Morrison Foerster Adds Team of Experienced ECVC Partners Jason Sanderson and Zainab Abdullah, Continuing Strategic Expansion of Its Emerging Companies Group

(March 20, 2025) – Morrison Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce the arrival of Jason Sanderson and Zainab Abdullah as partners in the firm’s Emerging Companies + Venture Capital (ECVC) Group.  Sanderson brings nearly two decades of experience representing companies and investors in venture capital financings in the U.S., UK, and other jurisdictions, in U.S. domestic and international M&A transactions, and in connection with fund formation and structuring. Abdullah brings over a decade of experience advising both companies and investors in venture and growth financings across all stages and sizes, buy-side and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, and complex restructurings and change in control transactions. Joining Sanderson and Abdullah are associates Dane Jones Hodges and Lauren Chase.

The team comes to MoFo from a leading bicoastal boutique law firm with a focus in the consumer and technology sectors, previously led by San Francisco partner Dan Harris, who joined MoFo last month. The group’s addition also follows the recent arrival of Peter Fusco’s ECVC team in late 2024 and showcases the continued strategic expansion of the firm’s premier ECVC team. With Sanderson’s and Abdullah’s arrivals, MoFo has added nine partners to its national ECVC Group since the start of 2024, including the additions of Chuck Cotter and Finity Jernigan in Denver, Peter Fusco, Jesse Nevarez, Frank Paz, and Jae Zhou in New York, and Dan Harris in San Francisco.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Jason, Zainab, and our two new associates, Dane and Lauren, to our outstanding ECVC team. In addition to being strong additions to the firm, their arrivals, coupled with Dan Harris’s arrival last month, further cement MoFo’s position as the preeminent consumer and consumer tech venture practice in the United States,” said Michael Glaser, co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s ECVC Group.

Sanderson works closely with a wide range of innovative companies, advising on formation and general corporate matters, operations and commercial matters, financings, and mergers and acquisitions. He also represents several venture capital funds, family offices, and angel investors on their investments in emerging companies. Prior to joining his last firm, Sanderson spent seven years at another boutique law firm, where he worked with venture capital, strategic and angel investor, and startup clients. Before that, he worked at two other leading national firms.

Abdullah’s practice is split evenly between representing fast-growing companies from inception to exit across a broad range of consumer and technology sectors and representing and advising venture capital and private equity firms on investment transactions and portfolio company matters. Prior to her last firm, Abdullah worked at two other boutique law firms serving emerging company clients.

“I look forward to working with Dan and Zainab once again, in addition to my new colleagues in the firm’s market-leading ECVC Group, to grow my company and investor practice in San Francisco and beyond, and collaborating with MoFo’s other practice groups to uncover new opportunities for client service,” said Sanderson.

“I am excited to join Jason, Dan, and the rest of the ECVC team on MoFo’s exceptional platform to deliver top-quality and business-first advice, while leveraging the full breadth of the firm’s impressive additional practice offerings to give my clients a strong competitive advantage,” said Abdullah.