While a corporate lawyer at heart, Mac Cormac has blended her experience with a mission to aid causes such as climate change and women's health.
At Morrison & Foerster, she's co-chair of the energy and clean technology groups and is chair of the firm's social enterprise and impact investing group. She's known for advising on nonprofit and for-profit "hybrid" corporate structures, 10-figure late stage investments, high-profile mergers or acquisitions and corporate governance in relation to sustainability.
She advised Medicines360, the first nonprofit pharmaceutical company to spin off from a for-profit company and developed a hybrid corporate structure. Mac Cormac negotiated a $600 million licensing deal with the for-profit company Allergan PLC. That allowed Medicines 360 to sell a device to combat the Zika virus and use the profits to cover the cost of the same device in developing areas.
"The thesis is that the major pharma players are not providing sufficient funding to have innovation in women's health, that's what this design is set to do," Mac Cormac said, adding that it's difficult for for-profit and nonprofit companies to compete. She also represented Imprint Capital Advisors LLC - an innovator in impact investing which seeks to generate environmental and social governance alongside financial returns - in its sale to Goldman Sachs Asset Management. It was among one of the first times an impact investing firm would be acquired by a major Wall Street staple.
Mac Cormac is also known for her hybrid models in pro bono work and won the 2016 American Bar Association Business Law Section's National Public Service Award in helping nonprofits and social enterprises serve low-income individuals. She said she believes all lawyers should take on pro bono matters.
"I believe every lawyer should take on an issue, a couple hundred hours a year ... I think we have an obligation to do that," she said.
— Arin Mikailian
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