MoForever Alumni News - Summer 2019

MoForever Summer 2019 | 2 We continue to grow and expand to meet our clients’ needs. We opened a new office in Boston in February, which is already home to 14 partners and a total of over 35 attorneys, expanding our market-leading technology and life sciences capabilities and strengthening many of our existing finance and corporate practices. In June, we established a presence in Miami with the addition of a market-leading team of nine corporate lawyers. The team’s substantial experience advising on inbound and outbound investments for Latin American clients, and their presence in Miami, makes them a key addition to our multi-practice Latin America Desk headed up by Ruti Smithline and Randy Bullard. We also promoted 13 lawyers who were already a part of the MoFo family to partnership. The members of our class of 2019, which is profiled in this issue’s Firm Update, belong to multiple practice groups across eight offices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Congratulations to our new partners! I hope you get the chance to meet them, if you haven’t already. We’re proud not only of our colleagues’ achievements but also of the recognition the firm has received. I am honored that the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF) recently awarded us with its Gold Standard Certification for the ninth consecutive year for the number of women who are in our partnership and hold firm leadership positions. Also, we were delighted to again be placed by Vault among the top 25 firms in the “Prestige” category. MoFo clinched the number one spot for best law firm in Northern California as well, underscoring the firm’s market-leading position in the San Francisco Bay Area. And we were honored to win two ALM 2019 Asia Legal Awards: the Private Equity Deal of the Year award, in recognition of our work with Alibaba Group on the $14 billion Series C financing for Ant Financial, and M&A Deal of the Year: Southeast Asia for our work advising SoftBank, on Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia operations. In the Alumni Spotlight we hear from our former partner Rob Townsend, who discusses his new role as SoftBank’s first-ever Chief Legal Officer. After 34 years at MoFo, Rob now leads SoftBank’s global legal and compliance team. Thank you, Rob, for talking to us about your new role. Anyone familiar with MoFo knows that our commitment to pro bono work is one of the cornerstones of our culture. Our lawyers dedicated a collective 78,000 hours of their time over the last year to pro bono matters. I am proud that the National Law Journal named MoFo to its prestigious 2019 Pro Bono Hot List. The strong cultural support for pro bono work at MoFo was one of the factors that influenced alumnus Jonathan Petts to create Upsolve.org, a legal aid non-profit that brings free online bankruptcy assistance to thousands of Americans suffering economic hardship. In the Pro Bono Update, Jonathan shares how he and his team faced multiple challenges over the course of their development of one-of- a-kind bankruptcy software. Thanks to Jonathan for sharing this inspirational story with us. Finally, the Northern California Alumni Reunion is being held at San Francisco City Hall on September 11, 2019. Alumni are invited to enjoy music, cocktails, and California cuisine while catching up with former colleagues and toasting to our shared experiences. Please click here to request an invitation. Thanks for staying in touch with MoFo. I hope you enjoy this issue of MoForever! LARREN M. NASHELSKY CHA I RMAN ' S L E T T ER WELCOME TO THE SUMMER 2019 ISSUE OF MOFOREVER. WE ARE MIDWAY THROUGH ANOTHER EVENTFUL YEAR AT MOFO WITH NO SHORTAGE OF EXCITING DEVELOPMENTS TO DISCUSS AND ACHIEVEMENTS TO CELEBRATE.