Heather Whitney is a Technology Transactions associate in the San Francisco office of Morrison Foerster and a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and Artificial Intelligence Group.

Heather’s practice focuses on a range of intellectual property, technology, entertainment, and media transactional matters, including licensing, content development, joint development, general commercial, M&A, and other investment transactions. Heather also serves as a co-editor of Socially Aware, our award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media.

Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, Heather was in academia. After clerking for Judge Diane P. Wood of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Heather was a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School, and Faculty Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society (where she was previously a Fellow). For several years, she was also an instructor for Harvard Law School’s CopyrightX course.

Heather’s work has been published in numerous books, law reviews, and news publications. She has also been an expert commentator to a variety of news outlets, including The Guardian, Vanity Fair, and Vox, for her work on the regulation of technology companies and the First Amendment. Heather has also been accredited by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) as a certified information privacy professional (CIPP/US).

Heather earned her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. While there, she was the head of submissions for the Journal of Law and Technology. She received her B.A. in philosophy summa cum laude at the University of California, Los Angeles. Heather’s other legal experience includes multiple years on Google’s Global Ethics & Compliance team and summers at the Federal Trade Commission, Meta, and two other leading law firms. Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, she was a doctoral candidate in philosophy at New York University, where she focused on the regulation of technology companies and the First Amendment, antidiscrimination law theory, and aesthetics.

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