025.</li><li>Community Advocacy and Impact Initiative Morrison Foerster’s Los Angeles wildfire response combined rapid relief efforts with precedent-setting litigation that forced local governments to enforce habitability laws, resulting in new inspection regimes, mandated remediation protocols, and a replicable model for post-disaster housing enforcement.</li></ul>This recognition reinforces Morrison Foerster’s role in leading transformative deals, resolving complex disputes, and advancing meaningful pro bono work.<a href="https://www.law.com/therecorder/2026/04/27/announcing-the-finalists-for-the-2026-california-legal-awards/" target="_blank">View the full list of finalists and learn more about the awards</a>. Winners in each category will be announced at the California Legal Awards ceremony recognizing all honorees and finalists on June 24 in Los Angeles.

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Eric T. McCrath is the Chair of Morrison Foerster.Eric has been a trusted advisor on hundreds of public and private M&A, private equity, and financing transactions over the course of his career. As part of his market-leading M&A practice, he counsels strategic acquirers and targets in a variety of industries, including technology (semiconductors, software, AR/VR, FinTech, AI), healthcare, consumer products, financial institutions, media, gaming, and transportation. He represents leading U.S. and global companies and regularly advises on complex cross–border transactions.Eric is regularly recognized by leading publications, including Legal 500 US and Chambers USA, with client sources describing him as “greatly skilled at advising on the most complex and high–profile M&A transactions,” and noting that he “combines strong technical skills and a flair for complexity with commercial awareness, pragmatism and sound judgment.”Eric joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in 2007. He has held multiple leadership roles at the firm prior to being elected chair in June 2022. He has been a member of Morrison Foerster’s Executive Committee since 2016, the Compensation Committee since 2019, has served as Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department of over 400 lawyers since 2018, and has also held a number of practice leadership roles.A diverse lawyer of Asian heritage, Eric is also one of the longest-standing members of Morrison Foerster’s Diversity Strategy Committee, having served since 2010.

Eric McCrath

Chair

Thomas Chou is the Managing Partner of Morrison Foerster’s Los Angeles office, where he advises on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and private equity and venture capital financings, with a focus on the U.S. and Asia. With more than 25 years of experience, Thomas brings deep cross-border expertise, having practiced in MoFo’s Palo Alto, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and now Los Angeles offices. During his time in Asia, he served as head and co-head of the firm’s Asia Private Equity practice for 15 years.Thomas’ clients include industry-leading emerging growth companies and a broad range of investors who fund them (traditional private equity and venture capital funds, prominent Asian family offices, the corporate/strategic investment arms of large corporates, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds). His broad industry coverage includes media, entertainment and gaming; CPG/food and beverage; hard tech; Fintech; biopharma, MedTech, health and wellness.Clients and outside ranking organizations routinely cite Thomas’ accomplishments:<ul><li>Thomas is “a strong advocate for his client, offering strategic and actionable advice, evaluating and clearly prioritizing the key issues in complex situations and proactively anticipating concerns from counterparties in negotiations."</li><li>“Thomas Chou is excellent in understanding the industry and leads the team in working on the same. He is very responsive and works 24 hours responding to the clients.”</li><li>“Thomas has significant experience handling complex cross–border transactions across the Asia–Pacific region. His counsel is frequently sought by global technology corporations to advise on their investments in the region. He also commands considerable respect from private equity clients.”</li><li>His clients pinpoint his “decades of venture capital experience both in the United States and in Asia,” with one noting: “He is patient, attentive to details and someone who has clearly conquered many battlefields.”</li><li>Thomas is particularly praised for his communications skills, with clients saying, “Any issues we had he would always provide a solution. He is not only interpreting regulations, but he is also commercially savvy.”</li></ul>Thomas is on the Board of the Morrison Foerster Foundation and a member of the board of directors of the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

周至恒（Thomas Chou）律师在公司业务领域非常活跃，重点处理跨境并购（中国境内外）、合资、私募股权和风险资本融资业务。他的客户包括新兴成长型公司，传统以及非传统投资者（私募股权和风险投资基金，家族办公室，公司/公司的战略投资部门，金融机构以及主权财富基金）。他的执业领域主要是技术、媒体和电信、医疗和生命科学以及消费和零售业。客户和外部评级机构都经常称赞周律师的成就：<ul><li>“周律师在处理亚太地区复杂跨境交易方面经验丰富，全球科技公司常因在该地区的投资而寻求其意见，他也广受私募股权客户推崇。”</li><li>“（周律师）资历深厚，精于各种风险投资及私募股权事宜，包括前期与后期的投资及并购，他在科技领域的经验尤其丰富。”</li><li>客户赞赏他“在美国及亚洲均有数十年风险投资经验”，并称其“非常耐心，注重细节，实战经验丰富”。</li><li>周律师的沟通技巧尤其为人所称道，他的客户指出：“不管我们出现任何问题，周律师都能提出解决方案。他不仅能准确把握法律条文，同时极具商业头脑。”</li></ul>周律师是美富亚洲私募股权业务的联席主管，也是新兴公司 + 风险投资业务组和并购业务组的活跃成员。他在上述业务领域均持续受到独立的法律行业排行榜和律师评级机构的高度认可。周律师还是星光儿童基金会的董事会成员。

Thomas Chou

Managing Partner, Los Angeles

Clients turn to Joe Gratz to handle trailblazing litigation where copyright and trademark law meet new technologies. An experienced litigator, Joe draws on his strong technical background to distill complex issues into simple, accurate concepts for judges, juries, and clients. Joe’s cases have set key precedents in Internet law, from the Google Books case that laid the groundwork for today’s generative AI innovations to key cases establishing the boundaries of intermediary liability. In addition to representing their interests in the courtroom, Joe helps his clients navigate their thorniest product counseling puzzles to reduce the risk of litigation.His appellate victory in Long v. Facebook set the standard for platforms in carrying out DMCA removals of user-generated content. And Joe’s win in Stevens v. CoreLogic established limitations on DMCA 1202 claims that have since been adopted by numerous other courts. His amicus brief on behalf of independent booksellers was cited by the Supreme Court in its opinion in Wiley v. Kirtsaeng, and he has submitted amicus briefs in other copyright cases on behalf of Center for Democracy & Technology (in Oracle v. Google) and on behalf of art law professors (in Warhol v. Goldsmith).A recognized commentator on copyright and internet law, Joe was selected as an advisor for the American Law Institute’s project to develop a Restatement of Copyright, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He frequently speaks on emerging issues in Internet law and was called upon by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 to testify about the interaction between the DMCA 512 safe harbor and fair use. Joe was the 2022 recipient of the California Lawyers Association’s IP Vanguard award, presented to one private practitioner each year for achievements at the forefront of emerging issues in intellectual property law.

Joseph Gratz

Partner

Chris represents venture capital investors, private equity firms, and emerging and established companies in corporate finance matters, including investments, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions.Recognized as a top-tier advisor in the technology sector, Chris was recently named one of the Dealmakers of the Year by The American Lawyer and Most Innovative Lawyers in Science and Technology by The Financial Times, among other Rising Star/Top 40 Under 40 honors by Venture Capital Journal, Daily Journal, and San Francisco Business Times.Chris has significant experience advising on complex deals involving high-growth, venture-backed technology companies. He regularly advises on capital raising, partnership and exit transactions for startups and investment fund transactions, buyouts, and divestitures for private equity sponsors.Before rejoining Morrison Foerster, Chris served as lead negotiator at a global investment firm, executing cross-border investment and M&A transactions. Leveraging that experience as a battle-tested dealmaker, Chris provides clients with creative, business-forward, and solutions-oriented advice.Chris is on the leadership committee of the ABA’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Committee, regularly speaking and writing about investment- and M&A-related topics and trends. At NYU School of Law, Chris was a Lederman Fellow in Law & Economics and on the executive board of the NYU Journal of Law & Business. He majored in business economics as an undergraduate at University of California, Santa Barbara.

Christopher McKinnon

Ken Siegel is the managing partner of Morrison Foerster’s Tokyo oﬃce and the head of the oﬃce’s 50-attorney M&A team. Ken’s practice focuses on the representation of high-technology companies in acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.Ken has been consistently ranked as one of the leading U.S. attorneys in Japan. Among other things, he is the only attorney rated as a “Star Individual” for M&A in Japan (the level above Band 1) by Chambers Global, having been ranked at this level for more than a dozen years (2011–2024 editions). According to Chambers Asia-Paciﬁc, Ken is “commercial and pragmatic, an incredible M&A attorney” who “deserves tremendous credit for his M&A practice” and has “outstanding acumen, experience and leadership.”In 2026, Ken and his team were named “Dealmakers of the Year” by The American Lawyer for their role advising SoftBank on a series of transformative artificial intelligence transactions, including its record-breaking $41 billion investment in OpenAI. He has also been recognized multiple times by the publication – including as “Dealmaker of the Week” for his work on Hitachi’s $5 billion sale of its hard disk-drive business to Western Digital, as well as for representing SoftBank in its $21.6 billion acquisition of Sprint, a transaction that was named the Global M&A Deal of the Year by The American Lawyer.He has also been recognized by the Financial Times—receiving its Innovative Lawyers Award in 2022, as one of the most innovative lawyers in the Asia Pacific region, and again in 2025, when he and his team were named Innovative Lawyers in Science and Technology for their groundbreaking AI work on Stargate, a joint venture developing advanced AI infrastructure in the United States.Ken received his B.A. magna cum laude from Amherst College. He studied Japanese language at Stanford University’s Inter-University Center for Japanese Language in Tokyo and at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), receiving a graduate degree in International Aﬀairs. He received his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School.<h4>Select Rankings</h4>Ken’s recent notable awards include:<ul><li>Dealmaker of the Year (The American Lawyer 2026)</li><li>Most Innovative Legal Practitioner in Asia-Pacific (Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Award 2022)</li></ul><ul dir="ltr"><li>Star Individual for Japan: Corporate/M&A (Chambers Global 2024)</li><li dir="ltr">Star Individual for Japan: Corporate/M&A (Chambers Asia-Pacific 2024)</li><li>Hall of Fame for Japan: Corporate and M&A (The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025)</li><li>Market Leader for Japan: M&A (IFLR1000 2024)</li><li>Corporate, M&A Law, Private Equity, Private Funds and Venture Capital Law [The Best Lawyers in Japan (Recognized since 2009)]</li><li>Foreign Lawyer of the Year (Asian Legal Business (ALB) Japan Law Awards 2018)</li><li>Tokyo Managing Partner of the Year (Asian Legal Business (ALB) Japan Law Awards 2017)</li></ul>