New York
Kayla advises public and private life sciences, technology, and energy companies, and private equity funds and their portfolio companies, on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, minority and majority investments, joint ventures, licenses, collaborations, royalty and revenue-sharing financings, and other complex transactions. She also advises clients on New York and Delaware corporate, partnership, limited liability company, and non-profit law, including corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.
Prior to joining Orrick, she was an Antitrust Associate at Davis Polk and a Litigation Associate at Sullivan & Cromwell.
London
She has acted for listed companies, investment banks, and public and private emerging high-growth companies across a range of sectors including energy and natural resources, engineering, technology, healthcare and life sciences and consumer goods.
Abby regularly advises on IPOs, secondary fundraisings, public takeovers, acquisitions and disposals for public and private companies, group restructurings, investments and corporate governance.
San Francisco
Companies are often unwittingly out of compliance, particularly those which operate in states such as California, which have rapidly evolving, employee-friendly regulations. To prevent individual discrimination or harassment allegations from spiraling into class actions, Kayla finds innovative solutions to quickly and quietly resolve such matters. She applies that same finesse when handling highly sensitive trade secret matters, which also require quick and decisive action to preserve her client’s reputation.
In addition to resolving problems before they escalate, Kayla also helps clients succeed in litigation when necessary. Undaunted by opposing counsel, government agencies or difficult fact patterns, she successfully defends clients from a variety of employment claims in state and federal court. Kayla has particular expertise in defending against large-scale class actions, including those based on systemic discrimination and pay equity claims or on wage and hour claims.
Kayla has an active pro bono practice where she counsels local non-profit organizations and helps navigate difficult employment issues so that the leaders of those organizations can focus on fulfilling their purpose and providing services to the community.
Chicago
Her practice focuses on complex commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and project finance for both debt and tax equity financing.
Rom
Leonardo practices in the areas of M&A, corporate and commercial law, corporate governance, and more in general, in structuring and negotiating extraordinary transactions such as share deals, assets deals, mergers, demergers and spin offs, with specific focus on the private equity sector. Clients represented are PE funds, multinational players, listed and private companies, entrepreneurs and managers. He gained solid expertise assisting purchasers and sellers in the context of one-to-one sales and competitive auctions as well as in the management of the relevant negotiation procedures.
He received a PhD in Business Law from Luiss Guido Carli in Rome and a Master’s Degree (LLM) in Corporate Law from New York University in New York and is admitted to practice in Italy.
Sacramento
Katie collaborates with employers to resolve challenging litigation and avoid risky compliance issues. She defends employers against PAGA, class, multi-plaintiff, and single plaintiff actions involving a variety of claims ranging from complex wage and hour disputes to contentious discrimination and harassment claims. Katie has jury trial experience and practices before a variety of forums, including state and federal trial courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and private arbitration and mediation. She understands the challenges that employers face and helps them to navigate ever-changing state, federal, and local laws. Katie has significant experience litigating and advising on wage and hour issues; exempt/non-exempt classification; discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; arbitration agreements; independent contractor classification; business expense reimbursement; compensation; Section 17200, and more. She also works with clients to resolve employment disputes prior to litigation.
Katie earned her J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law, where she graduated Order of the Coif.
London
Elizabeth advises private and listed companies with a particular focus on the Technology, Energy & Infrastructure and Finance sectors.
Washington, D.C.
Named the "Most Innovative Lawyer of the Year" by Financial Times in 2018, Wendy is celebrated by clients for her “fresh thinking, legal nuance and practical understanding of the courts.” FT editors noted that “rarely have our panel of judges so quickly homed in on a top candidate for innovative individual.” As Orrick’s Chief Innovation Officer, Wendy leads Orrick’s efforts to operationalize innovation through novel products, streamlined processes, technology and client consulting on tailored solutions. These efforts have contributed to Orrick being named the Most Innovative Law Firm in North America by the Financial Times from 2016-2018 and seven consecutive years being in the top three. In 2018, The American Lawyer also honored Orrick with its first-ever Legal Services Innovation Award.
Wendy leads an innovation team of lawyers, technologists, developers, project managers and business professionals. FT notes that Wendy “understand[s] the diversity of roles that make a team great” and has “introduce[ed] many new technologies and delivery models that have transformed the way the firm operates and works with clients.” She is also recognized by Chambers as a leading individual, nationally, in the area of eDiscovery. Wendy is the chair of Orrick’s eDiscovery and Information Governance Group. She has been engaged by Fortune 100 companies and major financial institutions to create and deploy eDiscovery and records management programs. Wendy has substantial experience in pharmaceutical, product liability and class action litigation. Her litigation experience includes multiple trials, supervision of regional and local counsel, management of complex discovery and meet-and-confer negotiations.
Silicon Valley
As a seasoned IP litigator and counselor, Diana’s practice has run the gamut from high stakes trials, to take-down and anti-counterfeiting campaigns, to employee departure and trade secret investigations. She represents clients in District and state courts and before administrative bodies including the ITC and the USPTO. For example, Diana tried and won a complex case in which the other side sought to extend the monopoly of an expired utility patent by claiming trade dress rights in a technical product feature. Drawing upon experience handling both complex patent and trademark matters, her team successfully argued that the intersection of patent and trademark policy prevented the other side from continuing its monopoly, clearing the way for her client to enter the market. With Diana at their side, companies can rest assured that their essential assets are protected, from their core technologies, to assets including their company name, logo, and website.
While at Orrick, Diana was seconded to the City and County of San Francisco, where she had the privilege to serve as an Assistant District Attorney, and first-chair several trials. She was also seconded to Salesforce, where she learned first-hand that the law comprises just one component of a company’s overall business strategy.
Diana is also passionate about her pro bono work. For example, she represented two detainees in Guantanamo in connection with their petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, and she is currently working with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining the firm, Diana worked for the Legal Aid of Cambodia where she assisted with the prosecution of former Khmer Rouge officials and represented individuals who sought to reclaim land rights.
Diana is a member of the International Trademark Association, of ChIPs: Advancing Women in IP and of the Harvard Club of San Francisco.
New York
Her litigation work spans a wide range of subject areas, from complex commercial litigation to white collar criminal defense.
At the trial level, Alyssa has drafted innumerable dispositive and evidentiary motions, served on criminal defense teams representing individual defendants from indictment through sentencing, and argued in both state and federal trial court. At the appellate level, Alyssa has drafted filings of every stripe--writs of mandamus, petitions for discretionary review, amicus briefs, and of course merits appeals--and presented argument in state and federal courts of appeals. Alyssa also advises clients on thorny issues outside of litigation, ranging from drafting white papers advocating against criminal charges to brainstorming ways to terminate a licensing agreement, and more.
Alyssa maintains an active pro bono practice focusing primarily on criminal law matters. She recently secured reversal of an attempted robbery conviction based on insufficient evidence in the New York Appellate Division. She has represented defendants in state-court appeals and petitioners for habeas relief in federal court; drafted cert- and merits-stage amicus briefs in the Supreme Court case Quarles v. United States; and co-drafted an amicus brief to the Second Circuit urging that failure to advise naturalized citizens of the denaturalization risks of a plea violates the Sixth Amendment.
Alyssa served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the October 2019 Term. Before that, she clerked for Judge Alison J. Nathan on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Robert A. Katzmann on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
London
Sarah resolves disputes for clients in a variety of forums including international arbitration (both commercial under ICC, LCIA, SIAC and HKIAC Rules etc. seated in various jurisdictions and investor state, under ICSID, and UNCITRAL Rules and ad hoc proceedings) and sits as arbitrator. Sarah appears before the English High Court and the DIFC Court, is adept at supervising and managing cross-border litigations in many other jurisdictions, including the Middle East, West Africa (Nigeria, Ivory Coast) India, Asia and South America and works under both common and civil law regimes.
In addition to acting in traditional onshore and offshore energy disputes both upstream and downstream, Sarah has a keen interest in the renewables and alternatives sectors, combining her experience of infrastructure disputes, including those relating to power and energy transmission, with the changing environments in which our clients operate during the Energy Transition. Sarah has conducted cases in the renewables sector, and also frequently represents clients in mediation and uses ADR techniques to achieve favourable settlements.
Sarah is recognised for International Arbitration by Legal 500 UK, as well as being noted as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers.
London
Darren is a dual-qualified American lawyer and solicitor-advocate of England and Wales. He has an established record of working closely with clients across the finance, commodities, energy, life sciences and technology industries on all stages of disputes.
He represents clients in international arbitral proceedings under the major arbitral institutions' rules, as well as in American federal and state courts. He also holds Higher Rights of Audience with the Senior Courts of England & Wales. Darren maintains an active pro bono practice with a focus on criminal, habeas, and constitutional cases on appeal.
Darren also has direct in-house experience, having undertaken secondment to the fast-paced litigation department of one of the world's largest investment banks. He worked closely with the in-house team to assess litigation risk, advise stakeholders, and manage ongoing global litigations. He now frequently works with clients to develop their dispute resolution terms, processes, and trainings for other in-house functions.
Prior to joining Orrick, Darren earned his Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School where he led the Columbia Business Law Review as its Editor-in-Chief and extensively studied federal constitutional, administrative, and criminal law. While there, he was a judicial intern in multiple levels of the U.S. federal judiciary, including the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Southern District of New York, and the District of New Jersey.