Silicon Valley
Mark has a particular focus on the technology sector, having led hundreds of buy-side and sell-side transactions involving prominent high-tech serial acquirers, unicorns and venture back companies. His sell-side work involves multiple acquisitions by Google, Facebook, Salesforce.com, VMware, Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Adobe, Yahoo! and Twitter. These deals include his high profile work for Mosaic ML on its US$1.3 billion acquisition by Databricks, Cruise Automation in its acquisition by General Motors, Nest Labs in its US$3.2 billion acquisition by Google, and Instagram in its US$1.0 billion acquisition by Facebook, which was ranked one of the top 10 largest valued private tech M&A deals in the U.S. in 2012. In an interview with Bloomberg Law for a “Rainmakers” episode, Mark provided a substantive analysis of the Instagram deal, including its industry precedent and influence (click here).
On the buy-side, Mark has served as lead M&A counsel for top public company acquirers (Yelp, Google, Yahoo! and Intellisync) as well as private company serial acquirers (Stripe, Pinterest and Social Finance).
New York
Kasey represents tech startups throughout all stages of their lifecycle. She advises on formation, general corporate and governance matters, and a broad range of transactions, such as venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions. Kasey also advises venture capital investors on investment in their portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Orrick, Kasey was an associate in the Emerging Companies and Venture Capital Group at Fox Rothschild LLP in New York.
Washington, D.C.; New York
Washington, D.C.; New York
Walt provides counseling on financial services mergers and acquisitions, focusing on assisting private equity sponsors and strategic buyers in investments in bank and nonbank financial services firms, providing regulatory and transactional advice to identify and mitigate risk, and assisting buyers in obtaining regulatory approvals where necessary.
His work also includes a wide range of counseling and acting on behalf of clients in enforcement matters, including those involving the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the prudential bank regulators, as well as state attorneys general and other state authorities.
For 14 years in a row, Walt has been ranked nationally for his work in the area of Financial Services Regulation by Chambers USA. Clients noted that "He's extremely talented and has lots of wisdom," that he is "an outstanding lawyer" and “the guy who had all the history of why and when the regulations were put in place – his knowledge is amazing," with "expertise (that) spans a range of areas, including credit cards, auto finance, and mortgage lending." He also has been named a "Leading Lawyer" by the IFLR1000 for Financial Services Regulatory in the U.S., recognized by Best Lawyers for Financial Services Regulation Law, is a Fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. He also serves as Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University.
Prior to joining Orrick, Walt was a partner at Buckley LLP in the firm’s Washington, D.C., and New York offices.
San Francisco
Ana represents companies in the technology, energy, and financial sectors in a wide range of civil disputes including claims of trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract. Her practice also includes defending companies under investigation by states Attorneys General.
Prior to law school, Ana was a member of the legal team at Lyft supporting the Litigation, IP, Employment, Product/Commercial, and Corporate practice groups.
Houston
Alex has authored scientific papers in peer-reviewed publications examining the molecular basis of regenerative myogenesis and cancer-induced cachexia. His doctoral work in Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology from the University of Louisville focused on transgenic animal studies and in vitro paradigms to discern critical signaling pathways necessary for the repair of skeletal muscle. He has extensive experience in molecular biology, including the generation of viral vectors and CRISPR/Cas9 constructs, and in performing electrophysiological recording of skeletal muscle in situ. In his postdoctoral studies, he focused his research efforts on interrogating the molecular basis for the induction the skeletal muscle wasting disorder “cachexia” in a novel model of ovarian cancer-induced cachexia.
Houston
Cacique counsels global energy companies, private equity funds and renewables developers on a wide range of transactions in the energy industry with a particular focus on renewable and traditional energy. He represents his clients in connection with the development, repowering, acquisition, and divestiture of wind, solar and energy storage projects, and the acquisition and divestiture of upstream oil and gas projects, the formation of joint ventures, and other corporate governance and legal due diligence matters.
Cacique served a combined 14 years in the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve, and is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.
London
He regularly advises on IPOs, direct listings, follow-ons, de-SPACs, reverse mergers and takeovers on UK, US and European stock exchanges, domestic and cross-border public and private M&A deals, venture capital, private and growth equity investments, debt financings, joint ventures, carve-outs, and restructurings, as well as on governance, disclosure, compliance and strategic advisory matters.
His broad industry experience includes working with clients in the AI and technology, healthcare and life sciences, logistics, retail, media, marketing, financial services, energy and natural resources sectors.
He was recently recognised in The Lawyer's Hot 100 2023, by Financial News as a Rising Star of Legal Services in Europe 2023 and Financial Times at its European Innovative Lawyer Awards 2023.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Whitney advises clients on a variety of litigation, enforcement, and regulatory matters.
New York
Tom represents Orrick's renewable energy and infrastructure clients in a vast array of commercial, warranty, and construction litigation matters throughout the U.S. and around the globe, previously having served as a member of the Orrick team that represented Hemlock Semiconductor (a leading producer of solar-grade polycrystalline silicon) in a host of litigations and proceedings arising from the breach of its long-term supply agreements by counterparties. His practice touches all types of renewable energy disputes from PPA litigation, to development and construction claims, to component supply and performance disputes, and everything in between.
In addition to representing his clients in courts and confidential arbitrations, Tom regularly provides pre-litigation counseling to Orrick's renewable energy and infrastructure clients, helping them manage their enterprise liability and pursue and defend claims through mediation and pre-dispute procedures, often resolving matters amicably before they devolve into full litigation or arbitration.
Tom also has litigated structured finance issues for his entire career, representing securitization sponsors and loan servicers in an array of litigations from securities fraud and loan repurchase disputes to ERISA and consumer class actions, also consulting and advising on the interpretation of securitization documents and events of default.
In addition, Tom represents audit firms and accountants in regulatory proceedings commenced by the SEC and the PCAOB along with related civil litigations. He has experience managing and conducting large scale internal investigations, liaising with regulators, remediating problems, and managing risk and liability in delicate circumstances.
Tom maintains an active pro bono practice representing asylum seekers and U.S. veterans seeking discharge status upgrades.
Chicago
Mike has represented clients in an array of matters, including employment, breach of contract and IP disputes, consumer protection class actions, and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations. His experience also includes advising software and financial services companies on privacy and regulatory issues, including with respect to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). In helping clients ensure regulatory compliance, Mike also prepares data privacy and cybersecurity policies and procedures.
Prior to joining Orrick, Mike was an associate at Buckley LLP’s Chicago Office, and practiced at two law firms in New York City. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).
Paris; New York
Paris; New York
Steve is admitted in New York California, England and Wales, and Paris and his primary focus is on U.S. taxation of securitizations and re-securitizations, including collateralized debt and loan obligations, mortgage-backed securitizations, structured investment vehicles and other structured finance and financial markets transactions.
For over fifteen years, Steve has served as tax counsel to issuers and underwriters in numerous registered, agency and privately-placed CMBS and RMBS transactions (primary issuances and re-securitizations), involving performing loans and non-performing loans, as well as other mortgage-related asset classes, such as servicing advances and tax liens, and in securitizations involving other asset classes such as credit card and auto loan/lease receivables. Steve also provides tax advice in connection with whole loan purchase transactions, including leveraged and nonleveraged acquisitions, joint ventures involving mortgage assets and repo and warehouse financings for various asset classes. Steve also advises financial institutions on tax issues in connection with their role as servicer, trustee or securities administrator under various securitization programs, as well as with respect to FATCA.
Steve writes and lectures on finance and international related tax topics and also participates actively in the tax committee and other initiatives of the Structured Finance Association and other industry and bar-related organizations.
New York
With a Ph.D. in biology from MIT and the Whitehead Institute, where she was a NSF fellow, Irena represents plaintiffs and defendants in their most complex pharmaceutical and biotech patent cases. Over the last 20 years, pharmaceutical and biotechnology innovators have relied on Irena again and again for cases involving small molecules, biologics, recombinant DNA technology, gene therapy, gene editing, manufacturing processes, formulations and drug-eluting medical devices, including numerous multi-billion dollar cases involving many of the world’s best-selling drugs.
Irena has significant experience in litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act (ANDA and 505(b)(2) actions) and the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA), as well as inter partes review (IPR) proceedings, license disputes and matters with parallel ex-U.S. litigation and proceedings in foreign patent offices. Irena also helps life sciences companies and organizations develop the law in the most important cases for the biopharma industry. She has been principal counsel on numerous amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit in key biopharma cases.
For plaintiffs, Irena has successfully defended generic challenges to patents protecting blockbuster medical therapies, including multi-billion dollar cancer, antiviral, diabetes and anti-psychotic drugs, including recently obtaining attorneys’ fees in a hard-fought ANDA action. She also represents innovators in biosimilar litigation from its outset, including in some of the first cases under the BPCIA involving antibodies. Irena also represents clients in innovator vs innovator disputes. For defendants, she defeated a $530 million claim of patent infringement of a competitor’s biotech patent, obtaining dismissal of all claims and discovery sanctions against the patent owner. In another high-stakes case, she obtained summary judgment of noninfringement and exclusion of plaintiff’s experts under Daubert as well as a full award of attorneys’ fees. A registered patent attorney, Irena also handles inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. For patent owners, she has obtained denial of IPR for patents protecting blockbuster drugs and has leveraged IPR for defendants to obtain freedom to operate.
Irena also coordinates U.S. proceedings with parallel ex-U.S. litigation and proceedings in foreign patent offices, recently obtaining freedom to operate for a biotech innovator’s gene therapy. She provides strategic counseling in biologics and pharmaceuticals and advises clients on their IP portfolios and transactions. Irena also represents clients in high-stakes license disputes involving biotech patents, and, in a dispute concerning the use of a recombinant protein as an enzyme replacement therapy, obtained one of the largest settlement awards over the life of the contract.
Chambers USA has recognized Irena as a leading lawyer in intellectual property, where clients have described her as “excellent,” “knowledgeable, aggressive,” “knows the science forward and backward” and “an incredibly smart lawyer.” Benchmark Litigation named her one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” for the last eight years and a litigation star in intellectual property. Irena was also named to the Crain’s New York Business list of “Notable Women in Law.” She is also recognized as a leading lawyer by Legal 500. Irena writes and lectures widely on biopharma patent issues and biosimilar litigation. Irena also is frequently quoted on patent-related issues, including in the Washington Post, Financial Times, Nature Biotechnology, Bloomberg and Pink Sheet.