Seattle
Blake brings a unique and invaluable mix of in-house, entrepreneurial, and law firm experience, having served as General Counsel and senior executive of a software company and two biotech companies (co-founding one of them), as well as outside corporate counsel in elite AmLaw Global 100 law firms.
Blake’s experience spans multiple industries, including life sciences, software, hardware, mobile, fintech, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and retail. He has counseled fast-growing companies on hundreds of venture capital financings and M&A transactions, numerous public offerings, as well as service as a trusted advisor to management teams and Boards on both strategic and day-to-day matters.
Blake is proud to have worked with a variety of technology and life science companies, venture capital firms and investment banks, including AppSheet (acquired by Google; Nasdaq: GOOGL), Arris Composites, Barclays, Cloudhopper (acquired by Twitter; NYSE: TWTR), Critical Insight, Coatue Management, fatfoogoo (acquired by Digital River; Nasdaq: DRIV), Ikaria, IronPort Systems (acquired by Cisco; Nasdaq: CSCO), Kineta (Nasdaq: KA), Lighter Capital, Oculus (Nasdaq: FB), OncoSenX, PATH, Qpass (acquired by Amdocs; NYSE: DOX), Varian Medical (NYSE: VAR), Xcimer Energy, and Zipwhip (acquired by Twilio; NYSE: TWLO).
Prior to his legal career, Blake served with distinction in the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer, Fire Control Officer, and Air Warfare Coordinator, including two combat deployments to the Persian Gulf, where he was decorated for his performance during Operations Southern Watch and Desert Strike.
London
Stephen works with technology companies and the investors that back them. He is particularly interested in advising founders building exciting new businesses and is focused on providing innovative and pragmatic advice to his clients.
As part of a market-leading team at Orrick, who can provide a full stack of legal services and advice to clients in the technology sector, Stephen focuses on corporate advice, ranging from incorporation strategies through financing rounds, M&A and private equity transactions. He works closely with the rest of the team to cover share options, IP protection, commercial contracts, regulatory matters, employment issues and tax advice.
Managing transactions in an efficient and productive manner and providing clear and concise advice is at the core of Stephen's approach to work. Recognised as a “Recommended Individual” for Venture Capital in the Legal 500 UK 2024, Stephen actively engages with clients to understand the key issues and concerns in order to provide tailored advice that really adds value. Stephen is driven by being a trusted advisor to his clients, not just another service provider.
Stephen represents notable companies such as Stripe, Butternut Box, Vitesse, Graphcore, TrueLayer, Codility and LoopFX on an ongoing basis for financing and general corporate matters. He has also advised tech industry leaders such as Revolut and Scalapay.
While he has a significant company-side mandate, Stephen also advises many of the key investors in the market including Salesforce Ventures, ABN AMRO Ventures, Macquarie, BMW iVentures, Energy Impact Partners and Sony Innovation Fund on their respective investments in the UK, Ireland and across Europe.
Stephen is qualified in both England & Wales and Ireland (non-practising), having trained and qualified in a top-tier Irish law firm, and is committed to helping to build the Irish tech ecosystem.
New York
David is a partner in Orrick's Complex Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Group based in New York and co-head of Orrick's Bankruptcy Litigation Working Group. His practice focuses on representing lenders, underwriters, and large public and private companies in financial disputes throughout the litigation process, from pre-litigation dispute resolution to success at trial.
David has litigated high-stakes bench and jury trials and pretrial proceedings involving nine-figure secured claims in bankruptcy, multi-billion dollar securities offerings, complex long-term supply contracts, and valuable trademarks.
David also has years of experience litigating distressed asset and syndicated loan trades, contract disputes, and residential mortgage-backed securities issuances for both plaintiffs and defendants. David's background in computer science and mathematics allows him to quickly master complex financial transactions and craft effective litigation strategies for his clients.
Before joining Orrick, David was an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.
New York
He has litigated patents at trial, before the ITC, and on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Rich has counseled clients and rendered opinions on patent validity, infringement and freedom to use. He is a registered patent attorney with experience drafting patents and practicing before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Rich’s patent work has involved a wide range of technologies including image processing, 3d graphics, audio / video compression, computer hardware and software, e-commerce, network technologies, digital rights management and encryption.
Rich also helps companies address the novel litigation and transactional IP issues that arise when developing and working with AI and is a frequent lecturer on these topics.
Washington, D.C.; Houston
Washington, D.C.; Houston
Emily provides strategic counseling and advice on privacy, consumer protection and online safety matters to clients across industries, including retail, ecommerce, mobile apps, gaming, social media, advertising technology (adtech), financial services, education, business services and technology. She also represents clients subject to regulatory investigations, including before the FTC and States Attorneys General, Congressional committees and other regulatory agencies and groups.
Emily provides proactive compliance guidance, and regulatory investigation defense, on a variety of privacy and consumer protection laws, including:
Emily is a frequent speaker on data privacy matters, with a particular focus on children’s privacy (COPPA), student data privacy and EdTech and online safety laws for kids and teens. She has been featured as an “Up and Coming” Privacy & Data Security attorney by Chambers USA and Chambers Global. Clients tell Chambers, “She’s been an excellent partner. She has a very good understanding of the practical realities of implementing privacy policies for large companies.” Citing her expertise in the field of educational privacy, student data and EdTech matters, Chambers reports that clients regard her as “very knowledgeable and truly an expert in this space,” with some saying, “On the student data side, she is unmatched,” and The Legal 500 notes that Emily “is the first port of call for child- and student-directed service providers for compliance advice with COPPA, SOPIPA and CalOPPA regulations.”
Emily also has an active consumer protection practice, focused on marketing and promotional issues. She counsels clients on advertisements and endorsements, retail sales and e-commerce, advertising substantiation, SMS and telemarketing, social media and online advertising.
New York
Naomi provides clients guidance on implementing global privacy programs and advises on the U.S. state privacy laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Virginia and other states. She assists clients in breach investigations and cybersecurity incident response, including advising on breach notification, regulatory investigations and managing cybersecurity policies and procedures.
Naomi draws on her experience in fixed income trading technology when advising on cybersecurity and compliance risks within business operations. During law school she externed at the Center for Reproductive Rights focusing on privacy in the context of international human rights.
Seattle
"An outstanding trial lawyer, very strategic, very responsive and very creative," according to Chambers USA's Guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business.
His experience includes representing Fortune 500 and other clients from various industries (e.g. technology, financial services, chemical/manufacturing, energy, retail). The litigation has involved IP, Securities, Insurance, Employment, Products Liability, Class Actions and significant contract disputes in Federal and State courts and before arbitration panels throughout the United States. He has been a speaker nationally at various seminars on litigation, arbitration, mediation and trial techniques. Mark has tried dozens of cases – both jury and non-jury trials – and mediated and arbitrated 75-plus cases. He has argued numerous appeals in Federal Circuits across the country and has served as an expert witness on multiple occasions. Mark has also served as National Counsel to a number of clients involved in multi-state litigation. He has been recognized as one of America’s Top 100 Bet-The-Company Litigators, is one of two IP litigators in Washington selected as an Amazing Attorney by Washington CEO magazine and was recently recognized as one of the top 30 Trial Lawyers in Washington.
In addition, Mark is a member of the firm’s Insurance Recovery Group. He has been named as the leading policy-holder side attorney in Washington State. He has represented several Fortune 500 companies as well as the State of Washington, the Washington Association of Municipal Attorneys and several cities, counties and port authorities in insurance coverage disputes.
Prior to joining Orrick, Mark was a partner at Heller Ehrman.
Silicon Valley
Sara advises on a variety of corporate matters, including both domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions on the buy- and sell-side, corporate governance issues, venture capital financings and other strategic transactions. Sara works with a wide range of companies, including public companies, tech startups, private equity portfolio companies and unicorn companies.
Prior to law school, Sara worked in operations for a tech startup in North Carolina.
Silicon Valley
In addition to his ITC practice, Bas also heads Orrick’s contentious prosecution practice. He has led more than 30 IPRs and first-chaired more than a dozen trials before the United States Patent Office, as well as represented clients in dozens of trials in district courts, and before PTAB.
As someone with degrees in both engineering and English literature, Bas is uniquely suited to present complicated topics to non-technical audiences. He has represented clients in fields as diverse as semiconductor processing and structure, GPS and geosynchronous satellites, image texture and graphics processing, Internet switches and communications, and various consumer products.
Washington, D.C.
Brad’s practice includes performing case investigations, developing successful case themes, strategies, and defenses and preparing and defending key witnesses. He has significant experience managing complex litigation, handling pre-trial motions, including overseeing successful summary judgment and motion to dismiss briefings, taking and defending critical fact and expert depositions and managing complex and cross-border e-discovery matters.
In the past few years, he has been involved in a number of cutting-edge cases in the FCPA arena spanning a variety of industries, including financial services, gaming, telecommunications and commodities trading.
Prior to joining Orrick, Brad was a partner at Buckley LLP. From 1999 to 2002, Brad covered Navy football and men’s college lacrosse as a reporter for the Washington Times.
Boston; New York
Tech and consumer-facing clients – from early-stage startups to some of the most recognizable online companies – turn to Caroline to protect their IP, brand, and reputation in litigation. Her expertise includes the fast-evolving areas of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and online safety, cybersecurity & data privacy litigation. In the past year, she has litigated more than 60 cases related to platform immunity and she is currently lead counsel in dozens of cases for one of the world's largest tech companies on claims challenging myriad aspects of its online services, including content moderation and product design.
A partner to her clients in crisis management, Caroline also advises them in cyber incident response, government and internal investigations and enforcement actions. Her experience at the intersection of online safety, IP and white-collar litigation gives her breadth of perspective and allows her to work with her clients to problem-solve and effectively manage enterprise risk. Clients appreciate Caroline's ability to collaborate with witnesses, company stakeholders and factfinders – both inside and outside the courtroom – to achieve meaningful results.
Caroline maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients in Hague proceedings as well as children and refugees in asylum proceedings in conjunction with the Political Asylum / Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project. She has drafted amicus briefs in cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals in the areas of technology, criminal justice, and reproductive rights.
Silicon Valley
Clients turn to Joe again and again as a creative problem solver and trusted advisor in helping them achieve their goals quickly and efficiently.
For example, in a wage class action for Sears, Joe quarterbacked an unusual strategy to dismiss the case. The team discovered that the plaintiff had filed for bankruptcy, and filed a motion to dismiss because the plaintiff no longer owned the lawsuit, the bankruptcy trustee did. But the plaintiff argued he might re-acquire the lawsuit in bankruptcy court, and the district court allowed him to try. In the bankruptcy court, Joe had Sears buy the lawsuit (an asset of the plaintiff’s bankruptcy estate) for a nominal amount, and then returned to the district court where Sears, now the owner of the class action against itself, dismissed the case with prejudice.
In Pao v. Kleiner Perkins, the high-stakes gender discrimination and retaliation case that garnered intense national scrutiny, Joe led the trial team's work on jury instructions and expert witnesses.
Joe is praised by clients, co-counsel and colleagues for his collaborative approach and ability to bring out the best work from the team.