The Legal Aid Society of San Francisco is created. Alexander Morrison is a founding member, and every partner at the firm signs the organizing petition.
1917
The firm is founded by Alexander Morrison.
1883
Morrison Foerster forms a firmwide Pro Bono Committee
1976
Firm leader Bob Raven convenes the first ABA meeting of large law firm chairs on pro bono work, leading to the creation of the ABA Law Firm Challenge, the bedrock for the extensive pro bono infrastructure that exists today.
1991
Following the tragic events of September 11th, the firm issues its first “Helping Handbooks,” comprehensive guides to legal issues, including probate, public benefits, and grant programs for individuals, families, and businesses affected by the attacks.
2001
Marshall Small elected as Chair.
1982 – 1984
Pete Pfister elected as Chair.
1993 – 1996
The Nature Conservancy, honors Morrison Foerster with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
2005
Carl Leonard elected as Chair.
1984 – 1993
Keith Wetmore elected as Chair.
MoFo makes history by becoming one of the first major law firms to elect an openly gay man to serve as Chair.
2000 – 2012
Morrison Foerster celebrates two pro bono victories in a single U.S. Supreme Court Term:
Graham v. Florida (2010) holds as unconstitutional Terrance Graham’s sentence to life in prison without parole for a non-homicide crime he committed at age 16.
Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy v. Stewart (2011) strengthens the ability of state Protection and Advocacy agencies to investigate the abuse and neglect of persons with mental illness and developmental disabilities in state-run facilities.
2011
Steve Dunham elected as Chair.
1996 – 2000
The American Lawyer named Morrison Foerster the winner of its 2017 Global Legal Awards Grand Prize in Citizenship for the firm’s work with refugees in Germany. In giving the award, AmLaw highlighted the commitment of lawyers in the Berlin office who serve as guardians for refugee children who arrived in Germany without their parents, as well as the firm’s extensive legal assistance to nonprofit organizations that are dedicated to supporting the refugee community.
Honoring retiring pro bono counsel Kathi Pugh, the firm establishes the Kathi Pugh Award for outstanding pro bono service. Each year, one lawyer who has made an extraordinary commitment to the pro bono program is presented with the award.
2017
Morrison Foerster helps spearhead Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy. The firm pledges to contribute at least $2 million worth of pro bono services to entrepreneurs and community-based nonprofits to pursue sustainability initiatives involving energy, transportation, and land use by the end of 2020.
2018
American Immigration Council gave Morrison Foerster its American Heritage Award for its pro bono work challenging inhumane conditions for immigrants housed in short-term immigration detention centers run by U.S. Customs and Border Control in Arizona.
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Under the presidency of partner Herbert W. Clark, the San Francisco Legal Aid Society reorganizes as a nonprofit corporation and hires its first full-time staff attorney.
1954
The firm creates its first full-time Pro Bono Counsel position, held by Kathi Pugh in the San Francisco office. The firm becomes a charter signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, pledging to contribute pro bono hours equal to 5% of the firm’s billable time.
1995
San Francisco attorney Alison Tucher wins the release of pro bono client Rick Walker after he served 12 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
2003
The firm wins one of the first U.S. rulings preventing a deportation on the basis of the international Convention Against Torture, on behalf of a Nicaraguan who was tortured in her home country for being transgender.
1999
The firm wins a ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the court’s own non-discrimination policy requires it to grant health benefits to the same-sex spouse of a Ninth Circuit staff attorney, Karen Golinski.
A second full-time Pro Bono Counsel position is added by the firm.
2008
Multiple efforts by our lawyers are made to redress the rampant sexual violence against women in makeshift encampments in Haiti following its catastrophic earthquake. A petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights gets the government’s attention for increasing camp safety, and several individual women are granted humanitarian parole to seek post-trauma care in the U.S.
2010
The firm celebrates another Supreme Court victory with co-counsel the Center for Reproductive Rights: Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, striking down medically unnecessary restrictions on access to abortion.
2013
Justice in Aging, a national organization that fights poverty among seniors, presented William Stern and the firm, including Claudia Vetesi and Elizabeth Balassone, its Justice Award. The award highlighted the team’s work on the Hart v. Berryhill class action, bringing relief to thousands of Bay Area residents who were unjustly denied disability benefits.
The American Bar Association presented San Francisco litigation partner Arturo González with its Pro Bono Publico Award, the highest honor given by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. The award recognizes González for his work on more than 100 pro bono cases during his career, which have secured favorable outcomes for clients in key areas of the law.
The American Bar Association selected Senior Trial Counsel James J. Brosnahan to receive its 2019 John H. Pickering Achievement Award. The Pickering Award honors an individual for brilliant legal work, advocacy of pro bono service, dedication to equal justice for all, and promotion of the highest standards of ethics and professionalism in law. The ABA recognized Brosnahan as a “lion of the law” and “one of the most recognized and respected trial lawyers in the United States,” who has tried more than 140 cases to their conclusion.
2018
The Center for Justice & Accountability presented Morrison Foerster and Dentons with its Partner in Justice Award for the firms’ extraordinary work together on Boniface v. Viliena, a high-profile case that challenged governmental corruption in Haiti.
Public Counsel named Morrison Foerster its Pro Bono Firm of the Year for the firm’s work on Ella T. v. State of California, the first civil rights action brought under any state constitution to protect students’ right to access to literacy.
2020
2021
The American Lawyer named Morrison Foerster as the winner of its 2023 Corporate Purpose Award in recognition of the firm’s reproductive rights work since the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion with its 2022 Dobbs decision. In the wake of that decision, MoFo’s Privacy + Data Security team quickly issued MoFo Privacy Tips for Protecting Reproductive Rights, offering guidance for individuals, reproductive healthcare providers, and technology companies to safeguard personal health information.
2023
The Law Society presented its Excellence in Pro Bono Award to a collaboration of 12 global firms including Morrison Foerster for their work with Asylum Aid on behalf of stateless individuals living in the UK.
2021
Michael Jacobs was named by the American Bar Association as the 2024 recipient of the John Minor Wisdom Public Service and Professionalism Award. The award recognized Michael’s outstanding contributions to the quality of justice in legal communities, ensuring that the legal system is open and available to all.
2024
Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County selected MoFo to receive its Community Champion Award. The award honors the firm’s “extraordinary” and “transformative” commitment to disaster recovery for low-income communities. NLSLA noted the firm’s support for survivors of the Woolsey Fire in 2018 and the Eaton and Palisades Wildfires in 2025.
2025
LawWorks, a charity committed to enabling access to justice in England and Wales, presented Morrison Foerster’s London office with its “Best Pro Bono Contribution” award. The award recognized the firm’s work with Z2K (Zacchaeus Trust 2000), a nonprofit dedicated to helping clients seeking disability benefits navigate the challenging social security and welfare system in the UK.
2019
2016
The American Lawyer named Morrison Foerster as the winner of its 2023 Corporate Purpose Award in recognition of the firm’s reproductive rights work since the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion with its 2022 Dobbs decision. In the wake of that decision, MoFo’s Privacy + Data Security team quickly issued MoFo Privacy Tips for Protecting Reproductive Rights, offering guidance for individuals, reproductive healthcare providers, and technology companies to safeguard personal health information.
The American Bar Association presented Washington, D.C. litigation partner David Cross with its Pro Bono Publico Award during the ABA annual meeting. The award is given to just five individuals or law firms across the country each year in recognition of outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services for low-income and disadvantaged persons.
2023
The Law Society presented its Excellence in Pro Bono Award to a collaboration of 12 global firms including Morrison Foerster for their work with Asylum Aid on behalf of stateless individuals living in the UK.
2021