Our deeds and shared values define our culture. As a firm, we are equally passionate about delivering legal excellence and making a difference in the world. MoFo+ shares news and thought leadership from our lawyers and their teams who are proud to contribute to the legal profession and the communities we call home.<h2>About Morrison Foerster</h2>Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firm’s commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyer’s A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia‑Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.

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Jennifer K. Brown is Senior Pro Bono Counsel at Morrison & Foerster LLP, with responsibility for the overall direction of the firm’s pro bono program. Ms. Brown also develops pro bono opportunities and promotes lawyers’ participation in the firm’s offices on the east coast of the U.S. as well as in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.Before joining Morrison Foerster, Ms. Brown was vice president and legal director of Legal Momentum, the nation's first women’s rights legal organization, originally known as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. There, she directed cutting-edge litigation and policy advocacy focused on employment discrimination, domestic violence victims' rights, and sexuality and family rights. Previously, she served as the reproductive rights director with the Civil Rights Bureau of the Office of the New York Attorney General and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.Ms. Brown brings to the firm her deep knowledge of public interest legal organizations and the most pressing civil rights issues of the day. She has, as well, a rich array of litigation experience, having represented individuals as well as federal agencies and the public, from both the plaintiff and defense positions, in trial and appellate courts. As Senior Pro Bono Counsel, she applies this knowledge and experience to multiple goals: encouraging the firm's attorneys from all practice areas to bring pro bono projects to the firm; easing the way for attorneys to undertake meaningful pro bono service; and working with legal service and public interest organizations to identify creative ways to tap the passion and intellect of the firm's lawyers to pursue the public good. Recent achievements include collaborating with a legal services organization to represent individuals whose claims for unemployment insurance benefits are challenged, and forming a project to represent disabled individuals who are seeking federal disability benefits.Ms. Brown received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1993, where she was essays editor of the Yale Law Journal (1992-1993) and was awarded the Benjamin Scharps and Israel H. Peres prizes for outstanding writing. Ms. Brown’s publications include, "The Nineteenth Amendment and Women's Equality," 102 Yale Law Journal 2175 (1993) (student note), and "Life and Death with Joan," in AIDS: The Women, Cleis Press, 1988.

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Senior Pro Bono Counsel

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As senior pro bono counsel, Jennifer manages and promotes the pro bono participation of lawyers on the East Coast.

Jennifer K. Brown

Natalie Kernisant is Morrison Foerster’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.Natalie provides strategic leadership to advance recruiting and retention of diverse talent at the firm, as well as providing client development support in the area of diversity and inclusion. She works closely with the firm’s Diversity Strategy Committee co-chairs Alexis Amezcua, Purvi Patel, and Mark Whitaker, and Women’s Strategy Committee co-chairs Carrie Cohen, Julie Park, and Stacey Sprenkel.Natalie joined Morrison Foerster in November 2013. She was appointed to the newly created role of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer in December 2020, having previously served as the firm’s Global Director of Diversity and Inclusion.Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, Natalie served as Human Resources Manager for Risk Management within Global Banking and Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Before that, she practiced trademark and copyright law and then served as the Special Projects Manager in the Office of Institutional Policy & Planning at Harvard Medical School overseeing the school’s 2011 accreditation process.In 2021, Natalie was named by Crain’s New York Business to its list of Notable Black Leaders & Executives 2021. The special section recognizes black men and women who have impacted New York City in major ways and sets out to honor their professional, civic, and philanthropic achievements. In 2023, Natalie was recognized as one of Savoy Magazine’s 2023 Most Influential Executives in Diversity & Inclusion. She was also selected to Law360’s Diversity & Inclusion Editorial Advisory Board, whose goal is to provide feedback on Law360’s coverage as well as expert insight on how to shape future coverage. Additionally, she was recognized in the Financial Times 2023 North America Innovative Lawyers report as one of seven individual “Change Makers” in the legal industry for her strategic leadership of the firm’s efforts to interrupt unconscious bias and advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. In 2024, Natalie was named as a Change Driver in the Annual Diversity Awards of World IP Review (WIPR). The annual Diversity Awards recognize those who have made exceptional contributions to diversity and inclusion in the field of intellectual property.During Natalie’s tenure at MoFo, the firm has received multiple <a href="/culture/diversity#page-section-4" target="_self">diversity and inclusion awards and recognitions</a>.

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Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer

Natalie Kernisant is Morrison Foerster’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.

Natalie Kernisant provides strategic leadership to advance recruiting and retention of diverse talent at Morrison Foerster, as well as providing client development support in the area of diversity and inclusion.

Natalie Kernisant

Dorothy L. Fernandez is Pro Bono Counsel based in the Denver office of Morrison & Foerster LLP. She is responsible for managing and promoting the participation of lawyers in the firm’s extensive pro bono program which includes, among other things, providing free legal services to low-income individuals, advising nonprofit organizations and assisting in other matters that serve the public interest. Dorothy’s primary focus is on working with lawyers in the firm’s Austin, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver and Tokyo offices.In 1999, Dorothy joined Morrison & Foerster as an associate in the Securities Litigation, Enforcement and White-Collar Criminal Defense Group. She was elected a partner of the firm in 2004. Dorothy handled complex litigation at the state, federal and appellate levels and was responsible for drafting key dispositive motions in some of the firm’s largest securities litigation matters. In addition, she had an active pro bono practice and represented clients in individual matters, as well as cases addressing the treatment of children in foster care and the rights of LGBT individuals.A dedicated advocate for the LGBT community, Dorothy has served as co-chair of the board of directors of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and she also served on the board of the Pride Law Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to law students working on issues related to the equal rights of LGBT citizens and people living with HIV/AIDS.Dorothy currently serves on the board of directors of Centro Legal de la Raza, a nonprofit based in Oakland.Dorothy graduated from Stanford University in 1992 with a B.A. in psychology. She earned a J.D. in 1996 from Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and co-chair of HLS Lambda. She has taught as an adjunct instructor at both Golden Gate University Law School and Santa Clara University Law School.

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Pro Bono Counsel

Dorothy works with lawyers in our Denver, Los Angeles, and San Diego offices on various pro bono initiatives.

Dorothy L. Fernandez

Rachel Williams is pro bono counsel based in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office. She is responsible for managing and promoting the participation of lawyers in the firm’s extensive program of providing free legal services to low-income individuals, to nonprofit organizations, and in matters that serve the public interest. Rachel works primarily with lawyers in the firm’s San Francisco, Palo Alto, London, Berlin, and Brussels offices. She is an active member of the Disaster Legal Assistance Collaborative and the board of directors of OneJustice. Rachel joined the firm in 1999. Prior to becoming a pro bono counsel, Rachel was a litigation associate in the firm’s Palo Alto office and worked on attorney training and development initiatives. Before law school, Rachel worked for various nonprofit organizations, was an investigator for the public defender’s office in Seattle, and served as a Coro Public Affairs Fellow in New York City.

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Rachel is responsible for managing and promoting the participation of lawyers in the firm’s extensive program of providing free legal services to low-income individuals, to nonprofit organizations, and in matters that serve the public interest.

Rachel P. Williams

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MoFo Lawyers Lead Pro Bono Advocacy for Reproductive Justice in a Post-Dobbs Era | MoFo+

Jamie A. Levitt

Morrison Foerster has long championed the advancement of women. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization struck down 50 years of precedent that MoFo lawyers, on behalf of our clients, had fought to defend in nearly 20 cases since 1989, including Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2016 that reaffirmed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion.While the Dobbs decision unleashed chaos in the legal status of abortion, it has not dampened the commitment of many MoFo lawyers to preserving women’s access to reproductive health care through legal support inside and outside the courtroom.In the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision, Litigation partner Jamie Levitt was one of the first to endorse a call to action published in The American Lawyer, which was later signed by more than 2,650 women partners from 190 law firms and outlined a personal commitment to continue “offering pro bono legal services to organizations that defend and support women’s rights to autonomy, equality and safe access to reproductive care, including abortion.” MoFo’s Privacy team, led by New York Privacy + Data Security partner Miriam Wugmeister, quickly developed and issued <a href="https://view.ceros.com/mofo/tips-protecting-privacy/p/1" target="_blank">MoFo Privacy Tips for Protecting Reproductive Rights</a> to offer guidance to the public on how to safeguard their personal health information.On another front, Jamie Levitt and senior pro bono counsel Jennifer Brown spent months working closely with several public interest organizations to develop the <a href="https://abortiondefensenetwork.org/" target="_blank">Abortion Defense Network</a> (ADN), bringing together lawyers from top law firms and reproductive rights organizations to offer a nationwide resource for abortion-related confidential legal advice. Dozens of lawyers have attended trainings offered by ADN and, since its inception one year ago, MoFo lawyers have advised more than 25 abortion providers and support organizations who were referred by ADN or similar regional networks, helping these clients untangle the web of contradictory state laws that now govern this field of medicine. MoFo lawyers, led by New York Litigation partners Jamie Levitt and J. Alexander Lawrence, are continuing to work with the Center for Reproductive Rights on critical litigation as well.Since March 2023, MoFo lawyers and the Center have been fighting in several cases to establish that medical emergency exceptions to state abortion prohibitions must be interpreted so that women’s lives are not jeopardized when they face severe and dangerous complications during pregnancy. In a Texas case, MoFo litigators are representing lead plaintiff Amanda Zurawski and other women who were denied urgently needed abortions as their health deteriorated drastically because doctors could not risk criminal punishments of up to 99 years in prison and $100,000 in fines if a prosecutor disagreed with the doctor’s determination that a medical emergency justified an abortion.  As Jamie Levitt explains, “We are representing women who have all faced serious pregnancy complications, and the issue with the current law is the statutes have standards that are very unclear, so our lawsuit is seeking clarity.” After two days of riveting testimony, the Texas trial court hearing the case issued an order in August 2023 clarifying that “emergent medical conditions” – meaning conditions that, without an abortion, threaten the pregnant woman’s life or health – come within the medical emergency exception to the Texas abortion bans, and there is no need to wait for a patient to be in crisis before offering treatment. The court’s ruling, however, was immediately stayed when the state appealed the case to the Texas Supreme Court. That court heard argument in November 2023 and has not yet issued its decision.Meanwhile, when a Texan named Kate Cox, whose pregnancy with a non-viable fetus threatened her health and her future fertility, heard about the Zurawski case, she bravely came forward to ask for legal help to end her pregnancy. She, her husband, and her OB-GYN became plaintiffs in a case that was urgently litigated by MoFo lawyers and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Women and men across the country followed the case closely as the trial court held that an abortion was permitted under the Texas medical emergency exception. Before Cox could get treatment, however, the Texas Supreme Court issued a stay of the trial court’s order and within the week, it ruled against her, her husband, and her doctor. (Cox left the state to obtain an abortion.)MoFo lawyers are also partnering with the Center for Reproductive Rights in the case Blackmon v. Tennessee, being heard in Tennessee state court. As in the Texas litigation, the goal of this case is clarification from the court that the medical condition exception to Tennessee’s abortion ban allows a doctor to provide abortion care when a pregnant woman has a physical emergent medical condition that poses a risk of death or a risk to the woman’s health, including her future fertility. The state’s motion to dismiss that case is scheduled for argument in early April 2024. MoFo lawyers remain undaunted. “As long as women’s reproductive rights are threatened, our pro bono team remains on the front lines and will continue to marshal the time, talent, and resources needed to zealously advocate for our clients in Texas and beyond,” said Jamie Levitt. The dozens of MoFo lawyers who have collectively contributed more than 3,000 hours to these efforts since the Dobbs decision surely agree.