MoFo Grows National Security Practice With Another OFAC Hire

Morrison & Foerster has hired a former senior treasury official who led development of the U.S. government’s sanctions policy against Russia, in the firm’s latest move to beef up its national security practice.

MoFo announced Tuesday it’s added Michael Dobson from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, where Dobson served as senior sanctions policy advisor.

Dobson, who will be of counsel in the firm’s Washington office, helped implement policy towards Russia, as well as countries in the Western Hemisphere including Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

“Mike’s decision to join our national security practice makes MoFo among the only firms in the world with two leading OFAC officials representing clients full-time, and certainly the only firm with two such recent OFAC officials on board,” Brad Wine, co-chair of the firm’s litigation department, said in a statement.

In July, the firm hired former OFAC director John E. Smith to co-chair its national security practice. Smith told Bloomberg Law at the time that he expects an increase in U.S. government enforcement actions around sanctions in the coming years.

“We’re growing the national security practice not only because of the firm’s interest but because of the client demand,” Smith said Tuesday. “This is one of the top priorities for international companies, to make sure they’re complying with all aspects of the U.S. government’s national security and foreign policy requirements.”

Smith said he expects clients to be particularly interested in advice from Dobson, whom he called the “premier Russia sanctions expert.”

While at OFAC, Dobson was responsible for developing executive orders, regulations, general and specific licenses, and interpretive guidance across multiple sanctions regimes, with a focus on Russia and Latin America. He was also responsible for representing OFAC in congressional briefings and interagency meetings.

Dobson worked closely with Smith while at OFAC, which led to his decision to join MoFo.

“It wasn’t a hard decision,” Dobson told Bloomberg Law. “I wanted a firm that had broad international exposure. This firm is all over Europe and Asia, where they’re particularly feeling the pinch with the Russia sanctions.”

Several other former government officials have recently joined MoFo’s national security practice. They include former assistant secretary of defense Joseph Benkert, former national security prosecutor John Carlin, and David A. Newman, who previously served on the staff of the National Security Council.