The story
Founded by Alexander F. Morrison in 1883.1
History
Morrison & Foerster was founded in San Francisco in 1883.
In 1960, it had one office and fewer than 25 lawyers. During the 1960s, its lawyers began working with emerging Silicon Valley technology companies. By 1999, it had more than 675 lawyers in 15 offices across six countries.
The firm expanded to other California cities during the 1970s.
In 1974 the firm expanded outside San Francisco and opened an office in Los Angeles to better meet the needs of longtime client Crocker National Bank.
Soon after, the firm expanded again, opening an office in Washington, D.C. in 1979 and its first non-U.S. office in London in 1980.
In 1987 the firm merged with New York-based litigation company Parker Auspitz and opened its Tokyo office.
The firm merged again in 1991, this time with Ciotti & Murashige. A decade later, Morrison & Foerster became one of the largest international law firms in Tokyo when it merged with Ito & Mitomi.
In September 2013, it announced plans to open in Berlin by recruiting the office of Hogan Lovells, including nine partners. It had opened a Singapore office earlier that year.
Read the full text
Later in 2013, the German team advised Axel Springer on its acquisition of N24 Media.
In 2022 Morrison & Foerster was a founding member of the Legal Alliance for Reproductive Rights, a coalition of United States law firms offering free legal services to people seeking and providing abortions.
In February 2026, the firm opened an office in Seattle after recruiting a litigation team from Perkins Coie.
Morrison & Foerster Foundation
In 2015, Law360 reported that the firm's charitable foundation had donated about $45 million since 1986.
From Wikipedia’s article on Morrison & Foerster, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4