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Morrison & Foerster’s Boston, Palo Alto, and San Diego Offices Secure Top Rankings in The American Lawyer’s Summer Associate Survey

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Three Morrison & Foerster offices emerged in top spots in The American Lawyer’s 2021 Summer Associate Survey. Morrison & Foerster’s San Diego office secured a number one spot in the survey’s regional category ranking, and the firm’s Boston and Palo

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Three Morrison & Foerster offices emerged in top spots in The American Lawyer’s 2021 Summer Associate Survey. Morrison & Foerster’s San Diego office secured a number one spot in the survey’s regional category ranking, and the firm’s Boston and Palo Alto offices, each secured number two spots in their regional category rankings.“We are very proud of our Boston, Palo Alto, and San Diego offices for securing top rankings in The American Lawyer’s Summer Associate Survey this year,” said Morrison & Foerster Director of Attorney Recruiting Nicole Wanzer. “This recognition speaks to the high quality of mentoring and training programs we offer our summer associates at the firm, as well as the dedication of our attorneys overseeing these programs, to ensure our summer associates are exposed to substantive work and networking opportunities with lawyers across our global offices and practices.”Morrison & Foerster’s summer associate program was also ranked number one nationally in <a href="/resources/news/210928-summer-associate-law360-poll.html">Law360’s Summer Associates Survey.</a> The firm received a score of 4.94 and the number one spot on the survey among 15 other top ranking firms, based on feedback from more than 750 1L–3L law students.According The American Lawyer’s report, roughly 2,900 of this year’s summer associates among 71 Am Law 200 law firms responded to its 2021 Summer Associate Survey, answering both multiple choice and open-ended prompts. Read the full article on <a target="_blank" href="https://law.com/">Law.com</a>’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2021/09/27/after-a-year-shut-in-summer-associates-relished-in-person-opportunities/">website</a>.(Note: No rankings were released in 2020 due to the pandemic.)

Morrison & Foerster’s Boston, Palo Alto, and San Diego Offices Secure Top Rankings in The American Lawyer’s Summer Associate Survey

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David Ephraim serves as co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s Transactions Department and managing partner of the Boston office. He represents banks, other institutional lenders, debt and equity funds, commercial finance companies, mezzanine funds, second lien funds, and various other non–bank lenders.David represents clients on all aspects of secured lending, including asset–based financing, fund finance, venture debt, second lien financing, mezzanine financing, receivables financing, acquisition financing, syndications, loan restructurings, and workouts. A substantial part of his practice involves cross–border financing transactions.David has nationally recognized experience in, and is a frequent speaker on, secured lending in the areas of technology, life sciences, venture capital, and fund finance.David has been ranked in Band 3 in the area of Banking & Finance law by Chambers USA 2024, with commentators identifying him as “a ‘power player’ in the fund financing space.” Clients remark, “He's fantastic; he's a great listener and a great businessman who is able to take very complicated matters and simplify them so people who are not attorneys can understand."

David Ephraim

Partner

Steve Rowles is Chair of the firm’s San Diego Corporate Group. He has practiced in San Diego for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience as corporate counsel to public and private companies, and the venture capital and private equity funds that invest in those companies.He counsels companies at all stages in their life cycles. He distinguishes himself by achieving successful outcomes for clients utilizing best in class negotiating skills and creative and strategic thinking. He has been instrumental in starting, building and exiting numerous emerging growth companies in a broad range of industries including biotech, medical devices, digital health, diagnostics, healthcare services, clean technology and renewable energy, cybersecurity, fintech, agtech, software, 5G, semiconductors, telecommunications, e-commerce, new media and social networking.Steve has served as lead counsel on myriad mergers and acquisitions and securities transactions, including public offerings aggregating in excess of $2 billion in proceeds and over 100 acquisition transactions.Steve serves as general counsel and handles ’34 Act compliance, public securities offerings, and corporate governance counseling for a substantial number of public companies.Steve is adept at handling venture capital financings for both companies and investors. His expertise in partnership and limited liability company matters has given him substantial experience in fund formation, joint ventures, and other strategic partnering transactions.Steve was a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Northwestern University and was elected to the Order of the Coif at Boalt Hall School of Law.Steve is active on behalf of Children’s Hospital and serves on the Board of Directors for both EvoNexus San Diego and the Jacobs Cushman San Diego Food Bank. Steve is an avid golfer, a voracious reader, and a family man.<h4>Representative Transactions</h4><h5>M&A</h5><ul><li>Represented ACEA Biosciences, Inc. in its $250 million acquisition by Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A)</li><li>Represented Acon Laboratories in its two complex cross-border acquisitions by Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. totaling $375 million</li><li>Represented Adicet Bio, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel off-the-shelf universal immune cell therapies, in its announced merger with a wholly-owned subsidiary of resTORbio (NASDAQ: TORC) to create a combined publicly-traded biotechnology company</li><li>Represented Alaska Energy & Resources Company in its $170 million acquisition by Avista Corp. (NYSE: AVA)</li><li>Represented Astute Medical, a medical diagnostic company focused on high-risk medical conditions and diseases, in its $90 million sale to bioMérieux (EPA: BIM)</li><li>Represented Biotix, a private equity-backed developer and manufacturer of laboratory consumables and liquid handling solutions, in its sale to Mettler-Toledo (NYSE: MTD) for an undisclosed sum</li><li>Represented Biotix in its cross-border sale of PML Microbiologics to bioMérieux (EPA: BIM) for $30,000,000</li><li>Represented Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE) in its sale of BAF Technologies, Inc. to Westport Innovations Inc. for $30 million</li><li>Represented Clean-Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE), a leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, in the $155 million sale of its renewable gas business to BP p.l.c, a British multinational oil and gas company.</li><li>Represented Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE), this provider of natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets, in its sale for up to $180 million of components of its renewable natural gas business to BP (NYSE: BP</li><li>Represented Cogent, Inc. (NASDAQ: COGT) in its $943 million acquisition by 3M Company</li><li>Represented Compex Legal Services, Inc., one of the largest litigation and discovery support services firms in the nation, in its sale to Windjammer Capital, LP for cash and an earnout totaling approximately $230 million</li><li>Represented Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) in its acquisition of Precision Planting and certain South American operations for $190,000,000 from Monsanto (NYSE: MON and a contemporaneous multi-year precision ag collaboration with Monsanto and the Climate Corporation as well as in related divestiture transactions</li><li>Represented Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) in its acquisition of T-Systems for an undisclosed sum</li><li>Represented Live Nation, Inc. in its $354 million acquisition of the House of Blues</li><li>Represented MedfusionRx and certain affiliated entities in their sale to SXC Health Solutions for $100,000,000 plus undisclosed earnout payments</li><li>Represented Mentor Corporation in its $1.12 billion merger with Johnson & Johnson</li><li>Represented MTY Food Group Inc. in its successful tender offer for the shares of Papa Murphy’s Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) in a transaction valued at $190 million</li><li>Represented Paladin Technologies Inc. in its merger with TekWorks Inc.</li><li>Advised Scoperta, an innovative solution provider in advanced materials development, in its acquisition by Oerlikon Group, one of the world's leading high-tech industrial groups.</li></ul><h5>Venture Capital</h5><ul><li>Represented ACEA Biosciences Inc., a developer of cell analysis instrumentation technologies, in a $30 million Series E Preferred Stock financing</li><li>Represented ACEA Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company developing small molecule candidates for lung cancer and other indications, in its $20 million convertible note financing</li><li>Represented Adicet Bio in its $51,000,000 Series A Preferred Stock financing with OrbiMed, Novartis, and Pontifax and its $80,000,000 Series B Preferred Stock financing with Regeneron, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, KB Investment, Samsung Venture Investment, and prior investors</li><li>Represented Astute Medical, a medical diagnostic company focused on high-risk medical conditions and diseases in over $200 million of equity and debt financings</li><li>Represented Biotix in a restructuring of its $80,000,000 Series A Preferred Stock financing and its $6,000,000 Series B Preferred Stock financing with Ferrer Freeman and Grotech Ventures</li><li>Represented Cellics Therapeutics, Inc., developer of nanosponges with nanoparticle cores coated with red or white blood cell membranes which can be used to absorb a wide range of toxins, in preferred stock financings exceeding $30 million</li><li>Represented Cello Therapeutics, Inc., which uses nanosponge technology as a delivery mechanism for cancer therapeutics, in its $4.2 million Series A-2 financing, bringing its total Series A funds raised to $8 million</li><li>Represented ColorTokens, Inc., a leading cybersecurity company, in its $30 million convertible note financing and preferred stock financings exceeding $100 million</li><li>Represented Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) in over $100 million in investments in NG Advantage LLC</li><li>Represented Curology, Inc., a leading telemedicine provider of dermatology services and prescriptions, in over $60 million of preferred stock financings</li><li>Represented Curology, Inc. in its $30 million Series D preferred stock financing led by Institutional Venture Partners and Anthos Partners. We also represented Curology in a concurrent $11o million private tender offer in which IVP, Anthos, ACME Ventures and TriplePoint Capital purchased shares of common and preferred stock from existing shareholders</li><li>Represented Enterprise Partners in a $7,000,000 Series A-1 Preferred Stock financing by Enviance</li><li>Represented Eolas Therapeutics Inc., a start-up life sciences company in connection with a milestone based licensing transaction with AstraZeneca Inc. with upfront and contingent proceeds potentially in excess of $140 million</li><li>Represented Coupang LLC, a leading e-commerce company in Korea, in three preferred unit financings aggregating $500 million</li><li>Represented Geneos Therapeutics, Inc., a leader in the field of personalized cancer immunotherapy, in $22 million preferred stock financings</li><li>Represented Greenoaks Capital Partners, this entity and its affiliates as investors in over $100 million in equity financings, debt financings, and secondary transactions, including Coupang and several other prominent e-commerce companies</li><li>Represented Ignyta in its $500,000 Series A Preferred Stock financing and its $5,500,000 Series B Preferred Stock financing with City Hill Ventures</li><li>Represented Inertia Systems, Inc., a fast-growing provider of construction management, SAAS software solutions, in its $3.5 million convertible note financing led by Signia Ventures, as well as a $2.5 million extension of such note financing, for an aggregate of approximately $6 million in proceeds</li><li>Represented Netly, LLC, developer of last mile fiber optic networks, in its debt and equity financing led by Ubiquity Partners LLC, with an initial closing of $40 million with an aggregate maximum raise of $250 million</li><li>Represented Obsidian Sensors, Inc., a thermal imaging and sensor company, in its $25 million Series A financings</li><li>Represented The Pill Club Holdings, Inc., a digital health provider of birth control pills, in over $60 million of preferred stock financings</li><li>Represented Rakuten Medical, this biotechnology company developing a new class of precision targeted oncologic drugs, in over $470 million of equity financings</li><li>Represented VoloAgri Group, an agriculture technology company known for seed genetics, in over $150 million of preferred stock financings</li><li>Represented Xilio Therapeutics, Inc., an immunology company, it is $30 million Series A financing</li><li>Represented a lead investor in a $50 million Series D financing in Retrotope, Inc., a developer of a medical platform to treat degenerative diseases</li></ul><h5>Capital Markets</h5><ul><li>Represented Banc of America Securities, Lehman, Thomas Weisel Partners, and William Blair as underwriters in a $82,000,000 initial public offering by Nuvasive</li><li>Represented Cardium Therapeutics in its $20,000,000 PIPE financing and $10,000,000 credit facility</li><li>Represented Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE) in its $110 million at-the-market offering</li><li>Represented Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE) in a 144A offering of Convertible Senior Notes in the aggregate principal amount of $250 million</li><li>Represented Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE) in debt financing transactions with proceeds in excess of $500 million</li><li>Represented Digirad in its $66,000,000 initial public offering with Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Banc of America Securities, and William Blair as underwriters</li><li>Represented Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLGT) in its $43.5 million initial public offering</li><li>Represented Harrow Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: HROW) in its $14 million initial underwritten public offering</li><li>Represented Ignyta in its going-public transaction through a reverse merger with a public company and its contemporaneous $47,000,000 PIPE financing with Landenburg Thalman as placement agent and its subsequent $7,000,000 PIPE financing with National Securities Corporation as placement agent</li><li>Represented Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in a $30 million registered direct offering</li><li>Represented OncoSec Medical Incorporated (NASDAQ: ONCS) in a registered direct offerings aggregating in excess $80 million</li><li>Represented RxElite in its $30,000,000 PIPE financing</li><li>Represented Santarus in its $62,000,000 initial public offering with Cowen, UBS, Thomas Weisel Partners, and RBC Capital Markets as underwriters</li></ul>

Steve Rowles

Tim is the Managing Partner of the Palo Alto Office and a partner in the Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Group. He specializes in representing startup companies and venture capital investors in corporate and securities matters.In his practice, Tim advises startups from formation through acquisition or initial public offering in matters including venture capital financing, debt financing, equity incentive compensation, corporate governance and technology development (including licensing, joint development, distribution, and other technology transfer matters). He also represents venture capital firms, strategic corporate investors, and angel investors in their investments in startup companies.Tim specializes in modeling complex capital structures, financing scenarios and liquidity events, helping entrepreneurs and investors analyze possibilities and understand consequences of various transaction structures. Tim represents startups and investors in a variety of technology sectors, including consumer and enterprise software, financial services technologies, wearable computing, semiconductor design, healthcare technologies, consumer retail and transportation.In 2015, Tim founded the firm’s ScaleUp Speaker Series, an ongoing, ten session series for entrepreneurs on the legal issues they will face over the lifetimes of their startups.Tim is most proud of his work on behalf of at-risk Afghan allies in connection with Operation Allies Refuge and was recognized by Human Rights First as a Pro Bono Star.Prior to practicing law, Tim designed, programmed, and implemented software systems for clients in the financial services industry.

Timothy J. Harris

Michael (Mike) Ward is co-chair of the firm's Life Sciences + Healthcare Group, Patent Group, Intellectual Property Group, and Food + Agriculture Group.As co-chair of the Patent Group, Mike manages a team that includes 80+ Ph.D.s and 100+ attorneys and others with advanced scientific degrees in life sciences and related engineering disciplines. From small molecules and antibodies to gene editing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, MoFo has deep experience protecting some of the most important innovations in the life sciences and food and agriculture sectors.Life SciencesFor his work across the life sciences sector, Mike was named San Francisco Biotechnology Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America in 2020 and is recommended for his patent strategy and prosecution practice in LMG Life Sciences. He also led the team that was named 2022 Patent Management and Strategy Firm of the Year at the 2022 LMG Life Sciences Americas Awards.Food + AgricultureRecognized as “one of the world’s foremost plant and agriculture IP lawyers,” Mike manages a wide range of intellectual property issues related to plants and plant products. He and his team advise clients on plant and plant utility patents; licensing agreements for plant IP; litigation in U.S. state and federal court and before the International Trade Commission; and regulatory approvals from the USDA, FDA, and EPA for gene edited and genetically engineered plants.Patent Strategy + ProsecutionMike is a Legal 500 US Hall of Fame lawyer for patent prosecution and is consistently named one of the leading IP lawyers by Managing Intellectual Property, Chambers USA and Chambers Global, and IAM Patent 1000.Mike works closely with many clients to develop and manage their patent portfolios. He helps clients identify, monitor, and assess the infringement risks of third-party patents. He also assists clients in preparing both offensive and defensive patent portfolios, with a particular emphasis on drafting patent applications that will be utilized in licensing and in litigation efforts.IP Due DiligenceFor venture capitalists seeking to invest in early- and mid-stage companies, underwriters involved in IPOs, and companies seeking to acquire or merge with other companies, Mike has managed extensive IP diligence. His work includes assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of patent portfolios, evaluation of freedom to operate issues, and strategic recommendations for maximizing the value of patent portfolios going forward.Mike also works closely with the IP Litigation Group on various litigation matters including patent interferences to determine the first-to-invent and patent re-examination work and actively participates in both mediation and arbitration proceedings on behalf of clients in the life sciences and food and agriculture areas.He is a frequent lecturer and speaker. Among numerous speaking engagements, Mike is the IP instructor at the UC Davis Licensing Academy and founded Morrison Foerster’s annual Harvard Biotechnology Club Fall Patent Law Course.Mike holds a Ph.D. in plant physiology (biochemistry) and an M.S. in agronomy from the University of California, Davis; a B.S. in biology from the University of California, Berkeley; and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. He was a post-doctoral fellow in plant molecular biology at the Harvard Medical School and the Department of Molecular Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked on the Arabidopsis genome project.

Michael Ward

Beth guides lenders on a broad range of financings across a variety of different structures. She represents banks and other financial institutions on all aspects of secured lending, including venture debt, asset-based financing, second lien financing, mezzanine financing, acquisition finance, and international financing transactions.A substantial part of Beth’s practice involves representing commercial lenders in both single lender and multi-lender transactions with regional, national, and international companies engaged in the areas of life sciences and technology. Beth is also an active member of the Greater Boston chapter of Women in Bio and a member of the board of Women in Law Empowerment Forum.