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Morrison Foerster Recognized in Chambers USA 2026

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Morrison Foerster has once again received record levels of recognition in the 2026 edition of Chambers USA, including 76 practice...

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Morrison Foerster has once again received record levels of recognition in the 2026 edition of Chambers USA, including 76 practice area rankings and 177 individual recognitions across the publication’s USA Nationwide, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas categories.Of the 76 practice area rankings, the firm received a record 15 Band 1 recognitions. This includes a new top-tier practice area ranking in USA Nationwide Privacy & Data Security: Litigation.MoFo once again received Band 1 rankings for the following Nationwide categories: Artificial Intelligence; FCPA; Government Contracts: The Elite; Impact Investing; Intellectual Property: Appellate; Privacy & Data Security: Litigation; Privacy & Data Security: The Elite; Projects: Agency Financing; Technology. In addition, MoFo obtained Band 1 rankings for the following categories in California: Corporate/M&A: Deals in Asia; Intellectual Property: Patent Litigation; Intellectual Property: Patent Prosecution; Intellectual Property: Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets; Life Sciences: IP/Patent Litigation; and Technology.In total, MoFo secured ten new practice rankings, including USA - Nationwide Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite; USA - Nationwide National Security; USA - Nationwide Securities: Regulation: Enforcement; USA - Nationwide Venture Capital: Fund Formation; District of Columbia Intellectual Property: Patent Prosecution; Massachusetts Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation; Massachusetts Intellectual Property; Massachusetts Life Sciences; New York Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite; New York Technology;In the 2026 edition, MoFo attorneys received 33 recognitions in the highest band ranking specific to their practice area and jurisdiction. Firm chair Eric McCrath was named an Eminent Practitioner for the third consecutive year, while Privacy + Data Security global chair Miriam Wugmeister and Securities Litigation partner Jordan Eth were recognized as Star Individuals. Additionally, Rick Fischer has again been listed as a Senior Statesperson. We congratulate all of the ranked lawyers, including the individuals listed below who were recognized with Band 1 rankings this year:<ul><li>Erin Bosman</li><li>Charles Duross</li><li>Daralyn Durie</li><li>Jordan Eth</li><li>Thomas Fileti</li><li>Joseph Gratz</li><li>Matthew Karlyn</li><li>Jamie Levitt</li><li>Ann Lilienthal</li><li>Susan Mac Cormac</li><li>Deanne Maynard</li><li>Eric McCrath</li><li>Kevin Mullen</li><li>Brendan Murphy</li><li>Julie Park</li><li>Catherine Polizzi</li><li>William Schwartz</li><li>Tessa Schwartz</li><li>Damien Specht</li><li>Gregory Smith</li><li>John Smith</li><li>Ragesh Tangri</li><li>Miriam Wugmeister</li></ul>To view the complete list of Morrison Foerster’s rankings in the 2026 edition of Chambers USA, please visit the publication’s <a href="https://chambers.com/law-firm/morrison-foerster-usa-5:7854" target="_blank">website</a>.

Morrison Foerster Recognized in Chambers USA 2026

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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

Few lawyers in the world have Miriam’s breadth and understanding of privacy and data security laws, obligations, and practices. As chair of Morrison Foerster’s preeminent global Data, Cyber + Privacy Group, leading 60+ lawyers, Miriam is regularly called upon by some of the world’s largest and most complex multinational organizations to confront their most difficult U.S. and international privacy and cybersecurity challenges. Miriam is a trusted advisor who provides legal and strategic advice on all areas of international privacy and data protection issues. She works with global companies on the planning and execution of complex global compliance efforts and helps them find practical solutions to use and manage personal information in every country in the world. She also defends regulatory matters relating to privacy and cybersecurity in the United States and internationally and advises on the Department of Justice Bulk Data Rules. Her counsel is particularly prized for cybersecurity preparedness and breach response. Miriam and her team have navigated some of the largest and most consequential cybersecurity incidents in history, including assisting Mandiant when it discovered and warned the world about the SolarWinds compromise. Having helped hundreds of clients respond to breaches, Miriam is frequently called upon to advise and educate boards of directors regarding cybersecurity and the key role that boards play in understanding and overseeing the potential risks. Miriam works with companies to develop comprehensive customized incident response plans, train staff, conduct extensive tabletop exercises, and address key issues with executive management. While she regularly advises clients on responses to ransomware attacks and other cyber extortion incidents, she works on all aspects that arise in the context of large security incidents, including communication strategies, notifications to customers, consumers, and regulators; public disclosures; interactions with law enforcement globally; litigation; and investigations by regulators around the world.Miriam serves as a board member of the ADP AI & Data Ethics Committee and is a leader in MoFo’s AI Group, a cross-practice team that provides sophisticated, full-service representation to a wide range of clients with companies that both develop and use cutting-edge, rapidly changing technology in the AI space. Miriam uses her extensive industry experience and collaborative global approach to help her clients integrate the newest trends and developments in AI with their business needs.Recognized as a market leader by all major directories, Miriam has been ranked in the top tier of privacy and data security lawyers worldwide by Chambers USA and Chambers Global for well over a decade. She was an inaugural inductee into The Legal 500 Hall of Fame, which is comprised of outstanding U.S. lawyers who have been recommended as The Legal 500’s Leading Lawyers for the last six consecutive years. The Cybersecurity Docket has recognized Miriam as one of its Incident Response 50, a list of the top data breach response lawyers globally. She has been named one of Financial Times’ Top 10 Innovative Lawyers in North America and a National Law Journal Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Trailblazer for her breakthrough work in this space. Miriam was also previously designated as an Ethisphere Attorney Who Matters and a BTI Client Service All-Star. A frequent commentator on cybersecurity, she has been interviewed by media outlets including CNBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among many others.

Miriam Wugmeister

Global Chair of Data, Cyber + Privacy

Erin Bosman is the global co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s litigation department. Erin is also the founder and co-head of the Artificial Intelligence group and former chair of the Complex Litigation + Advisement practice group. Clients value her business strategy, seeking her comprehensive counsel throughout the product life cycle, especially in high-stakes litigation and product recalls.Erin's clients value her litigation acumen, retaining her as national coordinating and trial counsel in class action cases and multijurisdictional and multidistrict proceedings. She navigates complex business relationships and serves as a defense liaison counsel in cases where multiple defendants have conflicting defenses. A skilled negotiator, Erin has a long track record of securing dismissals and favorable settlements for her clients. When trial is needed, her compelling courtroom skills have delivered successful jury verdicts and appellate victories.Outside the courtroom, Erin maintains a robust advisement practice, drawing on her litigation experience to counsel clients on product development, risk assessments, product labeling, and risk mitigation strategies to help them avoid and defeat product liability claims. When necessary, Erin advises on crisis management and guides clients through product recalls, representing clients before the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).Erin is a problem-solver through and through. In that role, she advises clients on some of their most difficult product questions, with particular focus on emerging technologies in untested regulatory and litigation landscapes. She is a leader in the fields of wearables and digital health, medical device and pharmaceuticals, and consumer products. Erin counsels clients that have innovative products in the technology and artificial intelligence sector. In addition to her knowledge and experience in the AI space, Erin has also advised clients working with autonomous vehicles, sensors, robotics, and IoT.Erin has received numerous accolades for her legal work, including by the Daily Journal, Chambers USA, and The Legal 500 US, where market commentators praised her as “an exceptional strategist with highly effective negotiation skills” who “has the respect and admiration of her team and her clients.” Erin is a two-time recipient of  “Product Liability Lawyer of the Year” from Euromoney America’s Women in Business Law Awards, honoring high-achieving female lawyers and progressive law firms. In 2025, Erin was again recommended in Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants by Best Lawyers in America. The Legal 500 continues to recognize Erin as a Leading Lawyer in Dispute Resolution: Product Liability, Mass Tort, and Class Action. She was also named as a “Top Healthcare Lawyer” by the Daily Journal, honoring her as a leading California lawyer who specializes in healthcare litigation, transactions, and counseling. Erin was also short listed in the Financial Times’ North American Innovative Lawyers Awards in the Most Innovative Legal Practitioner category for her expertise in solving clients’ problems.Erin is a member of the Product Liability Advisory Council (PLAC), a member of the editorial board for Product Liability Law 360, and a former editor of and frequent contributor to MoFo’s <a target="_blank" href="http://classdismissed.mofo.com/">Class Dismissed</a> blog.<h5>More About Erin</h5>In 1997, Erin was a judicial extern for the Honorable James F. Stiven, U.S. Magistrate Judge, Southern District of California. In 1999, she received her J.D. magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from the University of San Diego School of Law. During law school, she was an editor of the San Diego Law Review.

Erin Bosman

Co-Chair, Litigation Department

Charles (Chuck) Duross serves as co-head of Morrison Foerster’s FCPA + Global Anti-Corruption practice. With more than twenty-nine years of experience principally focused on white collar cases, Chuck’s practice has an emphasis on complex white collar criminal matters, including internal corporate investigations, representing special committees, compliance counseling, due diligence regarding third parties and business transactions, and defense of clients before government enforcement agencies and multilateral investment banks. Chuck has handled cases and overseen investigations in dozens of countries. As a veteran trial attorney, Chuck has a proven track record in the courtroom in high-profile, high-stakes trials. Dubbed “Mr. FCPA” in The Washington Post, Chuck is routinely recognized in various rankings and publications, including Chambers Global, Chambers USA, and Legal 500 as a leading attorney in white collar criminal defense, with a particular specialty in FCPA and foreign corruption cases.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Serving as the DOJ-appointed independent corporate compliance monitor for a large South American company in the wake of a multi-jurisdictional resolution of one of the largest bribery schemes in history</li><li>Representing a leading U.S. company in a high-profile multi-jurisdictional government-facing bribery investigation in Africa</li><li>Representing multinational European company in a high-profile bribery investigation involving multiple jurisdictions</li><li>Representing a major manufacturing company in an emissions-related investigation</li><li>Representing a technology company before DOJ and SEC regarding a whistleblower employee alleging FCPA violations</li><li>Representing a Japanese company before DOJ and SEC in an FCPA investigation</li><li>Representing a leading U.S. company before DOJ regarding allegations of improper hiring issues</li><li>Represented former telecom executive before DOJ and SEC regarding conduct in China</li><li>Representing a former executive regarding allegations of misconduct in Latin America</li><li>Secured declinations on behalf of multiple corporate clients and individuals before DOJ and SEC</li><li>Secured a victory for a Chinese company before the Sanctions Board of the World Bank</li><li>Lead an internal investigation for a leading South American company concerning bribery allegations in Asia</li><li>Conducted pre-investment and pre-acquisition enhanced FCPA/anti-corruption due diligence in numerous multi-billion dollar deals in Africa, Asia, and Latin America</li><li>Assisting numerous companies, from start-ups to Fortune 50 corporations, with drafting codes of conduct and compliance procedures, conducting risk assessments, gap analysis and compliance benchmarking, and enhancing existing compliance programs</li><li>Go-to outside FCPA and anti-corruption legal and compliance counsel to leading Global 500 multinational corporations across industries and regions</li></ul>Chuck previously served as Chief of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Unit in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where he was in charge of all of the DOJ’s FCPA investigations, prosecutions and resolutions in the United States. Chuck is internationally recognized for his leading role in developing and implementing the government’s FCPA enforcement strategy, and he is widely credited with developing the current enforcement regime. Under his leadership, the FCPA Unit resolved more than 40 corporate cases resulting in approximately $1.9 billion in monetary penalties and prosecuted dozens of business executives and money launderers. As the head of the FCPA Unit, Chuck oversaw countless voluntary disclosures, decided which matters would be declined, administered DOJ’s FCPA Opinion Release Procedure and was responsible for interviewing, selecting and reviewing the work of nearly 20 independent corporate monitors.In investigating and prosecuting transnational bribery cases, Chuck worked with every major U.S. Attorney’s Office and law enforcement agency in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), law enforcement counterparts around the world and numerous multi-lateral development banks, including the World Bank. For example, Chuck worked with the Australian Federal Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris, Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Commission, the Tokyo Public Prosecutor’s Office, Mexico’s Procuraduría General de la República, Norway’s Økokrim, the Swiss Attorney General’s Office, Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission, and the United Kingdom’s City of London Police, Crown Prosecution Service, Metropolitan Police and Serious Fraud Office.While in the Fraud Section, Chuck led the development of a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) template for FCPA cases, which formed the basis for a DPA template later adopted for use by the entire Criminal Division, and he also led the effort to update and restructure the enhanced compliance components used in resolving FCPA cases. As a recognized expert, Chuck was consulted by UK officials prior to the adoption of legislation permitting deferred prosecution agreements.Chuck’s tenure was also marked by his efforts to make FCPA enforcement more transparent and compliance with the statute more understandable to the business community. Working closely with his counterparts at the SEC, Chuck was one of the principal authors of the DOJ and SEC’s joint publication A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which followed a series of consultations with business and compliance leaders. The Guide has received wide praise from the business community, compliance and ethics professionals and private practitioners, and has been described as a “landmark document,” an “FCPA hornbook,” and a “must-read for compliance officers.”Chuck also served as DOJ’s principal representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery for many years and helped develop the OECD’s acclaimed Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics and Compliance. Besides his involvement in the OECD Phase 1 of Russia and Phase 2 of South Africa, Chuck’s leadership during the OECD Phase 3 of the United States earned him the Assistant Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award, the Criminal Division’s highest award for employee performance.Prior to being appointed Chief, Chuck served as Assistant Chief of the FCPA Unit from October 2008 to April 2010, and as a line prosecutor with the Fraud Section from December 2006 to October 2008. Beyond FCPA enforcement, Chuck has supervised and tried all manner of white collar cases, including healthcare fraud, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, public corruption, securities fraud and tax evasion. A veteran trial attorney, Chuck is a recipient of the prestigious Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, the second-highest department-wide award for employee performance, as one of the lead prosecutors who secured the conviction of Congressman William Jefferson following a nearly nine-week trial.Chuck has been recognized for his work on FCPA matters by Law360, the Legal 500 US, the Washington Post, Washington Business Journal, and also by Chambers USA where a market commentator praises him as “a sage counselor, who is calm under pressure and solutions-oriented.” Who’s Who Legal also recognizes Chuck for his investigations work. In recognition of his contributions to the firm’s “Top Ten International Anti-Corruption Developments” monthly newsletter, Chuck has also been repeatedly honored with JD Supra’s “Reader’s Choice Top Author” award.Chuck earned his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996 and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan in 1993. After beginning his career as a litigation associate at an international firm in 1996, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in 2001, where he prosecuted a variety of white collar cases, including bank fraud, embezzlement, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, securities fraud and trademark violations. Chuck rose to the position of Deputy Chief in the Major Crimes Section in Miami before moving to Washington, D.C., in 2006 to join the Fraud Section. Chuck has been an adjunct professor for seven years at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught trial advocacy, has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School’s Program on the Legal Profession, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and the University of Michigan Law School and Ross School of Business. As an internationally recognized expert on transnational bribery, white collar crimes, and compliance issues, Chuck is a sought-after speaker, and he routinely speaks at conferences across the United States and around the world. He is admitted to practice in Michigan and the District of Columbia.

Charles Duross

Partner

Daralyn Durie is among the top trial lawyers in the country, acting as go-to trial counsel for both plaintiffs and defendants. Daralyn’s exceptional track record has earned her consistent recognition from leading national publications. Chambers has listed her among the top 10 intellectual property lawyers in the U.S. and Law360 has recognized her as an “Icon of IP” and an MVP. Benchmark Litigation reported that “going against her was like going against a boxer in which you know you’re going to get hurt.” She’s a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and an inductee into the California Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.Daralyn’s legal career began at Berkeley Law, followed by a clerkship for the Honorable Douglas Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She became a partner at a litigation boutique in 1999 and, in 2009, co-founded Durie Tangri, a premier litigation boutique that later combined with Morrison Foerster in 2023.In addition to her courtroom successes, Daralyn is actively involved in the legal community. She is a board member of the National Women’s Law Center, a past president of the Northern California Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and served as an adjunct professor at Berkeley Law, where she taught civil trial advocacy.Life SciencesDaralyn has decades of experience in the life sciences sector. She spearheaded the enforcement of Genentech’s Cabilly family of patents, which generated billions of dollars in licensing revenue. She served as lead counsel in the Herceptin biosimilar litigation and recently achieved a plaintiff-side jury verdict of $178 million in a patent infringement case involving melanoma therapy.TechnologyIn the tech sector, Daralyn recently won defense jury verdicts for Aptiv (USB hubs), Activision (in the Eastern District of Texas), and Redbubble. She served as lead counsel for Google, defending Google Books from copyright infringement claims. Following extensive litigation on copyright and antitrust issues, Google prevailed on summary judgment, resulting in Daralyn being named an Attorney of the Year by California Lawyer magazine.

Daralyn Durie

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe class="sticky-video" allowfullscreen="1" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2q_gEWibFK0?rel=0" title="Meet Jordan Eth, Securities Litigator" title="iframe"></iframe></div>Jordan Eth is a partner in Morrison Foerster's Securities Litigation group. Jordan is one of the leading securities litigators in the United States, known for his success in handling complex, high-stakes cases. He has more than 30 years of experience representing public companies and their officers and directors in:<ul><li>Securities class actions</li><li>SEC investigations</li><li>Derivative suits</li><li>Mergers and acquisitions litigation</li><li>Internal investigations</li></ul>Jordan understands the big-picture challenges facing companies and individuals in securities litigation, as well as the intricacies of the legal issues. As co-leader of the successful defense of JDS Uniphase Corp. and its former executives in a securities class action jury trial seeking $20 billion in damages—the largest in history—Jordan is one of the few lawyers who has taken a securities class action to trial and won a complete jury defense verdict.Jordan’s clients cover a broad range of industries, including financial services, computer software and hardware, life sciences, manufacturing, and consumer products. He is routinely recognized for his exceptional client service, including in Best Lawyers in America, where a client noted that, “Jordan Eth is in a class of his own. He is deeply knowledgeable and experienced and a natural leader without ego issues. He thinks strategically and is extremely responsive, realistic, and clear in his assessments of situations. He is able to marshal resources within Morrison Foerster as necessary. And if that were not enough, he is easy to work with. I could not recommend him more highly.” Jordan is also regularly praised by clients for his strong courtroom advocacy and deep expertise in securities litigations and class actions:“Jordan is impressive before the courts. He is straight to the point and his voice carries a lot of weight with the bench.” – Chambers USA“Jordan understands the CEO mentality with respect to securities actions and navigates the corporate politics of these matters with the same expertise with which he handles the legal case.” – Client“Jordan Eth is a superstar. He has actual trial experience – extremely rare in securities litigation. He is even-handed, calm and very direct. Very helpful in cutting through the noise with board members.” – Legal 500 USA A frequent speaker on securities litigation topics at events and conferences across the United States, Jordan actively participates in programs put on by The SEC Enforcement Forum, the Practising Law Institute, and the Stanford Directors’ College. During Winter Quarter 2012 and Spring Quarter 2017, Jordan taught “Modern Securities Fraud Litigation: Public and Private Enforcement” as an Adjunct at Stanford Law School. He has also authored dozens of articles on securities litigation and is an Executive Committee member on the Securities Litigation Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco.Jordan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Chief Judge Robert F. Peckham, United States District Court for the Northern District of California, from August 1985 through August 1986. From 1980 through 1982, he worked as an economist in Washington, D.C., first for the United States Department of Energy and then for the Budget Committee of the United States House of Representatives.

Jordan Eth

Tom Fileti is the co-head of the firm’s U.S. Real Estate Group. He represents a broad spectrum of clients in connection with investments in, and the financing, development, operation, and disposition of, real estate assets in California and throughout the United States. He has a track record of representing clients with substantial and complex transactions. In the recent words of clients, Tom is “one of the smartest and most thoughtful attorneys in the market today,” (Legal 500 US) and is “exceptionally thorough, deliberate, careful and thoughtful,” “fantastic at thorny transactions,” and a “strategic thinker” who “sees the implications of [client] decisions miles down the road and advises [clients] accordingly.” (Chambers USA)Tom’s practice emphasizes transactions involving REITs; acquisition and disposition of real estate assets, loans, and portfolios; real estate finance transactions and credit facilities of all types; matters involving the financing, acquisition, operation, and disposition of hotels and resorts; real estate joint ventures and other equity investments involving development projects, acquisitions, and portfolios; credit lease and master lease transactions involving corporate real estate assets and real estate aspects of mergers and acquisitions involving REIT's and other companies with deep real estate footprints; and workouts, restructurings, exercise of remedies and dispositions with respect to problem loans, troubled joint ventures, and other problem real estate investments. His practice involves all property types, including office, residential (multi-family, subdivisions, and condominiums), retail, hospitality, mixed-use, industrial, data centers and land development projects. Tom regularly represents financial institutions and other clients in connection with syndicated credit facilities; A/B notes and participation arrangements; mezzanine financing; and intercreditor and co-lender arrangements related to the financing of major real estate projects.Tom’s REIT practice includes such matters as representing REITs and contributors in connection with tax deferred roll-up transactions involving the receipt of common and custom-tailored preferred operating partnership units; representing clients selling projects to REITs in taxable transactions involving cash consideration or REIT securities; representing lenders providing financing to REITs for working capital and acquisition or development lines (including credit facilities in connection with REIT IPOs); and representing REITs or their counterparties in connection with joint ventures, purchase and sale transactions involving individual projects and portfolios, development projects, credit facilities, mortgage and mezzanine loan investments, and other matters.Tom is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Represented data center developer in connection with negotiation of construction contract for construction of first phase of data center complex pre-leased to a hyperscaler, with a guaranteed maximum price of $2 billion.</li><li>Represented participant in connection with its participation in separate $7 billion and $8 billion build-to-suit synthetic lease transactions involving the construction of data centers for a hyperscaler.</li><li>Represented technology fund investor in negotiation and diligence for purchase of data center platform for $27 billion. The platform owns and controls data centers in operation and leased primarily to hyperscalers, a significant number of data centers preleased and under development and thousands of acres for future development, and has financing in place in excess of $20 billion across multiple types of capital markets executions, including CMBS, ABS, project finance and credit facilities.</li></ul><ul><li>Represented administrative agent, arrangers, and lenders in connection with revolving line of credit and term loan facility aggregating $585 million provided to NTT DC REIT, a real estate investment trust listed on the Singapore stock exchange, in connection with its IPO. The credit facility is supported by the REIT’s assets, which consist of data centers located in the United States, Singapore and Europe. The facility includes an accordion feature, pursuant to which the borrower may request increases in the lenders’ commitments by up to $800 million. </li><li>Represented private equity fund in connection with the acquisition of a former automotive manufacturing facility in Ohio, and negotiation of construction contract for improvements to the site that will result in the transformation of the facility into a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility focused on the production of data center equipment. </li><li>Represented borrowers affiliated with GLP Pte. Ltd. in connection with several CMBS financing transactions (consisting of mortgage, senior mezzanine, and junior mezzanine financing tranches) aggregating in excess of $2.85 billion and secured by a total of 271 industrial and logistics properties located throughout the United States that were acquired from Industrial Income Trust through a merger transaction valued at $4.55 billion.</li><li>Represented Genentech, Inc. in connection with various lease financing transactions aggregating over $1.38 billion for the acquisition or construction of office buildings, pilot plants, and other manufacturing facilities. These transactions included a $520 million lease financing, the primary source of funding for which was a “single issuer” commercial paper program that was secured by condominium units created through the vertical subdivision of Genentech’s Vacaville, California, manufacturing campus.</li><li>Represented Boyd Gaming Corporation in connection with the real estate aspects of its acquisition of four Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. casinos/resorts for cash consideration of approximately $575 million in conjunction with Penn National Gaming, Inc.’s $2.8 billion acquisition of the balance of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.’s assets. This representation included the negotiation on behalf of Boyd Gaming Corporation, as lessee, of master lease agreements with real estate investment trust Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI) related to the land and real estate facilities associated with the casinos. </li><li>Represented Equity Residential in connection with its joint acquisition, with AvalonBay, of the assets of Archstone from Lehman Brothers, involving a valuation (including assumed indebtedness) in excess of $16 billion.</li><li>Represented UDR, Inc. in connection with a series of joint venture transactions with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, relating to the acquisition or development of multi-family assets in California, New York, Texas, and other locations valued in excess of $2 billion.</li><li>Represented UDR, Inc. in connection with an agreement by Home Properties, L.P. to contribute apartment projects in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area valued in excess of $900 million, in exchange for cash, assumption of debt, and limited partner interests in a “down-REIT” partnership that UDR formed and to which UDR contributed additional real estate projects having a value in excess of approximately $1.2 billion. This contribution transaction was part of an overall transaction among UDR, entities controlled by Lone Star Funds, Home Properties, L.P., and its general partner Home Properties, Inc., valued at approximately $7.6 billion, including associated property management and development management agreements.</li><li>Represented the general partner of 16 different real estate partnerships in connection with the contribution by that partner to a REIT’s operating partnership of its partnership interests in the partnerships, concurrently with the tender offer by the REIT for the partnership interests owned by all limited partners, in a transaction involving apartment projects valued at approximately $400 million.</li><li>Represented seller in connection with the sale of four Luxury Collection hotels to Starwood Lodging Trust for $350 million. Consideration for the transaction consisted in part of cash and in part of stock in Starwood Lodging Trust.</li><li>Represented luxury hotel developer Pontiac Land Group in connection with negotiation of joint venture and air rights lease with the Mayo Clinic for development of a luxury hotel on top of the premier building in the heart of Mayo Clinic’s Rochester, Minnesota, campus.</li><li>Represented a large asset management company in connection with the $144 million acquisition of a multifamily residential project and commercial project, each structured as separate condominium units within a mixed-use complex, in Bethesda, Maryland.</li><li>Represented a subsidiary of Mori Trust Co. Ltd. in connection with the $535 million sale of HQ@First, a three-building office park in San Jose, California, wholly leased to Micron Technologies, to a subsidiary of the KKR Real Estate Select Trust fund. Upon closing, this was the Bay Area’s largest office transaction in 2021. Our firm also represented Mori Trust Co. Ltd. in connection with its acquisition of this property in 2019, which was also the largest real estate transaction that year in Silicon Valley.</li><li>Represented Wells Fargo Bank as arranger and administrative agent in connection with $580 million in syndicated acquisition financing to a joint venture among affiliates of Douglas Emmett, Inc., Qatar Investment Authority, and Korea's National Pension Service in connection with the joint venture’s acquisition of a portfolio of office projects in the Westwood district of Los Angeles from affiliates of the Blackstone Group for $1.34 billion. Our firm also represented Wells Fargo in the $625 million refinancing of this loan in 2021.</li><li>Represented administrative agent, arrangers, and lenders in connection with revolving line of credit and term loan facility aggregating $750 million provided to Four Corners Operating Partnership, LP, the operating partnership of Four Corners Property Trust, in connection with its IPO and the spinoff and leaseback of real estate assets (consisting of 424 restaurant locations) by Darden Restaurants, Inc.</li><li>Represented administrative agent, arrangers, and lenders in connection with revolving line of credit and term loan facility aggregating $380 million provided to Prime US REIT, a real estate investment trust listed on the Singapore stock exchange, in connection with its IPO, secured by a pledge of ownership interests in subsidiaries that own office buildings located in major metropolitan areas of the United States and in connection with several exercises by the borrower of its accordion rights that increased the lenders’ commitments to $600 million.</li><li>Represented Hypothekenbank Frankfurt (formerly known as Eurohypo, A.G.) in connection with the disposition of portfolios of mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, and participation interests in mortgage and mezzanine loans, in separate transactions to Wells Fargo Bank, to a real estate opportunity fund sponsored by Blackstone, to a major money center bank, and to SunTrust Bank (now, Truist Bank). The aggregate consideration in connection with these dispositions exceeded $1.7 billion.</li><li>Represented administrative agent for senior lenders in connection with default by borrower on a $180 million construction loan for construction of luxury hotel in Paradise Valley, Arizona, appointment of receiver, forbearance agreement, foreclosure, inter-lender disputes, disputes with hotel manager related to performance guaranty payments due under hotel management agreement, evaluation of issues associated with bankruptcy of mezzanine lender (Lehman Brothers), and ultimate disposition of the project.</li><li>Represented co-arrangers and agents of senior construction loan for a $700+ million mixed‑use project in Flushing, Queens, in connection with structuring and documentation of solutions dealing with default by borrower; in connection with failure of mezzanine lender to fund its share of advances at the height of the financial crisis in 2009; in connection with litigation commenced by mezzanine lender against the administrative agent; in connection with litigation commenced by one of the senior lenders against the administrative agent; and in connection with several restructurings of the loan, sales of loan positions by lenders, and ultimate payment in full of the loan.</li></ul>

Thomas R. Fileti

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe title="Meet Washington, D.C. Senior Partner Rick Fischer" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/31XvoRyZXJc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="1" title="iframe"></iframe></div>Rick has nearly 50 years of experience advising banks, retailers, insurers, and other companies throughout the United States on the full range of financial services and payment system issues. His practice focuses on retail financial services with a special emphasis on privacy, data security, e-commerce, and financial services joint ventures, as well as compliance and enforcement matters involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, federal banking agencies, and the Federal Trade Commission.Rick has worked closely with clients on every major legislative and regulatory initiative affecting financial services and payment systems since the 1970s. He also has been successful in obtaining important legislative changes and regulatory clarifications relating to many retail banking and consumer lending issues.Ranked in U.S. News – Best Lawyers, The Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Chambers Global for his work in financial services and privacy and data security, Rick is ranked as a senior statesman, whose clients say, “Rick Fischer is the oracle on financial privacy law” (Chambers USA).

Rick Fischer

Senior Of Counsel

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

Matt Karlyn has 25 years of experience in working with companies in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, medical device, and technology industries on a wide range of commercial life sciences, licensing, and technology transactions. His clients range from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups, and he regularly advises companies on matters involving IP commercialization, complex collaboration transactions, licensing initiatives, subscription-based economics, and business transactions related to the procurement, development, commercialization, and use of technology and life sciences products. He has also worked with a number of clients on corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, as well as private equity and venture capital financing.Matt is ranked Band 1 by Chambers USA for Intellectual Property: Licensing in Massachusetts. Clients in Chambers describe Matt as: “accessible and engaged, and he is really focused on getting the right answer for us."<h4>Life Sciences</h4>Life sciences clients, including pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare companies, rely on Matt for his breadth of knowledge in licensing, collaboration, and commercialization strategies across a wide range of transactions designed to strengthen operations and maximize value. Matt’s clients come from sectors across the global economy and include emerging companies, privately held companies, and many of the world’s biggest brands.Matt has broad experience with commercial transactions and agreements in the life sciences space, including:<ul><li>Intellectual property and technology licenses</li><li>Collaboration and development transactions</li><li>Commercialization agreements</li><li>Supply and manufacturing transactions</li></ul><h4>Technology</h4>Matt regularly advises on the use of technology in business, pricing strategies, and market terms across a wide variety of technology transactions that benefit clients both large and small. He has extensive experience negotiating a wide range of transactions, including:<ul><li>Enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management licensing and implementation transactions</li><li>Cloud-based transactions including software-as-a-services, platform-as-a-service, and infrastructure-as-a-service.</li><li>Software licensing</li><li>Supply chain and procurement deals</li></ul>Additionally, Matt has worked on many of the largest outsourcing transactions in the United States, representing numerous Fortune 100 companies on information technology, business process, finance and accounting, facilities services, and other outsourcing transactions.Matt is a frequent author and speaker on topics pertaining to drafting and negotiating commercial technology, outsourcing, and licensing transactions. He has published over 25 articles (including chapters in two books), given over 175 presentations on licensing, technology, outsourcing, and data security, and is the co-author of A Guide to IT Contracting: Checklists, Tools, and Techniques.Matt is currently co-chair of the Legal and Regulatory policy group at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. He served as chair of the New England Chapter of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, and served for five years on the board of directors of Julie’s Family Learning Program, a wellness program for mothers and children in South Boston. Matt has also been elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Matt Karlyn

Jamie Levitt was managing partner of Morrison Foerster's New York office, head of its Litigation Department, and a former co-chair of the Securities Litigation, and Complex Litigation and Trial groups. She has represented public companies and their officers and directors in securities fraud actions, shareholder derivative suits, as well as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory investigations. She also has experience conducting and defending corporate internal investigations and advising board committees and individuals with respect to investigations.Jamie is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA in the New York: Commercial Litigation category, where clients noted that “she’s a force of nature, really thoughtful and a real leader” and “she is a phenomenal trial lawyer, she masters complex subjects quickly and can jump into court and handle them wonderfully.” She is also routinely recognized for her work in complex securities litigations by leading rankings publications including The Legal 500 US, where she is recommended in the Securities Litigation: Defense category.Jamie is also regularly recognized for being a leader both within the firm and in the legal industry more broadly. As a testament to Jamie’s impact as Managing Partner of the firm’s New York office, she received Corporate Counsel’s 2022 Managing Partner of the Year Award and was also recognized in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Report for Innovative Leadership that same year. Notably, Jamie also accepted The American Lawyer’s 2023 Corporate Purpose Award, which honors an organization that has defined and executed on an initiative or overall mission that supports the well-being and welfare of its members or other stakeholders. Jamie has also been repeatedly honored for her commitment to pro bono work and advancing women in law. Among her many commendations, Jamie has been honored by: Appleseed at their 2024 Pillars of Justice Event to celebrate her commitment to reproductive rights advocacy and public service; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest at their 2024 Annual Law & Society Awards Luncheon for playing in integral role in advancing efforts to achieve justice for all New Yorkers; New York State Bar Association at their 2023 Annual Meeting of the Women in Law Section for her dedication to advancing the professional development of women attorneys through their Kay Crawford Murray Award; and Crain’s New York Business, who named Jamie to their Notable Women in Law list in 2019, which recognizes leading female attorneys in New York who are furthering justice.Jamie serves on numerous boards and committees of public interest groups, including having served on the Board of the Federal Bar Council and as past chair of its Public Service Committee; Chair of the Board of The Cooper Union; executive vice president and past chair of the Board of Advocates for Children of New York, Inc.; past chair of the Board of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest; member of the Board of Counselors for Equal Justice Works; member of the Board of VisionSpring; past member of the Board of the Center for Reproductive Rights; and the Legal Advisory Board for Sanctuary for Families. Jamie also sat on Morrison Foerster’s Board of Directors and its Governance Committee; was a former chair of Morrison Foerster’s Pro Bono Committee; and currently serves as chair of The Morrison Foerster Foundation.Jamie received her B.A. magna cum laude in 1988 from the University of Pennsylvania and her J.D. in 1992 from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an Articles Editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. From 1993 to 1994, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nathaniel M. Gorton, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.

Jamie Levitt

Ann Lilienthal is a partner of Morrison Foerster in the Agency Finance and Finance Groups, based in Washington, D.C. Ann focuses on international financing transactions and represents lenders (including development finance institutions, export credit agencies, multilateral institutions, and commercial banks) in connection with the development and financing of projects in a variety of sectors, including energy and infrastructure.Ann’s practice focuses on complex international and cross-border project financing transactions in emerging markets worldwide, with a particular focus on Latin America, Central and South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.Her experience includes advising development finance institutions, multilateral agencies, regional development banks, and export credit agencies in their funding of essential infrastructure projects in developing countries.Her practice spans multiple sectors, including:<ul><li>Energy, including solar, wind, and other types of renewable energy</li><li>Financial services</li><li>Housing</li><li>Education</li><li>Hospitality</li><li>Manufacturing</li><li>Microfinance</li><li>Mining</li><li>Petrochemicals</li><li>Telecommunications</li><li>Transportation</li></ul>Ann earned her J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she served as a Legal Writing Instructor and also Associate Editor for the Journal of International Law. She received her B.A. in International Economics, summa cum laude, from American University of Paris.Ann speaks Spanish and French.

Ann Lilienthal

Susan (“Suz”) co-chairs the Sustainability + Corporate Responsibility and Social Enterprise + Impact Investing practices. Her practice focuses on late-stage financings, secondaries, and other corporate transactions for investors, such as SoftBank and Temasek, and on investments for some of the top investors dedicated to impact, from “impact first” foundations to family offices to private equity funds. She co-led the drafting group for the first of the new corporate forms (the Social Purpose Corporation in California), has created hybrid/tandem corporate structures and crafted debt and equity instruments that blend impact with traditional financial terms, and has used corporate law to develop creative capital market solutions to pressing environmental problems. She also advises the boards of public and private companies on corporate governance and fiduciary duties as applied to sustainability and climate change.She was named a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) in 2012 and 2016 by Daily Journal and the Most Innovative Lawyer in North America in 2015 by the Financial Times.Leading Business AdvisorA powerhouse negotiator, clients note that “you cannot get a better corporate counsel” and that Suz “understands the big picture, could not be more responsive, and understands the business” (The Legal 500 US). She has extensive experience providing corporate and finance advice to companies and investors in connection with growth equity financings and secondaries, with particular experience in late-stage investments that have come to rival traditional strategic acquisitions in size and significance. Her experience includes leading some of the highest-profile late-stage investments over the past few years, including notable transactions for SoftBank Group (in the two largest private tender offers in history) in its $7.7 billion investment in Uber, $4.4 billion investment in WeWork, further $10 billion investment in WeWork, $1 billion investment in SoFi, and $250 million investment in Kabbage. She has also advised Temasek on its $800 million investment in Verily Life Sciences, Intel on its equity investment in Cloudera, and each of Fortress, TPG Rise, Vision Ridge Partners, Generation Investment Management, and Pontifax AgTech in numerous mid- to late-stage investments in clean technology, sustainability, education, food, and agriculture technology.Social Enterprise and Impact InvestingSuz is the go-to legal resource for social enterprises (for-profit and non-profit companies focused on social or environmental purpose), impact investors (investors interested in social or environmental returns), and mainstream companies developing environmental, social, and corporate governance policies. With deep expertise in the impact investing model, institutional investors exploring the space turn to her for creative solutions and her ability to structure both investments and companies to emphasize impact and returns.She represents a wide range of investors who are focused on impact, from foundations like the Gates Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and The Rockefeller Foundation, to family offices like Armonia, Cornerstone Capital, Emerson Collective, New Island Capital, and Omidyar Network, to private equity funds like Goldman Sachs, TPG Rise, Vision Ridge Partners, and Generation Investment Management, in their equity investments in companies and projects that are focused on generating impact and returns for investors. She has deep experience and expertise ensuring energy, sustainability, and other investments have positive impact through the use of new corporate forms, hybrid or “tandem” structures with non-profits and for-profits, and alternative debt and equity instruments.Notable work in this space includes the establishment of a tandem structure, The Carbon Endowment, to retire coal assets at scale while securing a revenue stream for community reinvestment and job training in coal communities. Suz also advised on the structuring of Common Sense Growth as an extension of the non-profit Common Sense Media (to invest in companies that address issues related to children, education, and technology), the establishment of a fund for TPG Rise to provide debt financing to Echoing Green fellows, the spin-out of PRX from Public Radio International (to generate new revenue flows up to the non-profit), the establishment of a for-profit joint venture with non-profit Medicines360 (to allow the non-profit to distribute its healthcare products to women in the developing world), and the structuring of a for-profit evergreen fund that allows The Nature Conservancy to aggregate return-seeking and donor capital in order to invest in preserving our natural resources. She has also advised numerous clients on converting to a public benefit corporation or social purpose corporation model (which requires balancing traditional fiduciary duties against a social or environmental purpose), including This American Life, Revolution Foods, Rise Labs, and Beneficial State Bancorp.Suz also regularly advises boards of directors of private and public companies, special committees, and CEOs on corporate governance, particularly the intersection of fiduciary duties with sustainability, and focuses on environmental, social, and governance issues.Unmatched Cleantech and Renewable Energy ExperienceIn addition to founding and chairing the firm’s Social Enterprise and Impact Investing Group, Suz serves as Chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Energy Group and has extensive experience representing start-up to late stage private companies in the clean technology or sustainability space. She provides corporate and finance advice in connection with equity and debt financings, mergers, acquisitions, asset purchases and sales, reorganizations, and joint ventures. She has experience working with renewable energy start-up companies and renewable energy developers in the solar, wind, and biofuels industries. Suz has assisted renewable energy start up companies with raising venture capital and has advised renewable energy developers on project acquisitions.Suz’s representative renewable energy, cleantech, sustainable, and social enterprise clients include Anaergia, Change.org, EDF Renewables, E.ON, Etsy, First Look, OneSun, Planet Labs, Rising Sun Energy, RSF Social Finance, SustainBio, Trelys, Inc., Wikipedia, and Xpansiv.Board Activity and Thought LeadershipMs. Mac Cormac was a founding board member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), is a member of the board of directors of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), the Ceres President’s Council, and the Earth Genome Project, and is an advising board member of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy’s Strategic Investor Initiative.She has joined the faculty (teaching on the intersection of sustainability and fiduciary duties) at both the Stanford Director’s College and the Northwestern Corporate Counsel Institute and is an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley School of Law, teaching a course on Social Enterprise.

Susan Mac Cormac

Deanne Maynard, a Partner in Morrison Foerster’s Appellate and Supreme Court practice, is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading appellate advocates. She has argued 14 cases before the United States Supreme Court and more than 75 times in appellate courts across the country.In ranking Deanne in Band 1, Chambers USA reports that she is described as a “magnificent and top-notch lawyer” who is “wicked smart.” She is “extremely thoughtful, even-keeled and has a wonderful presence in the courtroom.” Legal 500 calls Deanne “one of the finest advocates in the Supreme Court bar,” remarking that “if she is on your team, great. If she’s on the other side, be ready.”Deanne’s winning Supreme Court arguments involve a wide range of issues and industries, including life sciences (Sandoz v. Amgen), intellectual property (MedImmune v. Genentech), antitrust (Pacific Bell v. linkLine), financial services (Ransom v. FIA Card Services), and bankruptcy (RadLAX v. Amalgamated Bank). In Sandoz v. Amgen, the Supreme Court ruled for her client in a closely watched case involving the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, which provides an approval path for biosimilars. Law360 named Deanne to its exclusive list of <a href="http://media2.mofo.com/documents/171212-mvp-deanne-maynard.pdf" target="_blank">Appellate MVPs</a> for this “big victory,” dubbing her a “Legal Lion” three separate times for her work on appeals in this case. LMG Life Sciences also named Deanne Appellate Litigator of the Year.Deanne argues complex, high stakes cases in courts of appeals nationwide. Clients turn to Deanne for crisp, clear briefs and exceptional oral advocacy. Her appellate wins run a gamut of issues from arbitration to antitrust, class actions to contracts, copyright to Commerce Clause, infringement to invalidity, and securities law to statutory interpretation. Clients praise her as “an incredible oral advocate, very prepared and formidable” (Chambers USA), and “a tireless advocate with sterling client skills” (Legal 500).Deanne has particular experience in the Federal and Ninth Circuits. She has argued more than 45 appeals in the Federal Circuit, including wins for both patentees and defendants on a wide range of technologies. Chambers USA ranked Deanne in Band 1 for Intellectual Property Appeals, describing her as “renowned for her track record in bet-the-company disputes.” She also serves as Chair of the Federal Circuit’s Advisory Council, which is a conduit between the Court and the public. In the Ninth Circuit, her many wins include a decision from the en banc Court holding large parts of a California statute unconstitutional as well as a panel decision vacating a $60 million jury verdict.Deanne is annually recommended as a leading lawyer by Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Legal 500 US, and Best Lawyers in America. She is Immediate Past-President of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, an invitation-only organization recognizing distinguished appellate lawyers. Deanne is also a Master in, and Past President of, the Coke Appellate Inn of Court.Deanne is a leader within Morrison Foerster as well, chairing its partner compensation committee and serving on the firm’s leadership team.Before joining the firm, Deanne served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice for five years. She previously was a partner at another major law firm.After law school, Deanne clerked two Terms on the United States Supreme Court, one for Justice Stephen Breyer and another for Justice Lewis Powell (Ret.) and Justice John Paul Stevens. Before that, Deanne clerked two years for Judge Stanley Harris on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.Deanne graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She earned a B.A. in English, with distinction, from the University of Virginia.<h4>Supreme Court Arguments</h4><ul><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/170426-sandoz-v-amgen" target="_self">Sandoz v. Amgen</a> (00:17): Involving the Supreme Court’s first foray into the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/120423-radlax-v-amalgamated-bank" target="_self">RadLAX v. Amalgamated Bank</a> (25:46): Whether a debtor can sell a secured asset free and clear without permitting the lienholder to credit-bid</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/081208-pacific-bell-v-linkline" target="_self">Pacific Bell v. linkLine</a> (18:38): Whether Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act permits a price squeeze claim in the absence of a duty to deal</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/061004-medimmune-v-genentech" target="_self">MedImmune v. Genentech</a> (17:38): Whether a patent licensee must breach a license agreement before seeking a declaration of patent invalidity</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/101004-ransom-v-fia-card-services" target="_self">Ransom v. FIA Card Services</a> (26:34): Involving when a debtor without lease payments may take a car-ownership deduction</li><li>EC Term of Years Trust v. U.S.: Whether the federal tax code relegates a trust to a wrongful levy action as its exclusive remedy</li><li>Marshall v. Marshall: Involving the scope of the probate exception to federal jurisdiction</li><li>U.S. v. Olson: Involving the federal government’s sovereign immunity under the Federal Tort Claims Act</li><li>Wilkinson v. Austin: Whether the procedures governing placement of prisoners in supermax prison satisfied due process</li><li>Greenlaw v. U.S.: Involving the power of the court of appeals in the absence of a cross-appeal</li><li>Dean v. U.S.: Whether the accidental discharge of a firearm during a robbery results in a mandatory minimum prison term</li><li>Carcieri v. Salazar: Involving the Secretary of the Interior’s authority to take land into trust for Indians</li><li>Boulware v. U.S.: Whether a profitless corporation’s diversion of funds to a shareholder was nontaxable</li><li>Watson v. U.S.: Whether trading drugs for a firearm was “using” a firearm “during and in relation” to a drug trafficking crime</li></ul><h4>Representative Appellate Arguments</h4><ul><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/241113-novartis-v-torrent" target="_self">Novartis v. Torrent</a> (00:00) (Fed. Cir.): Revived the validity of Novartis’s foundational patent protecting its blockbuster drug Entresto®</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/231207-lynwood-investments-cy-limited-v-maxim-konovalov" target="_self">Lynwood Investments v. Konovalov</a> (16:43) (9th Cir.): Successfully defended dismissal of the vast majority of claims against F5 Network</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/210903-in-re-cirba" target="_self">In re Cirba</a> (25:53) (Fed. Cir.): Successfully defeated attempt to revive a jury’s patent infringement verdict against VMware</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/170426-phigenix-v-genentech" target="_self">Phigenix v. Genentech </a>(11:21) (Fed. Cir.): Secured noninfringement judgment for Genentech</li></ul><ul><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/181018-zabriskie-v-fannie-mae" target="_self">Zabriskie v. Fannie Mae</a> <a href="http://youtu.be/Cz_Hp0VIkYs">(Video)</a> (0:00) (9th Cir.): Won reversal for Fannie Mae of a Fair Credit Reporting Act judgment</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/161108-washington-university-v-wisconsin-alumni" target="_self">Washington University v. Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation</a> (0:42) (3d Cir.): Obtained reversal for Washington University in suit for royalties due under contract with WARF</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/191202-nevro-v-boston-scientific" target="_self">Nevro v. Boston Scientific</a> (00:10) (Fed. Cir.): Won reversal of district court judgment of invalidity for indefiniteness</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/180514-aviation-v-huerta" target="_self">National Business Aviation Assoc. v. Huerta</a> (28:34) (D.C. Cir.): Successfully defended the City of Santa Monica against a challenge to its settlement with the FAA about its municipal airport</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/200601-cr-bard-v-angiodynamics" target="_self">C.R. Bard v. Angiodynamics</a> (00:29) (Fed. Cir.): Won reversal of district court judgment of noninfringement, no willfulness, and invalidity, reviving client’s infringement case on three patents</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/190409-flores-v-ups" target="_self">Flores v. UPS & Pocino Foods v. UPS (Consolidated)</a> (<a href="http://youtu.be/eas0RAExOME" target="_blank">Video</a>) (13:43) (9th Cir.): Secured judgment for UPS on two putative RICO and breach-of-contract class actions about its Next Day Air services</li><li>Residential Capital v. Federal Housing Finance Agency (2d Cir.): Successfully obtained a remand in a case stemming from the ResCap bankruptcy</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/171005-basf-argument" target="_self">BASF v. Johnson Matthey</a> (0:17) (Fed. Cir.): Won reversal of an invalidity ruling against patentee BASF, reviving its patent claims</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/190419-holl-v-us-district-court" target="_self">Holl v. U.S. District Court</a> (<a href="https://youtu.be/ilT3hbMCTQ0" target="_blank">Video</a>) (13:32) (9th Cir.): Defeated a mandamus petition against UPS, successfully defending its arbitration provision containing a class-action waiver</li><li>Interactive Digital Software Association v. St. Louis County, Missouri (8th Cir.): Successfully argued a First Amendment challenge to an ordinance regulating video games</li><li>In Re: Tremont Securities Law (2d Cir.): Secured dismissal for a major accounting firm of a putative class action regarding a Madoff-related fund</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/141216-estate-of-graham-v-sothebys" target="_self">Estate of Graham v. Sotheby’s</a> (30:46) (9th Cir.) (en banc): Won invalidation under the Commerce Clause of parts of a California artist resale royalty law</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/111206-atm-fee-antitrust-litigation" target="_self">In re ATM Fee Antitrust Litigation</a> (17:20) (9th Cir.): Prevailed in a putative nationwide antitrust class action against one of the largest U.S. ATM networks</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/131205-augme-technologies-v-yahoo" target="_self">Augme Technologies v. Yahoo!</a> (21:49) (Fed. Cir.): Secured a noninfringement judgment for Yahoo! in a suit involving Internet display advertising</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/170830-lummi-nation-argument" target="_self">Lower Elwha Klallam Indian Tribe v. Lummi Nation</a> (<a href="http://youtu.be/OILs47RhSjM" target="_blank">Video</a>) (00:03) (9th Cir.): Won a reversal for the Lummi Nation, reclaiming its historic treaty rights</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/141201-warsaw-orthopedic-v-nuvasive" target="_self">Warsaw Orthopedic v. NuVasive</a> (17:44) (Fed. Cir.): Obtained vacatur of a jury’s $101 million patent damages award</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/150504-momenta-v-amphastar" target="_self">Momenta v. Amphastar</a> (02:55) (Fed. Cir.): Successfully argued for a patentee that conduct was unprotected by the Hatch-Waxman Act safe harbor</li><li><a href="/resources/video-audio/120605-neurovision-medical-products-v-nuvasive" target="_self">Neurovision Medical Products v. NuVasive</a> (00:00) (9th Cir.): Obtained vacatur of a jury’s $60 million trademark verdict</li></ul>

Deanne E. Maynard

Kevin is former Co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s Government Contracts & Public Procurement practice. Kevin has broad experience in numerous facets of government contracts matters including agency procurements, subcontracting, teaming and joint venture relationships, contract performance issues, intellectual property, compliance matters, due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, and procurement fraud matters. He represents clients in the preparation and litigation of contract adjustment claims and terminations for both government contracts and construction projects. Over the course of his 35-year career, Kevin has handled more than 300 bid protest cases, representing both protesters and contract awardees before the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, federal district courts, and state protest forums.Kevin is active in the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association, where he has served as a Co-Chair of the Contract Claims and Disputes Resolution Committee and the Bid Protest Committee, and a Vice-Chair of the Acquisition Reform and Emerging Issues Committee, as well as a member of the Section’s Council and its Interim Membership Director. He also served on the Board of Governors of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims Bar Association. Kevin is an adjunct professor of government contract law at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville, Virginia.Kevin has been recognized by Chambers & Partners USA and Legal 500 US as one of the leading lawyers nationwide in the area of Government Contracts and has been named a “Top Washington Lawyer” in Government Contracts Law by Washingtonian magazine. Since 2010, Chambers & Partners USA has placed Kevin on the short list of National Tier One Government Contracts lawyers and, since 2020, Chambers has included him in its Bid Protest Spotlight table. He was named to the BTI Consulting Group’s “Client Service All-Stars 2016” list, a registry of 354 of the legal profession’s client service elite.Kevin received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1988 and his B.A. from the University of Virginia in 1984. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and the state of Georgia, and before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Kevin Mullen

Brendan Murphy represents manufacturers and sellers in complex product liability and commercial litigation in the United States and in cross-border matters. His practice focuses on defending technology and consumer products companies at all stages of product liability and commercial litigation. He has served as long-time product liability national coordinating counsel for one of the largest companies in the world. He focuses on strategic thinking, innovative approaches to resolving disputes, and building novel defenses. He created and has advocated the “marketplace defense” at all stages of litigation, including in multiple state Supreme Courts and the en banc Third Circuit. In addition to litigation, Brendan counsels manufacturers, importers, and sellers on product safety and regulatory compliance, including matters before the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). His advisory work includes guidance on reporting obligations, recalls, and risk management, as well as providing training on product liability exposure, and CPSC compliance. He also advises clients on commercial contracts and indemnity provisions with an eye toward mitigating product-related risk. Brendan’s experience includes serving as a special deputy prosecutor in King County, Washington, where he tried felony cases to jury verdict. Brendan has received recognition from Chambers USA and The Legal 500 for his product liability defense and regulatory work. He has also been named as a Washington Rising Star by Washington Law & Politics. <h4>Representative Experience </h4><ul><li>Manufacturers. Served as appellate counsel in state and federal courts, obtaining favorable rulings for manufacturers in product liability and workplace injury cases. </li><li>Third-Party Sellers in Online Marketplaces. Argued and obtained unanimous and majority rulings in the Ohio and Texas Supreme Courts on the scope of liability for third-party sellers in online marketplaces. </li><li>Manufacturers, Importers, and Sellers. Represented manufacturers, importers, and sellers in CPSC investigations, reporting matters, and recalls. </li><li>Helicopter Engine Manufacturer. Represented a helicopter engine manufacturer in an international arbitration in Montreal, obtaining judgment on product defect claims and contractual indemnity and insurance provisions. </li><li>Aviation Manufacturers. Defended aviation manufacturers in hull loss and product liability litigation, securing dismissals under the economic loss rule and affirmance on appeal. </li><li>Fuel Control Manufacturer. Obtained summary judgment under the General Aviation Revitalization Act for a fuel control manufacturer in wrongful death litigation. </li></ul><ul><li>Automotive Manufacturers. Secured defense verdicts for automotive manufacturers in jury trials and arbitrations involving breach of warranty and negligence claims. </li><li>Commercial Property Lessor. Successfully challenged state right-of-way fees on behalf of a commercial property lessor, obtaining summary judgment and a trial victory.</li></ul>

Brendan Murphy

Julie Park is the practice group chair of Morrison Foerster’s Complex Litigation + Advisement practice group and managing partner of the San Diego office.Julie protects her clients’ products throughout the product life cycle. Drawing on her deep technical and legal experience, she counsels clients on consumer product safety regulation and pharmaceutical and medical device preemption. She manages complex and multijurisdictional litigation both in state and federal court and also guides clients through product recalls.Clients appreciate Julie’s ability to assess both the practical business implications and legal impact of a matter. They also value the way she recommends solutions that meet their objectives.Julie is committed to providing thought leadership for her clients. She is an editor of, and frequent contributor to, MoFo’s <a href="http://classdismissed.mofo.com/" target="_blank">Class Dismissed</a> blog, where she provides insights on class-action and product–related issues affecting companies in the consumer arena. She has been recognized for her writing as a top author in the JD Supra Readers’ Choice Awards, 2016–2019.Julie is also committed to pro bono service and diversity in the legal profession. While at Harvard Law School, she worked at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services. She has continued her pro bono work at MoFo, which has resulted in her being a regular recipient of the Wiley W. Manuel Award from the California State Bar for pro bono contributions. She co-chairs the firm’s Women’s Strategy Committee and has served on the Associates Steering Committee of Athena San Diego, an organization that promotes professional growth for women executives and rising managers in science and technology.Julie brings an industry perspective to her work with MoFo. Before going to law school, she was a medicinal chemist at Pfizer, where she researched cancer drugs.Beyond her impressive legal work, Julie has a life in the arts. She is a professional-level violinist who performs with chamber music groups in the San Diego area and has played with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra, and La Jolla Symphony.

Julie Park

Chair of Complex Litigation + Advisement

Catherine Polizzi, known as a pioneer in Patent Prosecution + Strategy law, is a deeply experienced lawyer who is highly regarded by clients and competitors alike. Her intellectual versatility combined with incisive, pragmatic counseling and business acumen is the hallmark of her practice. Catherine has the unique experience of working with both startups and emerging companies as well as well‑known, established global companies through the challenging process of obtaining patents and provides strategic, effective portfolio counseling and management, as well as strategic advice surrounding freedom of operation and other forms of IP assessment. She develops valuable, strategic portfolios around breakthrough therapies in a variety of areas, including cancer, cancer immunotherapy, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.She also has significant experience in a wide spectrum of technology areas, including biologics such as antibodies and polypeptides; nucleic acids; precision medicine including precision oncology; diagnostics; cell therapy including T cell and NK cell technologies, such as chimeric antigen receptors; drug formulation technologies; drug delivery technologies such as nanotechnologies; therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines; microfluidics; drug screening systems; AI solutions for life sciences including drug discovery and development platforms; polynucleotide therapeutics such as siRNA; amplification and detection technologies; genetic screening; sequencing technologies including next-generation sequencing; regenerative medicine; spectroscopy; surgical imaging technologies; and organic chemistry including small molecule drugs.Catherine’s unique background, ability to integrate IP with a given business model to translate into meaningful valuation, risk assessment and advice, and highly effective communication skills in critical settings, such as R&D, all phases of product development, and investment contexts, enable her to provide effective, creative solutions to the significant challenges often faced by clients. Catherine is an acquisition and value enhancement driver as well, a critical conduit for companies as they grow from startup through IPO, exit, and beyond.IP Leadership for Transactions, Financings, and Acquisitions. Catherine’s practice also includes due diligence evaluation and counseling in the context of venture investment assessments and in connection with public and private financing, spin‑offs, partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions, where her IP strategies have helped drive the value of multibillion-dollar deals.Strategist in Legal Challenges and a Key Member of Litigation Teams. In addition to helping create value and commercialize her clients’ technologies, Catherine devises strategies and defenses to fortify their patents in the event of legal challenges by competitors. She renders advice on all aspects of patent positioning, including opinions on patentability, validity, freedom of operation, infringement, and competitor IP evaluation. She also works in the area of third-party challenges, such as inter partes review (IPR) and oppositions.A Recognized Leader. Catherine formerly served as the chair of the firm’s Patent Prosecution & Counseling Group and co-chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Group. Chambers USA noted that Catherine “maintains a strong reputation for her capabilities advising biotechnology clients on portfolio management and other IP matters,” while clients note that she is “a great strategic thinker, great at flagging the high-level questions and brings a good business perspective” and praise her for “bring[ing] a good business perspective to IP efforts which is not always evident with other IP attorneys.” Catherine has also received many awards and accolades throughout her career, including the following:<ul><li>Ranked in four different Chambers categories for IP and Life Sciences 2011–2025</li><li>Recognized as a Hall of Fame lawyer by LMG Life Sciences for Patent Prosecution and Patent Strategy & Management since 2018</li><li>Recognized as Patent Star by Managing IP for 2025</li><li>Recommended as a leading lawyer by The Legal 500 U.S. for 2012–2024</li><li>Recognized among World’s Leading Patent Practitioners by IAM Patent 1000 for 2014–2024</li><li>Recognized as a Best Lawyer in Biotechnology and Life Sciences by Best Lawyers for 2023 and 2024</li><li>Selected as one of the Top 100 Intellectual Property Lawyers in California by The Daily Journal for 2009–2022</li></ul><h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Genentech, the world’s first and most successful biotechnology company, has relied on Catherine’s strategic patent counseling and prosecution services for its most difficult and challenging patent matters for nearly 15 years. Her work involves developing overall patent strategy, patent application drafting, and prosecution for key technologies. Her high-value work for Genentech also includes strategic assessment of key and novel technologies, as well as patent litigation support and advisement.</li><li>10x Genomics, a biotechnology company developing forefront gene sequencing technology used in scientific research, turns to Catherine to serve as lead patent counsel related to in situ and spatial assay platforms for cellular and subcellular identification of cell and biomarker diversity in tissues, including gene expression, gene sequencing, RNA profiling, and related reagents, panels, hardware, and software analysis tools.</li><li>Codexis, a biotechnology company that specializes in enzyme engineering, focusing on improving sustainability and cost-efficiency of manufacturing in the pharmaceutical industry, including in the manufacture of oligonucleotides and small molecule drugs, relies on Catherine for developing Codexis’s complex IP strategy. She has provided critical advice in management of their intellectual property portfolio, including strategic consideration of patent application filings, and patent risks to their planned commercial operations, including freedom to operate.</li><li>Juno Therapeutics has relied on Catherine for patent strategy and prosecution from its very beginning. Juno is one of the best-funded startups in biotechnology history. It went on to become a publicly traded company in 2014 and ultimately was acquired by Celgene in 2018 for $9 billion; the strength of the patent portfolio that Catherine crafted helped drive the valuation for the deal. She led the IP team on the acquisition.</li><li>Celgene calls on Catherine for its patent strategy, drafting, and IP due diligence matters. She worked with Abraxis BioScience for many years in a similar capacity to help develop their IP position for the highly successful cancer drug, Abraxane. Catherine then counseled the company through its $2.9 billion acquisition by Celgene Corporation, including providing significant IP strategy and due diligence counseling. This IP platform was a major component of the valuation of the company.</li><li>Dewpoint Therapeutics engaged Catherine to lead its patent strategy from the very beginning. Dewpoint is on the cutting edge of drug discovery, with technology relating to condensate biology, a new and paradigm‑shift area of drug development. Catherine led the IP strategy and due diligence for its partnership with Bayer to research new treatments for cardiovascular and gynecological diseases. The work that Dewpoint is doing is seen as a significant move forward in the biopharma industry and opens the door to many potential new discoveries in biology through biomolecular condensates. For example, in January 2021, Dewpoint teamed up with Pfizer to develop new treatments for a rare kind of muscular dystrophy. In July 2020, Dewpoint announced its collaboration with Merck to evaluate a novel approach for the treatment of HIV.</li><li>Frontier Medicines, a clinical-stage precision medicine company advancing treatments for genetically defined patient populations in oncology and immunology, has entrusted all aspects of patent strategy and portfolio development for its pipeline of small molecule therapeutics to Catherine.</li><li>Insitro, a multibillion-dollar startup pharmaceutical drug company, turned to Catherine to develop its global IP strategy. The company is at the forefront of advancing AI and data-driven drug discovery and development, and trusted Catherine to manage the company’s portfolio.</li><li>Sonoma Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing cell therapies that use engineered regulatory T cell therapies to treat serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, called on Catherine to direct its patent strategy and development.</li><li>Additional representative clients include clinical-stage and startup companies, such Aimmune Therapeutics, Alpine Immune Sciences, Botanical Solution, Cartography Biosciences, CohBar, Corner Therapeutics, Cytokinetics, Dynavax Technologies, Enveda Therapeutics, Frazier Life Sciences, GOA Therapeutics, Immunome, Indapta Therapeutics, Larkspur Biosciences, Lyndra Therapeutics, Maze Therapeutics, Myst Therapeutics, Nanoprobes, Ollin Biosciences, Passkey Therapeutics, Prelude Therapeutics, Sana Biotechnology, Sangamo Therapeutics, Seagen (formerly Seattle Genetics), Sirenas, Syntis Bio, Tacit Therapeutics, TARIS Biomedical, The Immune Co., Turnstone Biologics, and Volastra Therapeutics.</li></ul><h5>Aided by Catherine’s leadership and guidance developing IP protection for high-value technology, the following companies were involved in the following high-value transactions:</h5><ul><li>The $4.9 billion cash acquisition of client Alpine Immune Science by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.</li><li>Alpine Immune Sciences’ $48 million Series A financing and subsequent $90 million merger with Nivalis Therapeutics, resulting in a publicly traded company, as well as Alpine Immune Sciences’ $91 million private placement.</li><li>The $2.6 billion acquisition of client Aimmune Therapeutics by Nestlé Health Science.</li><li>The $74 billion acquisition of Celgene Corporation by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS).</li><li>The $1.1 billion development collaboration with BMS on behalf of Volastra Therapeutics, which was recognized as one of the most promising early-stage biotechnology companies in the industry by Fierce Biotech’s 2022 Fierce 15, to discover, develop, and commercialize new oncology medicines.</li><li>Celgene Corporation’s $9 billion acquisition of client Juno Therapeutics and earlier $2.9 billion acquisition of client Abraxis BioScience.</li><li>Dewpoint Therapeutics’ $239 million collaboration with Pfizer for the development of new treatments for a rare kind of muscular dystrophy, the $305 million collaboration with Merck on a novel approach for the treatment of HIV, and the up-to-$100 million partnership with Bayer to research new treatments for cardiovascular and gynecological diseases.</li><li>Dewpoint Therapeutics’ partnership with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, with a deal value up to $480 million and $150 million Series C financing, $77 million Series B financing, and $60 million Series A financing.</li><li>Enveda Therapeutics Inc.’s $130 million raised in Series C financing.</li><li>Frontier Medicines’ $55 million collaboration with AbbVie to develop molecules against hard-to-drug targets.</li><li>Frontier Medicines’ $80 million Series C financing, $88.5 million Series B financing, and Series A Preferred Stock financing of $67 million.</li><li>Indapta Therapeutics’ $22.5 million financing to advance clinical trials of innovative cancer and autoimmune treatments and $50 million Series A financing.</li><li>Johnson & Johnson’s acquisition of TARIS Biomedical, with a focus on transforming the treatment of bladder cancer.</li><li>Lyndra Therapeutics’ $60.5 million Series C financing and $55 million Series B financing.</li><li>Myriad Genetics’ $375 million acquisition of Counsyl, Inc.</li><li>Syntis Bio’s $33 million Series A financing.</li><li>Sonoma Biotherapeutics’ collaboration with Regeneron worth over $100 million.</li><li>The $14 billion acquisition of client Medivation by Pfizer, as well as the previous $225 million Pfizer investment in Medivation.</li><li>The $43 billion acquisition of client Seagen by Pfizer.</li><li>Turnstone Biologics’ acquisition of Myst Therapeutics.</li></ul>

Catherine Polizzi

Mr. Schwartz concentrates his practice on the representation of companies in business transactions and counseling involving intellectual property and technology, including licensing, development agreements, distribution and commercialization activities, joint ventures, outsourcing, and other services arrangements. He was the founding co-head of Morrison & Foerster’s Intellectual Property Group and has served as the firm’s managing partner.Mr. Schwartz is particularly active on transactional and counseling matters relating to computers (including hardware and both open source and proprietary software), communications equipment (including smartphones and other wireless communications devices, internet television, satellites, and other communications infrastructure), semiconductors and other electronic devices, electronic commerce, and other advanced information technology. He has represented clients such as Accenture, Altera, Autodesk, Mozilla, Netflix, Palo Alto Networks, Panasonic, Red Hat, Softbank, Sprint Nextel, Visa, Whirlpool, VMware, and Yahoo, among others.Mr. Schwartz is a frequent presenter on information technology and intellectual property issues. For example, he has lectured in the MBA program at Oxford University, and was a visiting fellow of Oxford’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. He also served as an adjunct instructor at Stanford Law School and lectured at the University of California (Boalt Hall) School of Law, University of Southern California Computer Law Institute, Licensing Executives Society, and American Intellectual Property Law Association.Mr. Schwartz received his B.A. degree, with high honors, from Amherst College in 1976. He studied Japanese language and history from 1976 to 1977 at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, and then worked in Tokyo and Hong Kong as a reporter and editor for the Asian edition of The Wall Street Journal from 1977 to 1980. He received his J.D. degree, with honors, in 1983 from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of The University of Chicago Law Review. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to Judge John D. Butzner, Jr., United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He joined Morrison & Foerster in 1984 and became a partner of the firm in 1990.Representative Matters<div id="scoped-content"><ul><li>Autodesk in the technology and intellectual property aspects of various transactions.</li><li>Dexcom, a San Diego-based medical device manufacturer that markets a continuous glucose monitoring device for use by people with diabetes, in a patent licensing agreement with Abbott.</li><li>SoftBank on intellectual property aspects of its $1 billion investment in OneWeb for low Earth orbit satellites to provide global broadband access.</li><li>Palo Alto Networks in its patent cross-license with Juniper Networks relating to (among other things) network security technology. </li><li>Panasonic in its disputes and settlements with Qualcomm regarding patents relating to mobile communications equipment. </li><li>Qwest in a variety of intellectual property and information technology matters, including the intellectual property and technology aspects of Qwest’s sale of its Dex directory publishing business in a $7.05 billion leveraged buyout, Qwest’s agreements with IBM and Hewlett-Packard for the establishment and outsourcing of Internet services facilities, and Qwest’s strategic relationship with BellSouth. </li><li>Red Hat in its agreement with Microsoft for offering Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing infrastructure.</li><li>Sprint Nextel in its agreements with Qualcomm and other companies in connection with the development, licensing and deployment of technology for the next generation of Sprint Nextel’s wireless telecommunications services. </li><li>SUSE (formerly Novell) in the formation of Open Invention Network, a company formed by SUSE, IBM, Philips, Red Hat, Sony, NEC and Google to promote the Linux operating system by using an innovative model for patents and in SUSE’s dispute with The SCO Group concerning Unix-related copyrights. </li><li>Visa in its agreement with a major investment bank to establish a customized payments platform to provide differentiated experiences for merchants and cardholders.</li><li>VMware and its AirWatch subsidiary in a patent license agreement with Good Technology relating to mobile device management (MDM). </li><li>Yahoo and SoftBank, the largest shareholders of Alibaba Group (the leading PRC-based online and mobile commerce company), in the intellectual property aspects of the carve-out and restructuring of Alipay and Alibaba’s other financial services businesses.</li></ul></div>

William Schwartz

Tessa Schwartz has an active practice counseling companies on intellectual property issues, and negotiating complex intellectual property and commercial agreements. She advises on a range of strategic transactions, including key patent licenses and acquisitions, technology procurement agreements, and complex development, collaboration, joint-venture and distribution deals. Tessa also regularly advises companies on the IP aspects of their M&A transactions.In addition to maintaining an active practice and working with clients on a daily basis, Tessa is co-chair of the firm’s Technology Industry Group, founder and co-chair of the firm’s Artificial Intelligence Group and previously served as co-chair of the global Transactions Department.Tessa advises clients primarily in technology and data intensive sectors, representing artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, machine learning, software, SaaS, cloud computing, hardware, consumer electronics and products, social media, Internet, mobility and wireless, space and satellites, e-commerce, advertising, healthcare, fintech, transportation, semiconductor, and other companies. Tessa’s M&A experience includes advising Autodesk, BlackBerry, Fortive, Honeywell, Salesforce, Uber, Unilever, Unity, Walmart, and others on the IP aspects of strategic transactions. Tessa provides clients with prelitigation and litigation advice. She frequently advises executives and senior management on strategic business, legal and commercial issues, including the structuring of transactions, risk management and contract compliance. She also counsels clients with respect to a wide variety of IP issues, including patent exhaustion and implied licenses, standing and standards, the protection of data and other trade secrets and the development and distribution of open-source software.In addition to her transactional expertise, Tessa’s litigation background includes representing clients in arbitration, as well as in state and federal courts in such areas as antitrust, false advertising, unfair competition, breach of contract, securities, trademark, copyright and trade secret law. Her litigation experience includes complex, multidistrict and class action litigation, as well as appellate advocacy.Tessa has been ranked in Chambers and Legal 500, with clients describing her as, “one of the best attorneys I've ever worked with.” Tessa has been recognized by Chambers USA 2022 as being highly experienced in the field of technology and intellectual property transactions. Clients have commented on Tessa as having "...the ability to translate complex topics into what's necessary to get a deal done. She does a good job of making our technology accessible”. Further, Tessa "ticks all of the essential boxes, timely, efficient, knowledgeable and helpful, but she really stands out by taking time to learn our business and our products so she can give practical and actionable advice. Tessa helps us focus on key issues and balance risks to make choices."Tessa’s pro bono efforts have included work for The Biomimicry Institute, Goodwill, Common Sense Media, Business for Social Responsibility, The World Wildlife Fund, Build Change and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). She also provides IP advice to a variety of cultural, media and arts organizations; and other assistance for nonprofits. She recently received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from the State Bar of California.Tessa received her B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1991. In 1996, she earned her J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif.Tessa served as global managing partner of Morrison Foerster from 2016 to 2022 and previously served as co-chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group.

Tessa Schwartz

Damien is a partner in the firm’s Government Contracts & Public Procurement practice. Damien represents clients in all facets of government contracts transactions, as well as regulatory counseling, subcontract and teaming agreement negotiations, contract disputes, size protests, and protests. Damien has been recognized as a leading Government Contracts lawyer by various publications. Chambers USA explains that he “is a strong choice for advising government contractors on M&A transactions,” with sources saying that he has “excellent knowledge of government contracts M&A” and that “his biggest strength is that he is very commercial, thinking about both the legal and business side of things.” National Law Journal named him a Trailblazer and found that federal lawmakers turn to him when they “need expert advice about small-business policy.”Damien has played a significant role in more than 200 government contracts transactions, representing industry leaders, private-equity firms and entrepreneurs. He also regularly serves as lead counsel in high-stakes litigation, including pre- and post-award protests at the GAO, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and state tribunals, as well as in size protests and appeals.The co-editor of books on small business litigation and government contracts transactions, Damien was a founding member of the ABA Public Contract Law Section Mergers and Acquisitions Committee and serves in the leadership of the American Bar Association Small Business & Other Socioeconomic Programs Committee. Damien has testified about procurement issues before the United States House of Representatives.<h4>GAO PUBLISHED DECISIONS</h4><ul><li>Dawson Solutions, LLC, B-418587, B-418587.2, Jun. 19, 2020, 2020 CPD ¶ 216</li><li>LATA-Atkins Technical Services, LLC, B-418602,B-418602.4, Jun. 10, 2020, 2020 WL 3265159</li><li>Inquiries, Inc., B-418486, B-418486.2, B-418486.3, May 27, 2020, 2020 WL 3034820</li><li>BEAT, LLC, B-418235, B-418235.2, Jan.30, 2020, 2020 CPD ¶ 64</li><li>Battelle Memorial Institute, B-416263.5, Jan. 23, 2020, 2020 WL 508726</li><li>ASRC Federal Data Network Technologies, LLC, B-418028; B-418028.2, Dec. 26, 2019, 2019 WL 7370424</li><li>IPKeys Technologies, LLC, B-416873.2, B-416873.3, Apr. 5, 2019, 2019 CPD ¶138</li><li>ActioNet, Inc., B-416557.4, February 27, 2019, 2019 CPD ¶ 97</li><li>Advanced Software Systems, Inc., B-414892.2, B-414892.3, B-414892.4, B-414892.5, B-414892.6, Jan. 7, 2019, 2019 CPD ¶ 51</li><li>Chenega Healthcare Services, LLC, B-416158, Jun. 4, 2018, 2018 CPD ¶ 200</li><li>Federal Acquisition Services Alliant JV, LLC, B-415406.2, B-415406.3, April 11, 2018, 2018 CPD ¶ 139</li><li>VT Halter Marine, Inc., B-415510.2, B-415510.3, B-415510.4, Jan. 24, 2018, 2018 CPD ¶ 62</li><li>OBXtek, Inc., B-415258, Dec. 12, 2017, 2017 CPD ¶ 381</li><li>Katmai Health Services, LLC, B-413816.3, Jul. 12, 2017, 2017 CPD¶ 220</li><li>Verdi Consulting, Inc., B-414103.2, B-414103.3, B-414103.4, Apr. 26, 2017, 2017 CPD ¶ 136</li><li>Threat Management Group, LLC, B-413729, Dec. 21, 2016, 2017 CPD ¶ 9</li><li>Analytic Strategies LLC; Gemini Industries, Inc.; B-413758.2, B-413758.3, Nov. 28, 2016, 2016 CPD ¶ 340</li><li>Kollsman, Inc., B-413485, B-413485.2, B-413485.3, Nov. 8, 2016, 2016 CPD ¶ 326</li><li>The Boeing Company, B-412441, Feb. 16, 2016, 2016 CPD ¶ 269</li><li>Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., B-411359; B-411359.2, Jun. 16, 2015, 2015 CPD¶ 219</li><li>IAP World Services, Inc.; EMCOR Government Services, B-407917.2, B-407917.3, B-407917.4, B-407917.5, B-407917.6, B-407917.7, 2013 CPD ¶ 171</li><li>AT&T Government Solutions, Inc. , B-406926, B-406926.2, B-406926.3, B-406926.4, B-406926.5, B-406926.6, 2013 CPD ¶ 88</li><li>Weibel Equipment, Inc., B-406888, B-406888.2, 2012 CPD ¶ 279</li><li>O'Gara Training and Services, LLC, B-404901.2, 2011 CPD ¶ 171</li><li>Harrington, Moran, Barksdale, Inc., B-401934.2, B-401934.3, 2010 CPD ¶ 231</li><li>CIGNA Government Services, LLC, B-401068.4, B-401068.5, 2010 CPD ¶ 230</li><li>ITT Corporation, Systems Division, B-310102.6, B-310102.7, B-310102.8, B-310102.9, 2010 CPD ¶ 12</li><li>FedSys, Inc., B-401453, 2009 CPD ¶ 181</li><li>Academy Facilities Management, B-401094.3, 2009 CPD ¶ 139</li><li>Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc., B-400771; B-400771.2, 2009 CPD ¶ 49</li><li>TrailBlazer Health Enterprises, LLC, B-310801.6, B-310801.7, B-310801.10, 2013 CPD ¶ 204</li><li>Evans Security Solutions, Inc. , B-311035, 2008 CPD ¶ 58</li><li>DRS C3 Systems, LLC, B-310825; B-310825.2, 2008 CPD ¶ 103 </li></ul><h4>COFC PUBLISHED DECISIONS</h4><ul><li>AccelGov, LLC v. United States, 170 Fed. Cl. 508 (2024)</li></ul><ul><li>Acuity Edge, Inc. v. United States, 174 Fed. Cl. 46 (2024)</li></ul><ul><li>Alpine Cos., Inc. v. United States, 156 Fed. Cl. 681 (2021)</li></ul><ul><li>Navarro Rsch. & Eng’g, Inc. v. United States, 151 Fed. Cl. 184 (2020)</li></ul><ul><li>Next Phase Sols. & Servs., Inc. v. United States, 164 Fed. Cl. 15 (2023)</li></ul><ul><li>Noble Supply & Logistics LLC v. United States, 168 Fed. Cl. 439 (2023)</li></ul><ul><li>Quanterion Sols, Inc. v. United States, 157 Fed. Cl. 22 (2021)</li></ul><ul><li>HomeSource Real Estate Asset Servs. v. United States, No. 10-416 C, 94 Fed. Cl. 466 (Fed. Cl. 2010)</li><li>ACTA, LLC v. United States, No. 20-356C</li><li>Chenega Healthcare Servs., LLC v. United States, No. 18-861C, 141 Fed. Cl. 254 (Fed. Cl. 2019)</li><li>Trans Digital Techs., LLC v. United States, No. 18-121C, 138 Fed. Cl. 34 (Fed. Cl. 2018)</li><li>Precise Sys. v. United States, No. 14-1174C, 122 Fed. Cl. 263 (Fed. Cl. 2015)</li><li>Palladian Partners, Inc. v. United States, No. 14-317C, 119 Fed. Cl. 417 (Fed. Cl. 2014)</li><li>Pyramid Real Estate Servs., LLC v. United States, No. 10-599 C, 95 Fed. Cl. 613 (Fed. Cl. 2010)</li><li>Acad. Facilities Mgmt. v. United States, No. 09-302C, 87 Fed. Cl. 441 (Fed. Cl. 2009)</li><li>L-3 Communs. EOTech, Inc. v. United States, No. 08-515 C, 83 Fed. Cl. 643 (Fed. Cl. 2008)</li></ul>

Damien C. Specht

<div class="videoWrapper"><iframe class="sticky-video" allowfullscreen="1" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" frameborder="0" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JqKSMBInKJ0?rel=0" title="Meet John Smith" title="iframe"></iframe></div>John E. Smith, former Director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), is head of Morrison Foerster’s Economic Sanctions practice, former co-chair of its National Security practice, and a member of the Crisis Management group and Investigations + White Collar group. After serving 11 years as a top official at OFAC and three years as its Director, Mr. Smith brings to the firm unmatched experience in <a href="/capabilities/national-security.html#SanctionsEmbargoes">economic sanctions</a>, enforcement, and national security.Both in the United States and globally, clients turn to Mr. Smith for his deep experience and unique perspective on the complexities and escalating risk of U.S. and multilateral sanctions. He is a trusted advisor for clients navigating significant civil and criminal enforcement actions by U.S. and other government prosecutors and regulators.While serving as a top official at OFAC, Mr. Smith was centrally involved in all aspects of developing, implementing, and enforcing U.S. government sanctions requirements. As OFAC Director, he oversaw every OFAC enforcement case against financial institutions and global operating companies.  Mr. Smith played a pivotal role as OFAC moved to the center of our nation’s response to the world’s most complex and challenging national security and foreign policy crises, working closely with other governments and multilateral agencies and the private sector.Mr. Smith has leading expertise on U.S. sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML), and export controls cases and policies. While serving at OFAC, he worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to pursue major sanctions and export controls enforcement matters, including significant civil and criminal penalties against major global actors and noteworthy cases against malicious cyber actors. He has overseen the U.S. government’s economic sanctions efforts, imposing sanctions on heads of state, countries, and illicit actors, conducting enforcement actions against dozens of major financial institutions and companies around the world, and developing innovative sanctions enforcement policies to address evolving U.S. national security priorities.Under his leadership as a top official at OFAC, Mr Smith:<ul><li>Supervised the investigation, preparation, strategy, and settlement of dozens of major enforcement cases for hundreds of millions of dollars involving apparent sanctions and export control violations by global financial institutions and corporations; </li><li>Led the development and imposition of some of the most significant sanctions ever involving Iran, Russia, North Korea, Syria, supporters of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction proliferators, malicious cyber actors, transnational criminal organizations, and narcotics traffickers; and</li><li>Acted for a period as the Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI), overseeing economic sanctions, illicit finance, and AML efforts by OFAC and other TFI components, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). </li></ul>Prior to Mr. Smith’s 11-year tenure at OFAC, he served as the only American on a Security Council panel of experts charged with monitoring the implementation of UN-mandated sanctions on Al-Qaida and the Taliban. In this role, he led assessment visits to more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Gulf, meeting with top-ranking government officials, central banks, customs and export control offices, and intelligence agencies, as well as many of their financial institutions.Mr. Smith also served as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the DOJ for five years. During his tenure, he defended U.S. agencies including OFAC in challenges to significant government programs and statutes, including the USA PATRIOT Act, the 2000 Census, and other matters involving highly sensitive and classified information. Mr. Smith acted as the lead trial counsel in defending the first legal challenges to the terrorist asset freezing program implemented by OFAC following September 11, 2001.Mr. Smith has received numerous noteworthy accolades throughout his career, including the Alexander Hamilton Award, the top award given by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2018); and the Special Commendation for Outstanding Service (Anti-Terrorism), awarded by the DOJ (2002).Before joining the DOJ, Mr. Smith was a litigation attorney at a major international law firm. He also served as a law clerk for The Honorable Anthony J. Scirica on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.Mr. Smith received his J.D. from Columbia University School of Law as a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. He graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-Columbia, with dual degrees of a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Bachelor of Journalism.

John Smith

Ragesh Tangri brings diverse experience representing clients ranging from individuals to Fortune 100 companies in high-stakes intellectual property and trade secret disputes, in addition to commercial litigation and legal malpractice, in jurisdictions across the country. Ragesh regularly represents major technology companies, law firms, and individuals in their most significant disputes.Ragesh has litigated matters involving high-stakes breach of contract and tort claims, as well as legal malpractice and professional negligence claims arising from work done in a variety of underlying areas, including intellectual property litigation, patent prosecution, general corporate matters, and tax. He has, during several pleadings motions, obtained complete dismissal of all claims asserted against law firm clients.Ragesh also has substantial experience with intellectual property litigation, including representing Palo Alto Networks in trade secret and patent litigation, Uber in trade secret litigation, Intel in inventorship litigation, Google in a hotly contested trade secret action brought by Microsoft, and helping secure a $180M award for Cadence Design Systems in its long-running dispute with Avant! Corporation.Ragesh has earned consistent recognition as a top practitioner in California and across the United States. Among his numerous awards, Chambers recently highlighted his “excellent” skill “in handling a range of contentious IP proceedings” in its guide for trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation, and clients have called him “incredibly diligent and smart.” Ragesh has also been repeatedly ranked by publications including Best Lawyers and IAM Patent 1000.Ragesh serves on the Boards of the Northern District Historical Society (president), the California Law Review, and the Shotgun Players. He is a past president of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and the Edward J. McFetridge Inn of Court, a former member of the Board of Governors of the Bar Association of San Francisco, a former member of the Board of Governors of the Justice and Diversity Center, a former member and co‑chair of the Lawyer Representatives of the Northern District of California to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, a former member and chair of BASF’s Judiciary Committee, and a former member of the Board of Directors of Slow Food Nation. He has taught the Introduction to Civil Procedure and Law on Lawyering courses at Berkeley Law School and spoken frequently on issues, including trade secret law, professional negligence, ethics, claim construction, and the differences between the U.S. and Canadian legal systems.Ragesh earned his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He clerked for the Hon. A. Raymond Randolph on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 2009, Ragesh co‑founded Durie Tangri, a premier litigation boutique firm acquired by Morrison Foerster in 2022.