Orrick Expands Data Center Practice With Real Estate Advisor

• TJ Kuban joins Orrick as a partner in our Data Center practice and part of our Energy & Infrastructure team. TJ advises data center owners, operators and investors on complex real estate transactions, including some of the largest deals in this space. He is based in Chicago.
• TJ’s real estate practice focuses on data center and digital infrastructure transactions spanning the full project lifecycle, from site acquisition and powered land arrangements to construction financing, joint venture structuring and hyperscaler lease negotiations.
• TJ’s experience includes advising Blue Owl Capital on a $20 billion development of a 1 GW data center campus in New Mexico, and counseling Colovore, a leading owner and operator of ultra-dense, liquid-cooled data centers, on a $925 million financing provided by Blackstone. He was also involved in advising an investor consortium comprising AI Infrastructure Partnership, MGX and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners on the $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie Asset Management – the largest-ever data center M&A deal.
• TJ joins from Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he was a partner.

“Our data center team is fielding extraordinary demand from clients across the spectrum of the AI and tech ecosystem, from project sponsors to operators to investors,” said Orrick partner Teresa Hill, who leads the Data Center practice. “TJ brings deep experience closing multibillion-dollar transactions for clients on both sides of the table, which gives him invaluable perspective on market terms in this fast-evolving space.”

“TJ adds a practitioner of the highest quality as we continue to build out our holistic data center offering, which has a distinctive focus on helping clients solve the front-end development issues surrounding these high-stakes projects,” added Orrick partner Giji John, who leads the Houston office and is guiding clients in the development of multiple Gigawatts of data center power deals.

“Orrick has demonstrated leadership in innovating on power solutions, and the quality of its clients in the AI, data center and digital infrastructure space is unmatched,” said TJ. “I’m thrilled to join the team and collaborate to continue to expand the offering, helping clients build the infrastructure that will power the next generation of technology.”

Orrick’s Data Center practice has represented or negotiated opposite the Big Five hyperscalers, major AI labs, data center developers and 400+ energy companies and investors around the world. We are ranked the No. 1 PPA Legal Advisor globally and across each of Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America & the Caribbean and the UK (Inspiratia 2025).

TJ’s addition continues the growth of our global Energy & Infrastructure platform. We have recruited 27 partners serving this sector in 14 markets worldwide since January 2025, including, most recently, EPC practitioner Kaleb Walker in Houston, new head of French Project Finance Antoine Bouzanquet in Paris, energy M&A practitioner Nick Woodruff in Houston and nuclear regulatory authority Amy Roma in Washington, D.C.

Orrick was named a 2025 Law360 Practice Group of the Year for both Energy and Construction for the eleventh time.