Last Updated: June 30, 2023

Morrison & Foerster LLP (“Morrison & Foerster”) values your trust and is committed to the responsible management, use and protection of personal information. This Candidate Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes our practices in connection with the information that we collect we collect both online and offline. This includes but is not limited to information that is collected through the Careers section of our website (located at https://careers.mofo.com/) (“Careers Site”) in connection with your job search and application for a job with Morrison & Foerster or one of our affiliates. Personal information submitted elsewhere on Morrison & Foerster’s and its affiliates’ web sites will be used in accordance with our general online Privacy Policy.

Personal Information We Collect

Information You Provide

We collect information from you in connection with your application. Information we collect includes:

  • Contact Information: name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and other contact information;
  • Application Materials: CV, résumé, and cover letter;
  • Experience: previous work, practical and other relevant experience;
  • Education: education, including level, type, subject-matter, degrees, diplomas and certificates, and institutions;
  • Position of Interest: positions, roles and opportunities of interest, and if applicable, position offered;
  • Skills: skills, languages, and other competencies;
  • Certifications: professional and other work-related licenses, permits and certifications held;
  • Reference Details: information you provide relating to references;
  • Online Account Information: username and password to access the Careers Site, application identifiers, and IP address and device identifiers that may be automatically collected;
  • Communication Preferences: preferred communication method and language;
  • Event Information: dietary restrictions, travel and accommodation details, government-issued identification to access one of our physical premises, and other details specific to a particular recruiting interview, meeting or other event;
  • Work Authorization: work authorization status and relevant visa or other immigration information; and
  • Other Information: any other information you otherwise elect to provide to us (e.g., employment preferences, willingness to relocate, current salary, desired salary, awards or professional memberships).

As discussed in the “Diversity” section below, in certain cases we will also ask questions about race/ethnic origin, gender, nationality, religion, veteran status, and disability of our candidates, for monitoring equal opportunity. We can also inquire about criminal records. We will do so only where permitted by applicable law. Otherwise, we ask that you avoid submitting information which may qualify as sensitive information under applicable law, except where such information is legally required. Sensitive information includes race, religion, ethnicity, nationality or national origin, age, gender identity, sex life or practices or sexual orientation, marital status, medical or health information (including disability status), genetic or biometric information, biometric templates, political or philosophical beliefs, political party or trade union membership, veteran status, background check information, judicial data such as criminal records or information on other judicial or administrative proceedings.

Any information you submit through the Careers Site must be true, complete, and not misleading. Submitting inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information may lead to a rejection of your application during the application process or disciplinary action including immediate termination of employment. In addition, it is your responsibility to ensure that information you submit does not violate any third party’s rights.

If you provide us with personal information of a reference or any other individual as part of your application, it is your responsibility to obtain consent from that individual prior to providing the information to us.

Information from Other Sources

For the purpose of background check reports in connection with your application, and as permitted by applicable law, Morrison & Foerster obtains information about you from other sources, including:

  • Your references;
  • Prior employers;
  • Educational institutions you attended;
  • Credit agencies;
  • Civil courts;
  • Criminal courts; and
  • Government agencies.

Use of Information

We collect and process information about you for one or more of the following reasons:

a) Because you voluntarily provide this information and consent for us to process it;

b) Because this information is necessary to take steps at your request prior to entering into a work relationship;

c) Because this information is of particular importance to us (e.g., to assess your capabilities and qualifications for a job) and we have a specific legitimate interest under law to process it;

d) To comply with a legal obligation; or

e) Where necessary to protect the vital interests of any person.

Where the collection or processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

The information that you submit on the Careers Site will be used for Morrison & Foerster’s global recruitment, management and planning purposes, as permitted by applicable law:

  • To process your application. We will engage in these activities to manage our prospective contractual relationship with you, based on our legitimate interests;
  • To assess your capabilities and qualifications for a job. We will engage in these activities to manage our prospective contractual relationship with you, based on our legitimate interests;
  • To conduct reference checks. We will engage in these activities to comply with a legal obligation or based on our legitimate interests;
  • To respond to your inquiries and communicate with you about your application, and to send you information regarding the Careers Site and changes to our terms and policies. We will engage in these activities to manage our prospective contractual relationship with you;
  • To comply with or monitor compliance with any applicable law or regulation. We will engage in these activities to comply with a legal obligation or based on our legitimate interests; 
  • To perform conflicts checks if you are offered a position. We will engage in these activities to comply with a legal obligation or based on our legitimate interests;
  • To conduct background checks if we offer you a position. We will engage in these activities to comply with a legal obligation or based on our legitimate interests; and
  • To preserve our other legitimate interests, for example, for Morrison & Foerster’s administrative purposes, aggregate management reporting, internal training, and as generally required to conduct our business within Morrison & Foerster and its affiliates.

To preserve our other legitimate interests, for example, for Morrison & Foerster’s administrative purposes, aggregate management reporting, internal training, and as generally required to conduct our business within Morrison & Foerster and its affiliates.

The information about you will be added to Morrison & Foerster’s international candidate database and can be retained and used to consider you for opportunities at Morrison & Foerster and its affiliates other than the one(s) for which you apply. If you do not wish for us to do this, please contact us at the address in the “Contact Us” section below/click here.

If we hire you, personal information we collect in connection with your application can be incorporated into our human resources system and used to manage the new-hire process; any such information can become part of your employee file and used for other employment-related purposes.

Providing personal information to us through the Careers Site is voluntary. However, if you do not provide sufficient information, Morrison & Foerster may be unable to consider your employment application or, if you are hired, your subsequent promotion, transfer, or relocation.

Disclosure and Transfer of Information

Morrison & Foerster shares personal information with our affiliates, branch offices, and joint ventures in other jurisdictions that are involved in evaluating candidates for a given position: Morrison & Foerster (UK) LLP; ; MoFo Secretaries, Limited; Morrison & Foerster, a Hong Kong general partnership; MoFo China Corporate Services Limited; MoFo China Notices Limited; Morrison & Foerster Gaikokuho Jimu Bengoshi Jimusho; Morrison & Foerster Asia Services, LLP; Morrison Foerster Horitsu Jimusho; Morrison & Foerster (Singapore) LLP, a Singapore limited liability partnership; and Morrison & Foerster (International) LLP.

Morrison & Foerster LLP will remain responsible for personal information that is jointly used with affiliates.

We will limit access to personal information to personnel with a business need to know the information for the purposes described in this Policy, including personnel in the recruiting, human resources, and information technology departments, and in the group or department responsible for the position for which you are applying.

Morrison & Foerster also shares personal information with our third-party service providers to facilitate services they provide to us, including hosting and operating the Careers Site, recruiting assistance (e.g., search firms, contract recruiters, etc.), and background check processing.

Your Personal Information may be transferred to any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers, including the United States, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your Personal Information.

For example, if you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom (UK), your Personal Information may be transferred to countries outside the EEA or the UK. Some of the non-EEA and non-UK countries are recognized by the European Commission and/or the UK as providing an adequate level of data protection: the lists of these countries are available here and here. For transfers to other countries, we have put in place adequate measures, such as standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission or the UK government to protect your Personal Information. You may obtain a copy of these measures by contacting us using the address in the ‘Contact Us’ section below or by following this link.

Other Uses and Disclosures of Information

We also use and disclose your personal information as necessary or appropriate, especially when we have a legal obligation or legitimate interest to do so:

  • To comply with applicable law.
    This can include laws outside your country of residence.
  • To respond to requests from public and government authorities.
    These can include authorities outside your country of residence.

  • To cooperate with law enforcement.
    For example, when we receive law enforcement requests and orders.

  • For other legal reasons.
    To enforce our terms and conditions; and
    To protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you or others.

  • In connection with a sale or business transaction.
    We have a legitimate interest in disclosing or transferring your personal information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business or assets (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).

Data Retention

We will retain personal information for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. The criteria used to determine our retention periods are: (i) the duration of the application process; (ii) the period of time that we have an ongoing relationship with you; (iii) as required by a legal obligation to which we are subject; and (iv) as advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard of applicable statutes of limitations, litigation, or regulatory investigations). 

We may remove personal information from our database, subject to any applicable legal or regulatory obligations.  Furthermore, Morrison & Foerster can delete personal information about you (including your CV/résumé) from our database at any time and without providing any reason.  Therefore, please retain your own copy of the personal information provided to us.

Passive Information Collection: Cookies and Similar Technology

We and our service providers use “cookies” and similar technologies on the Careers Site. Please see our Cookie Policy and/or our Privacy Policy for more information.

Choices and Access

If you register on the Careers Site, you may access, review, and change your personal information stored therein by logging into the Careers Site and updating your account information. The updated profile will be used as the default the next time you apply for a job using your account online. To change personal information that you have already submitted for consideration for a specific position, please update your profile and resubmit your application for that position.  We encourage you to promptly update your personal information if it changes or is inaccurate.

If you would like to request to review, correct, update, suppress, restrict or delete your personal information, object to the processing of your personal information, or if you would like to request to receive an electronic copy of your personal information for purposes of transmitting it to another company (to the extent this right to data portability is provided to you by applicable law), you may contact us as indicated below in the “Contact Us” section. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law. If you are a candidate residing in California, please see “Additional Information Regarding California” for information on privacy requests you may make.  

In your request, please make clear what personal information you would like to access or have changed, whether you would like to have personal information that you have provided to us suppressed from our database or otherwise let us know what limitations you would like to put on our use of your personal information. 

For your protection, we only implement requests with respect to the information associated with the particular email address that you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. Please note that certain personal information may be exempt from such requests pursuant to applicable data protection laws or other laws and regulations.  We will not unlawfully retaliate against you for making these types of requests.

Additional Information for Individuals in the EEA and the UK

You may contact the data protection officer responsible for your country or region, if applicable. You also may lodge a complaint with a Data Protection Authority for your country or region or in the place of the alleged misconduct.

You may contact the Data Protection Officer for our Germany office via Compliance@mofo.com.

Security

We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures to protect personal information within our organization. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contact Us” section below.

Morrison & Foerster hereby disclaims, as far as permitted by local laws, any liability for itself and its affiliates and contractors for any personal information we collect in connection with your application that is lost, misused, illegally accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed or not timely delivered to our Careers Site.

Links to Third-Party Websites

This Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any website or service to which the Careers Site links.  The inclusion of a link on the Careers Site does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by Morrison & Foerster or our affiliates. 

Diversity

Morrison & Foerster is an equal opportunity employer, which means we offer equal treatment to all candidates. Morrison & Foerster does not discriminate, either directly or indirectly, on protected grounds: race, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, national origin, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs or creed, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or genetic information in any area of recruitment.

Law Applicable to Job Application

The Careers Site allows you to apply for jobs world-wide, as a benefit of Morrison & Foerster’s centralized global recruitment function. This Careers Site is operated from the United States. Accordingly, any personal information you submit to the Careers Site will be collected in the United States and will be subject to U.S. laws. However, if we share your personal information with an affiliate located in another country in its capacity as a potential employer, the affiliate will handle your personal information in accordance with this Policy. Any hiring or other employment-related decisions will be made by the hiring affiliate in accordance with the laws of the country where the job will be located.

About Children

The Careers Site is not intended for minors under the age of 18.

Current Personnel of Morrison & Foerster

If you currently work for Morrison & Foerster or one of our affiliates, you must be eligible to apply for a different position within Morrison & Foerster to use the Careers Site. If you accept such a position, your benefits programs and Human Resources policies may change. Please consult with the HR manager for the new position concerning application eligibility, benefit programs, and HR policies applicable to that position.

The Careers Site is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.

Changes to the Policy

We reserve the right to amend this Policy at any time in order to address future developments of Morrison & Foerster, the Careers Site or changes in industry or legal trends. The “Last Updated” legend at the top of this Policy indicates when this Policy was last revised. Any changes will become effective when we post the revised Policy on the Careers Site.

Contact Us

If you have questions or requests, please feel free to contact us at Compliance@mofo.com or

Morrison & Foerster LLP
Human Resources - Data Privacy
425 Market Street
San Francisco, California 94105-2482


Because email communications are not always secure, please do not include sensitive information in your emails to us.

Additional Information Regarding California

This California section applies to California residents and supplements the information provided above in the Policy.

Collection and Disclosure of Personal Information

The following chart details which categories of Personal Information we collect and process, as well as which categories of Personal Information we disclose to third parties for our operational business and hiring and recruitment purposes, including within the 12 months preceding the date this Policy was last updated.

Identifiers, such as name, postal address, unique personal identifiers, IP address, email address, account name, online identifiers, and government-issued identifiers (e.g., Social Security number)


Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, expense management, IT, and other services; professional advisors such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement; business partners

Personal information as defined in the California customer records law, such as name, contact information, government-issued identifiers, and financial, education, and employment information


Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, expense management, IT, and other services; professional advisors such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement; business partners

Protected Class Information, such as characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law, such as sex, gender, race, disability, citizenship, military/veteran status, gender identity and expression, primary language, and immigration status

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, IT, and other services; professional advisors such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement

Commercial Information, such as travel information and expenses

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as travel arrangements and expense management, IT, and other services; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement

Internet or network activity information, such as browsing history and interactions with our website or online application portal

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such IT, and other services; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement

Geolocation Data, such as approximate location of devices used to access our website or online application portal, derived from IP address

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such IT, and other services; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement

Audio, electronic, visual, and similar information, such as photographs

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, IT, and other services; professional advisors such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement

Education Information subject to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act such as student transcripts, grade point average, grades, academic standing, and confirmation of graduation

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, IT, and other services; professional advisors, such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement; business partners

Professional or employment-related information, such as work history and prior employer, information from reference checks, work experience, qualifications, training and skills, work authorization, CV, résumé, cover letter, professional and other work-related licenses, permits and certifications held, and publicly accessible information posted on your professional social media accounts

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, IT, and other services; professional advisors, such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement; business partners

Inferences drawn from any of the Personal Information listed above to create a profile about, for example, an individual’s preferences,  characteristics, predispositions, and abilities

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, IT, and other services; professional advisors, such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement; business partners

Sensitive Personal Information.

  • Personal Information that reveals an individual’s Social Security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number; account log-in; racial or ethnic origin, citizenship, immigration status, or union membership; Personal Information collected and analyzed concerning an individual’s sex life or sexual orientation.

Our affiliates; service providers that provide services such as recruiting, talent acquisition, employment screening and background checks, consulting, IT, and other services; professional advisors, such as lawyers; public and governmental authorities, such as regulatory authorities and law enforcement


We do not sell your Personal Information, including Sensitive Personal Information, and we do not “share” your Personal Information, including Sensitive Personal Information, for purposes of cross-context behavioral advertising, as defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act.  We have not engaged in such activities in the 12 months preceding the date this Policy was last updated. Without limiting the foregoing, we do not sell or “share” the Personal Information, including the Sensitive Personal Information, of minors under 16 years of age.

Purposes for the Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information

We collect, use, and disclose Sensitive Personal Information for purposes of: performing services on behalf of our business; performing services and providing goods as requested by you; ensuring the quality or safety of services we control or improving those services; ensuring the security and integrity of our infrastructure and the individuals we interact with; receiving and processing your job application; evaluating your suitability for the position(s) you are applying for; making you an offer (subject to our discretion); short-term transient use; securing the access to, and use of, our facilities, equipment, systems, networks, applications, and infrastructure; preventing, detecting, and investigating security incidents; resisting and responding to fraud or illegal activities; and other collection and processing that is not for the purpose of inferring characteristics about an individual. We do not use or disclose Sensitive Personal Information for additional purposes.

Individual Rights and Requests

You may, subject to applicable law, make the following requests:

  1. You may request that we disclose to you the following information:
    1. The categories of Personal Information we collected about you and the categories of sources from which we collected such Personal Information;
    2. The business or commercial purpose for collecting Personal Information about you; and
    3. The categories of Personal Information about you that we disclosed and the categories of third parties to whom we disclosed such Personal Information.
  2. You may request that we correct inaccuracies in your Personal Information.
  3. You may request that we delete Personal Information we have collected from you.
  4. You may request to receive the specific pieces of your Personal Information, including a copy of the Personal Information you provided to us in a portable format.

To make a privacy request, please contact us at compliance@mofo.com, via our webpage for submitting online requests, or call 1-866-734-0477.

Authorized Agents

If an agent would like to make a request on your behalf as permitted by applicable law, the agent may use the submission methods noted in the section entitled “Individual Rights and Requests.” As part of our verification process, we may request that the agent provide, as applicable, proof concerning their status as an authorized agent. In addition, we may require that you verify your identity as described in the section entitled “Individual Rights and Requests” or confirm that you provided the agent permission to submit the request.