MoFo Women
About MoFo Women
Meet MoFo’s Leading Women
MoFo Women are leaders and innovators in every sense. Learn more about our bold, brilliant, and accomplished women partners.
Events & Partnerships
MoFo engages with the broader legal community to champion the advancement of women in the profession.
Developing Women Leaders
We are deeply invested in the professional development and success of the next generation of women leaders.
Work-Life Programs
MoFo’s work-life balance programs are structured to support our attorneys in balancing their careers with their personal interests and obligations.
Affinity Groups
Seventeen affinity groups provide professional and personal development opportunities for women lawyers and working parents.
MoFo Women: Setting the Bar for Excellence Brochure
Read about the many accomplishments of MoFo’s women attorneys and our continued commitment to promoting diversity both within the firm and in the communities we serve.
Mansfield Rule
Certification Plus MoFo has participated in the Mansfield Rule initiative since its inception, earning Mansfield Certified Plus status since 2017.
Diversity in Practice Podcast
Diversity in Practice, was launched as a way to not only share best practices with our clients, colleagues, communities and prospective talent, but also as a way to highlight and profile some of our diverse talent.
Allyship is Action
Allyship is Action showcases a diverse variety of our attorneys’ voices and viewpoints promoting the concept of allyship and helping both ourselves and others understand how to be a more effective ally to marginalized and underrepresented communities.
Women’s Strategy Committee
Founded in 2006, MoFo’s Women’s Strategy Committee (WSC) works closely with firm leaders — including the firm’s chair, firm vice chairs, executive committee, and board of directors — to ensure that the advancement of women is a constant strategic priority.
WSC co-chairs travel to our offices for biannual “What’s Up with the WSC” town halls. The meetings elicit helpful feedback from our lawyers that drives and improves the committee’s goals, programs, and initiatives.
Through its task - force structure, the WSC focuses on several key areas to support its mission, including alumni, marketing, professional skills programming, relationship-building among women partners and between women associates and partners, lateral recruiting, and work - life programs.
Thirty partners, counsel, of counsel, and associates serve on the WSC, along with members of our senior staff.
Co-Chairs
Committee Members
- Alexandra Preece Barlow, Partner, San Diego
Emily Beers, Of Counsel, Washington, D.C.
- Bee Chaffers, Senior Manager, Attorney Women's Initiatives, Boston
Amy Chen, Associate, New York
- Tiffany Cheung, Partner, San Francisco
- Amy Tenney Curren, Director of Attorney Learning & Development, Washington, D.C
Kira Davis, Partner, Los Angeles
- Shaelyn K. Dawson, Partner, San Francisco
Monique Defebaugh, Chief Human Resources Officer, San Francisco
- Diane Cardona Downs, Chief Legal Talent Officer, San Francisco
Kate Driscoll, Partner, Washington, D.C.
- Erika Drous, Attorney Career Development Manager, Los Angeles
- Meghan Dysart, Chief Business Development Officer, San Francisco
- David Ephraim, Office Managing Partner, Boston
- Annabel Gillham, Office Managing Partner, London
- Jocelyn Greer, Of Counsel, New York
- Christin J. Hill, Partner, San Francisco
- Gretchen Debenham Hug, Director of Attorney Talent - Asia, Palo Alto
- Carmen Kelley, Director of Lateral Partner Engagement, San Francisco
- Julia Koch, Associate, Boston
- Jennifer Marines, Vice Chair, New York
- Craig D. Martin, Partner, San Francisco
- Astrid Menendez-Muharram, Associate, Miami
- Christie Mizer, Assoc Director of Attorney Coaching & Career Dev, Washington, D.C.
- Cheryl Moser, Managing Director of Practice Admin, San Francisco
- Natalie Fleming Nolen, Office Managing Partner, Washington, D.C.
- Joe Palmore, Partner, Washington, D.C.
- Purvi Patel, Partner, Los Angeles
- Lisa Phelan, Partner, Washington, D.C.
- Mary Prendergast, Partner, Washington, D.C.
- Usha Puri-Dewage, Assoc Director of Attorney L&D - Europe, London
- Julia Schwalm, Partner, Berlin
- Chere See, Partner, Denver
- Nicole Serfoss, Partner, Denver
- Shane Shelley, Partner, San Diego
Shiri Shenhav, Partner, Palo Alto
- Shannon Sibold, Partner, Austin
- Maria Strickland, Partner, Boston
- Yuka Teraguchi, Partner, Tokyo
- Stephanie Thomas, Partner, Palo Alto
- Katie Viggiani, Partner, New York
- Vanshika Vij, Associate, Washington D.C.
Who We Are
We invite you to take a closer look at MoFo’s ongoing and ever-evolving diversity, women’s, and LGBTQ+ initiatives. In the gallery below, you’ll find a series of regularly distributed brochures featuring stories from some of MoFo’s talented lawyers, as well as highlights from recent events and programs.
Awards + Recognitions
MoFo women are setting the standard for excellence. They head teams that bring and defend groundbreaking cases; they lead cutting-edge practices; and they are nationally and internationally recognized as the best of the best by clients, competitors, and colleagues. They bring tremendous value to our firm, our clients, and our profession. The example they set with their excellence and the recognition they earn send a strong signal to other women about MoFo and the type of firm we strive to be.
- Law360 Diversity Snapshot: Ranked first overall among firms with 601+ lawyers in Law360's 2024 Diversity Snapshot for the fourth year in a row. MoFo also topped Law360’s list of the biggest law firms with the most diverse equity partners.
- Seramount (formerly Working Mother): Recognized as one of the five top-ranked firms on Seramount’s list of 50 Best Law Firms for Women & Diversity. Since the list’s inception in 2007, MoFo has been recognized 15 times, earning the firm a place in Seramount’s Hall of Fame.
- Diversity Lab: Received “Mansfield Certification Plus” recognition for 2024, joining a select group of firms to receive the honor every year since Diversity Lab’s launch of the Mansfield Rule in 2017. Mansfield seeks to promote a level playing field by recognizing firms that have implemented transparent advancement processes and have considered at least 30% of their leadership candidates from underrepresented groups. The Plus designation is reserved for firms that voluntarily provided data to show the outcomes of their inclusive processes.
- Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF): Among the 29 U.S. firms awarded Gold Standard Certification by WILEF in 2023. WILEF recognizes firms where women have a strong presence in the equity partnership and firm leadership and are among the most highly compensated partners in the firm. MoFo has received the honor every year since the WILEF award program started in 2011.
During the 2020 editorial year, numerous women received recognitions.
- American Bar Association: Linda Arnsbarger received the National Public Service Award and Lisa Phelan was recognized by the Antitrust Law Section’s Women.Connected Committee as a member of the Hall of Fame-inism.
- Asian Legal Business: Chie Yakura was named Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year as part of the Japan Law Awards. Additionally, Sarah Thomas was recognized within the Asian Legal Business 40 Under 40 list.
- Benchmark Litigation: Jessica Grant was named to the publication’s Top 250 Women in Litigation for the North America region. Within the Asia-Pacific category, Louise Stoupe, Sarah Thomas, and Chie Yakura were all named to the Top 100 Women in Litigation list.
- C5 Women in Compliance: Barbara Mendelson was named Compliance Lawyer of the Year as part of the Women in Compliance Awards.
- City & State New York: Carrie Cohen was named to the Law Power 100 list.
- Crain’s New York Business: Cecillia Xie was included in the 20 in their 20s list.
- Daily Journal: Several individuals were recognized, including Catherine Polizzi and Stefani Shanberg for Top Intellectual Property Lawyers; Erin Bosman for Top Health Care Lawyers; Penelope Preovolos for Top Antitrust Lawyers; Janie Schulman and Tritia Murata for Top Labor and Employment; and Jennifer Schmidt for Top 40 Under 40.
- Euromoney LMG: In 2020, Barbara Mendelson was recognized as the Financial Regulation Lawyer of the Year as part of the Americas Women in Business Law Awards. Catherine Polizzi and Janet Xiao were also named Life Sciences Stars.
- Hispanic National Bar Association: Alexis Amezcua was named a Top Lawyer Under 40.
- Latinvex: Ruti Smithline received a Top 100 Lawyer recognition for both FCPA & Fraud, as well as Arbitration & Litigation. Ruti was also named a Top 100 Female Lawyer alongside Alexandra Aguirre.
- Law360: Tritia Murata was named a MVP of the Year for Employment.
- Los Angeles Business Journal: Purvi Patel was named a Top Minority Attorney and Tritia Murata was named a Top Women Attorney.
- Managing IP: Deanne Maynard was recognized as the Outstanding Practitioner of the Year – Appellate as part of the Global Awards. Catherine Polizzi and Stefani Shanberg were both recognized as Top 250 Women in IP as well.
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association: Bonnie Lau was honored with the Best Under 40 Award.
- San Francisco Business Times: Alexis Amezcua was named a 40 Under 40 recipient.
- Turnaround & Workouts: Jennifer Marines was named an Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer.