Morrison Foerster Alumna Judge Rita Lin Confirmed to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

On September 19, 2023, the U.S. Senate confirmed Morrison Foerster alumna Judge Rita Lin to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

Judge Lin will be the second Asian American Pacific Islander woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She has served on the Superior Court of San Francisco County since 2018. Judge Lin was previously an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California and clerked for Judge Sandra Lynch on the First Circuit.  

Eric McCrath, chair of Morrison Foerster, said: “We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Judge Lin, a former Morrison Foerster partner, on her confirmation to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. At MoFo, she was a key contributor to our financial services litigation and intellectual property litigation practices, advising and assisting clients on complex legal matters. Judge Lin was also an active participant in the firm’s pro bono program, arguing and winning cases that gained national attention.”

Judge Lin was a summer associate with Morrison Foerster before she joined as an associate in 2004. She was elevated to partner in 2012. Her practice primarily focused on financial services litigation for banks and lenders, including waves of class actions and government enforcement actions around the country. She leveraged her background in software engineering for the occasional intellectual property litigation matters related to software copyright and patent matters. 

Judge Lin’s pro bono practice gained national attention when she served as co-counsel with Lambda Legal in a lawsuit challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which refused recognition of same-sex marriages. The statute was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. District Court in California. 

Morrison Foerster has more than 50 alumni serving the public on the bench nationwide. Judge Lin is the latest MoFo alum to join the federal bench, including most recently U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. She will join four other MoFo alumni on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California: Judges Richard Seeborg (the Presiding Judge of the Northern District), William Alsup, James Donato, and Jon Tigar. MoFo alumni Judges Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong and Josephine Staton also serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.