Morrison Foerster

The firm: With more than 1,000 lawyers in 16 offices, Morrison & Foerster is a leading law firm dedicated to delivering business-oriented results to clients across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Dynamic technology and life science companies, financial institutions, consumer product companies, and other market leaders come to MoFo for knowledge, innovation, and business aptitude. MoFo handles some of the world’s largest cross-border transactions and resolves major disputes across multiple jurisdictions. The London office, established in 1980, is at the heart of the network, offering access to UK and US qualified lawyers who advise on all aspects of mergers and acquisitions, including corporate, finance, securities, taxation and restructuring issues; technology, intellectual property and commercial transactions; capital markets; employment and privacy law; real estate and white collar investigations and regulatory. The firm also offers comprehensive capabilities in litigation and dispute resolution. The firm has a long-standing commitment to pro bono work, diversity and social justice.

Principal areas of work
M&A: As part of MoFo’s leading global M&A practice, we advise on national and cross-border M&A transactions, including on related financing, due diligence and regulatory issues. The team is an acknowledged market leader in the TMT sector. Lawyers advise on corporate structuring and restructuring, foreign investments and acquisition financing, private equity and venture capital, and start-ups, including on related financing structures.

Tax: Part of a global practice that enjoys a reputation for innovative tax planning and the successful resolution of important tax controversies. The group advises on all areas of tax including mergers and acquisitions, tax efficient domestic and cross-border financing structures, capital markets transactions, planning for IP intensive companies, transfer pricing matters, outsourcing, employee equity participation and executive compensation, and matters relating to VAT, stamp duty and stamp duty reserve tax.

Technology transactions: London lawyers are particularly recognised for their representation of technology providers and technology-enabled enterprises of all types in licensing, strategic partnering, outsourcing, ecommerce and new media, regulatory, contractual and other collaboration matters. MoFo’s outsourcing group is a market-leading practice and its lawyers deliver a full array of capabilities and attributes that are necessary to forge successful and enduring sourcing relationships and operate seamlessly as a team in key geographic areas.

Litigation: MoFo’s litigators represent public- and private-sector clients in complex national and cross-border litigation of all types, including international fraud and asset tracing, international trust litigation and insolvency, regulatory compliance and corporate investigations, as well as alternative dispute resolution procedures. They also advise and represent clients in corporate and capital market lawsuits, in post-M&A disputes and commercial litigation.

Employment: MoFo’s employment lawyers provide comprehensive advice on all areas of UK and international employment law. The team regularly assists clients with the multijurisdictional employment aspects of domestic and international corporate and group change, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and restructurings, as well as managing disputes, employee transfers and contracts.

White-collar and investigations: MoFo’s investigations and white-collar defense team is best known for handling some of the biggest and most complex cross-border financial crime, corruption, bribery, sanctions and money-laundering investigations, high-profile white-collar investigations — including a significant number of high-stakes Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO) matters — as well as some of the largest cross-border contentious insolvencies.

Finance: The finance practice in London covers all the bases. From debt capital markets, through private placements and financial services regulatory advice to the more traditional, but constantly changing, senior and secured lending market across all asset types, lawyers have the experience and the expertise. The team’s knowledge and track record makes the firm a first port of call on finance matters for clients, whether financial institutions, institutional investors, funds or corporates.

Capital markets: The team advises investment banks, issuers, investors and other providers of financial services on national and international capital market transactions, initial public offerings and private placement of shares, equity- and debt-linked instruments, bonds and structured products, as well as trading of securities.

Business restructuring and insolvency: The group is at the vanguard of the profession handling financial institutions restructurings, cross-border insolvencies, distressed real estate, insolvencies involving key intellectual property, and hedge fund failures.

Equity derivatives: The team covers a range of derivatives and structured products used primarily in the context of corporate finance, capital markets and M&A activity, including: investments in listed companies via equity derivatives and financing of acquisitions via margin loans; disposals of strategic equity stakes with the use of collars, put and call option strategies, forward sale contracts and physically settled swaps; equity-backed capital markets transactions including convertibles and exchangeable notes; collateral transformation transactions involving swaps, repos and stock lending structures; and convertible bond hedging through warrants and capped call strategies.

High yield: MoFo has experience in cross-border corporate and private equity finance transactions, focusing on complex cross-border transactions, including high yield and crossover debt offerings, acquisition financings and liability management exercises. They advise both issuers and investment banks, primarily representing private equity and corporate issuer clients. High yield completes the third pillar in our London leveraged finance offering, rounding out our banking and restructuring capabilities.

Real estate: Through the economic cycles of the last 20 years, MoFo’s real estate team has gained extensive knowledge of the markets in both the UK and Europe. Acting for a mix of investment banks, private equity funds, institutional investors and advisors on the full spectrum of real estate-linked transactions, gives us visibility on the key developments and trends in the ever-evolving market.  The team has an in-depth understanding of the issues that may confront clients in the real estate market, and the tools to find pragmatic solutions to those issues.