Susan Mac Cormac

Partner, Morrison & Foerster

Susan Mac Cormac is a partner in the Corporate Department of Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office. She serves as Chair of the Social Enterprise and Impact Investing Group, and Co-chair of the Energy and Clean Technology Groups.

Ms. Mac Cormac has extensive experience representing startup to late-stage private companies primarily in the clean technology, renewable energy and sustainable space. She provides corporate and finance advice in connection with equity and debt financings, mergers, acquisitions, asset purchases and sales, reorganizations, and joint ventures. She regularly advises boards of private and public companies, special committees, and CEOs on corporate governance as it relates to sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues. In addition to her representation of nonprofit corporations involved with Sustainability and CSR, providing advice to their boards on fiduciary issues, conflicts of interest, and other corporate matters, she has deep experience and expertise in ensuring energy, sustainability, and other investments have positive impact – through use of new corporate forms, hybrid or “tandem” structures with non-profits and for-profits and alternative debt and equity instruments.

Ms. Mac Cormac was named by California Lawyer in 2012 as a California Attorney of the Year for her effective legislative change in California as co-chair of the Working Group for the Flexible Purpose Corporation and again in 2016 for her innovative work in impact investing, sustainability, and corporate form. In 2015, the Financial Times named Ms. Mac Cormac the Most Innovative North American Lawyer for her work championing impact investing and social enterprise legal innovation. In 2016, Ms. Mac Cormac was honored with the National Public Service Award by the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section for providing significant pro bono legal services. Clients say that “you cannot get a better corporate counsel,” and that Ms. Mac Cormac “‘understands the big picture, could not be more responsive and understands the business.” She was recognized by the Daily Journal on several Top Lawyers in California lists including Top 100 Lawyers (2012), Top Female Lawyers (2011, 2012, 2016, and 2017), and Top 25 Clean Tech Lawyers (2011). She was also recognized by The Recorder as a 2016 Woman Leader in Tech Law. Ms. Mac Cormac was selected by her peers for Best Lawyers in America (2011–2018) and was named Best Lawyers’ 2014 San Francisco Energy Law “Lawyer of the Year.” She was also recognized by clients in Legal 500 United States (2009–2015) in the areas of venture capital and emerging companies, project finance, and renewable and alternative energy.

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