Behind MoFo’s ‘Subversive’ Name

Does the phrase “Any press is good press” apply to law firm names?

Morrison & Foerster has embraced the nickname MoFo since the 1970’s, when a group of rebellious young turks wanted to turn the firm’s “street name” into its actual name — or at least put it on the San Francisco cable address.

Today, practically every lawyer in Big Law knows the firm — without question —as MoFo, and its chair emeritus Keith Wetmore believes that it’s come to represent the firm’s identity.

“There is something seductively subversive about having a name that has a secondary street meaning, which, by the way, ...