Peter Elias Partner, Tax
Santa Monica
Santa Monica
Santa Monica
He regularly assists in the tax planning and structuring of emerging companies and other transactions relevant to their formation and sale, including founder loan share purchases and secondary sales, “Up-C” IPO transactions, obtaining and optimizing “qualified small business stock” tax benefits, conversions of limited liability companies, structuring and documenting “profits interests” and other favorable equity to founders, as well as M&A, joint ventures, equity and debt financings, buyouts, divestitures, and restructurings. He has significant experience in real estate and related transactions, including structuring and tax planning for private equity investment funds, joint ventures, and like kind exchanges and other tax-advantaged exit strategies, including:
Pete has spoken and written extensively in areas involving private equity, venture capital, hedge and real estate funds, real estate joint ventures and distressed debt, and private equity transactions.
Pete also is an adjunct professor at the U.C. Irvine School of Law, having created and taught classes focused on Tax Planning for Real Estate Transactions, for both JD and LLM (taxation) students.
Silicon Valley; San Francisco
Samantha advises financial services and technology companies on a variety of regulatory and compliance matters with a focus on money transmission, payment systems, payroll processing, lending, payment cards, cryptocurrency and banking. Her practice includes guiding clients through product development and outlining regulatory expectations and requirements. She also advises technology companies and financial institutions regarding the applicability of federal and state money services business licensing requirements, provides licensing strategy guidance, and assists with application preparation, submission and regulator communications.
Prior to joining Orrick, Samantha was an associate at Buckley LLP.
New York
Lindsay has experience with trade dress and trademark litigation in federal district courts, trademark proceedings before the International Trade Commission, and cancellation and opposition proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. She also has extensive experience with copyright litigation before the federal district courts, trademark prosecution and clearance, domain name monitoring, and Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) matters.
Prior to joining Orrick, Lindsay attended Columbia Law School where she participated as a student editor for the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts.
Austin
Julia is passionate about working with founders who think outside the box to grow their companies and become the next big thing across a wide breath of industries and across the globe. Julia has advised early-stage companies in several dozen equity and convertible financings.
Julia also represents investors and venture capital firms on their investments in early and high-growth technology companies.
Washington, D.C.
Allen assists businesses in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks related to competition matters, collaborating closely with clients to develop tailored compliance strategies, guiding them through the complexities of antitrust laws at both domestic and international levels. He represents clients in a broad range of antitrust issues arising from mergers and acquisitions (including Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) filings and second requests), complex civil litigation, government investigations (including civil investigative demands (CID)) and general counseling. Allen represents clients across a diverse range of industries, including consumer technology, digital advertising, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, real estate, and energy.
Recent notable experience includes representing:
London
Ben is admitted as a solicitor advocate with rights of audience in all civil proceedings before the English higher courts. In addition to his core experience in international arbitration and litigation in the energy, construction and commercial spheres, previously Ben has also acted for energy & infrastructure clients and advised on mergers & acquisitions, private equity and venture capital transactions for clients based in Europe and the US. Ben is currently deputy chair for the Association of International Energy Negotiators sub-group drafting a Green Hydrogen Sale and Purchase Agreement.
Paris
Judith advises French and international banks, financial institutions, funds and corporates on both cross-border and domestic financing transactions. Judith has significant experience in structured finance, securitisation, covered bonds and asset-based financing transactions.
Prior to joining Orrick, Judith was an associate for two years in the Banking & Finance department of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and for five years in the Securization department of Gide Loyrette Nouel.
San Francisco
Niki concentrates her corporate practice on representing issuers and underwriters in public offerings and capital markets transactions. Niki also regularly counsels public and late-stage private companies on securities law compliance, disclosure matters, SEC reporting obligations, corporate governance and stock exchange listing obligations. In addition, Niki’s practice includes venture capital financings and advising start-up companies on general corporate matters. She represents a wide range of technology and life sciences companies, from privately held start-ups to publicly traded corporations.
Prior to joining Orrick, Niki was at Fenwick & West LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.
New York
She regularly represents financial institutions, direct lenders, funds, and investors involved in bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, foreclosures, distressed sales and acquisitions, loan and claims trading, bankruptcy litigation and refinancing involving syndicated loan facilities, debtor-in-possession financing and exit financing. She also represents start-up and later stage venture companies (with a focus on technology, blockchain and crypto) and venture capital investors in connection with liquidity crunches, rescue financing, wind-downs and negotiated resolutions with key stakeholders and investments or claims against insolvent counterparties.
Recognized as “outstanding” by The Legal 500 US, Laura was also named a Recognized Practitioner by Chambers USA, which praised her “very commercial and solution oriented” approach. She is “a very capable lawyer who gives great advice,” according to clients. Her clients include Royal Bank of Canada, UBS O’Connor, Red Rock Biofuels, Jade Mountain Partners, ECN Capital Corporation, Equinor, Portigon AG, Macquarie, PwC,Transurban, the Bank of Nova Scotia, and Erste Abwicklungsanstalt among others.
Laura has been involved in many prominent bankruptcy and out-of-court restructuring cases, including FTX, Talen Energy, Celsius Networks, Three Arrows Capital, restructurings related to the collapse of Tera and Luna, Mt. Gox, Legacy Reserves, White Eagle, Cobalt, Chesapeake Energy, Shopko, The Weinstein Company, Lily Robotics, Seadrill, Chaparral, CHC Helicopters, Erickson, GT Advanced Technologies, Hostess, Pocahontas Parkway, Indiana Toll Road, Eagle Bulk, Fresh & Easy, American Airlines, Chemtura Corporation, Lazare Kaplan, Hawker Beechcraft, Metro Fuel, Claim Jumper Restaurants, Abitibibowater, Nortel, Fabrikant, Scotia Pacific, VICORP, Sea Containers, Lyondell, Foxwoods, Delta, US Air, Northwest, Star Diamond, and Ritchie Risk-Linked Strategies Trading (Ireland) Limited. She handles cross-border restructuring matters in major international jurisdictions such as Canada, Europe, Cayman Islands and B.V.I.
Laura also has expertise in the esoteric asset class, life settlements. She represents clients in the life settlement and premium finance markets, acting for buyers, sellers and owners of life settlements and premium finance loans, and has extensive experience with the various legal issues impacting such assets.
Singapore
Leveraging more than 10 years of experience advising sponsors, investors, project companies, developers and financiers (including ECAs and commercial banks), Deska excels in getting complex projects across the renewable energy, conventional energy and infrastructure sectors over the line. She is experienced in advising on international cross border financings in Asia and the Middle East.
As a native Indonesian who spent over a decade of practicing law in Indonesia, Deska is adept at navigating Indonesia's intricate regulatory framework and possesses expertise in closing complicated projects for various stakeholders.
Prior to joining Orrick, Deska practiced law at a magic circle law firm in Jakarta and in Tokyo. Deska has also interned at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and worked as an associate at a boutique oil and gas law firm in Indonesia.
London
April’s experience includes advising on acquisitions and disposals of solar farms and wind projects as well as on joint venture arrangements and other commercial contracts across a range of renewable and conventional energy companies.
London
Dan has experience across the full spectrum and life cycle of financial services firms: from determining whether the firm's products or services are the subject of financial services regulation, assistance in obtaining a regulatory license, interpretation of applicable regulations and implementation guidance through to M&A regulatory due diligence and skilled person's reports in the event of regulatory investigation.
His clients include global retail and investment banks, asset managers, e-money issuers and payments services providers, crypto-asset issuers, wallets and exchanges.
Dan's notable work includes advice to the UK Open Banking implementation body, the development of a digital only retail bank for a U.S. headquartered global bank and preparing the regulatory license application for a leading global payment services provider.
Before joining Orrick, Dan spent more than a decade working in UK ‘magic circle’ law and ‘Big 4’ consulting firms, advising leading fintech's on regulatory issues across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.