NEW YORK, NY (May 14, 2008) – Morrison & Foerster LLP attorneys Randall Fons and Brian Hoffman have been selected to receive the Burton Award for Legal Achievement, which recognizes excellence in legal writing.  The pair were honored for their article "Securities Enforcement: The Attorney-Client Privilege and Work Product Doctrine in Government Investigations."  Only 30 papers are chosen from submissions received from the nation's 1,000 largest law firms.  The article was originally published in Insights: The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor in 2007.

In the article, Messrs. Fons and Hoffman carefully analyze the core tenets of privilege during a government investigation, and issues surrounding the waiver of that privilege, which they note is "often a source of angst for in-house and outside counsel."  Their piece also assesses the impact of two legislative proposals intended to reinforce attorney-client privilege – the Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2007 (Senate Bill 186) and amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 502.

"We intended our article to cover the waterfront of attorney-client privilege and to addresses potential waiver issues, including production of documents to the government under selective waiver agreements, and the so-called 'Culture of Waiver' that has arisen in the investigative process" noted Mr. Fons, a Denver-based partner with Morrison & Foerster's Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White-Collar Defense Group.  "We also wanted to tackle a new generation of legislative initiatives surrounding the waiver issue and develop theories of how those initiatives may play out in real life."

Now in its ninth year, The Burton Awards were established by William Burton, former New York State Assistant Attorney General, and author of Burton's Legal Thesaurus.  The awards are presented in association with the Law Library of Congress, which is hosting a reception for this year's honorees on June 16 in Washington, D.C.

Among the noted judges reviewing this year's entries were Virginia Wise, instructor at Harvard Law School; Anne Kringel, an expert in legal writing from the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and the Honorable Edward Forstenzer, a California Superior Court judge.  The guest speaker at this year's awards reception is U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. 

This marks the fourth time in the past five years that Morrison & Foerster lawyers have received Burton Awards for academic writing.  Prior winners include capital markets partner Anna Pinedo, who wrote about next generation hybrid securities, and financial transactions partner Pauline Stevens, who addressed security interests in patents and patent applications.

"We're pleased that our attorneys have once again been recognized for their scholarship and for contributing to excellence in legal writing from some of the country's most accomplished jurists and law professors," said Morrison & Foerster Chair Keith Wetmore.  "In addition to serving their clients, our attorneys continue to advance legal thinking and analysis through their published work in true academic tradition."

Messrs. Fons and Hoffman are resident in Morrison & Foerster's Denver office and members of the Securities Litigation, Enforcement, and White-Collar Defense Group.  Their practice focuses on counseling companies and financial industry participants regarding corporate governance issues, representing companies and individuals in government and self-regulatory organization investigations, and conducting internal investigations. Prior to joining Morrison & Foerster in 2006, Mr. Fons was a longtime Senior Enforcement attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission and served as Director for the SEC's Central and Southeast Regions.