People

Michelle Visser Partner

San Francisco

Michelle’s dedication to these cutting-edge areas of the law and technology over the past 20 years has earned her recognition from Chambers for Privacy & Data Security Litigation and as an up-and-coming lawyer in Privacy & Data generally – where she is described as “equally capable in both compliance and enforcement elements of privacy regulation.”

As a litigator, Michelle is adept at developing novel legal arguments to protect clients in a world where innovation is outpacing regulation. She brings deep experience representing companies in regulatory investigations, data breach and privacy litigation involving the increasing web of statutes that pose statutory damages exposure to companies, such as the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), and the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), and other complex commercial claims. As a crisis manager, she also represents companies in incident response and enjoys working with diverse groups of stakeholders to mitigate business and reputational risks and achieve positive outcomes.

Michelle resides in California with her three children.

Andrew Vogeler Managing Associate

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Andrew concentrates his practice on matters pertaining to private equity and alternative investment funds, representing both investors and fund sponsors.

On the investor side, he primarily represents institutional investors, advising their participation in funds with a variety of focuses including venture capital, buy-out, real estate, and mezzanine opportunities. He works to ensure fund arrangements not only advance clients' economic objectives, but are responsive to the complex fiduciary and regulatory issues institutional investors must manage on behalf of their stakeholders.

On the sponsor side, Andrew handles various aspects of fund formation relating to the internal structuring of sponsor and management entities, drafting of fund documents, and negotiations with investors.

In addition, Andrew has experience handling a range of issues in M&A, real estate, oil & gas, and pipeline infrastructure transactions.

Tobias von Gostomski Counsel

Munich

From bilateral loans up to complex, multi-jurisdictional financing transactions, Tobias provides his clients with innovative advice tailored to their most sophisticated needs, including those clients who have little or no experience in financing deals.

His clients include banks, sponsors, investment funds and corporates looking for fast, reliable and high-quality advice. 

Tobias also advises his clients on regulatory law, capital markets and money laundering issues.

He has over 20 years of experience and worked for various big law firms as well as for Commerzbank before joining Orrick.

Steven vonBerg Counsel

Washington, D.C.

Steve’s practice is focused on the full spectrum of federal mortgage lending laws, particularly those that have come out of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), including the Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage (ATR/QM) rule, the Loan Originator Compensation rule, the Truth in Lending Act-Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (TILA-RESPA) Integrated Disclosure rule (TRID), RESPA Section 8, the 2013 Mortgage Servicing Rules and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) amendments.

Steve is active in the mortgage industry, writing articles and is a regular speaker at mortgage industry conferences. He was a contributing author to the CFPB Mortgage Origination Handbook (2nd Edition).  Steve also holds a Certified Mortgage Banker designation from the Mortgage Bankers Association and also completed the MBA's Future Leaders Program in 2018.

Prior to joining Orrick, Steve was Counsel at Buckley LLP.

Amanda Voss Partner

London

Amanda frequently acts for clients in the professional services, financial services, technology and energy sectors in connection with disputes in the English courts and abroad, arbitration and regulatory investigations. Amanda regularly acts for "Big 4" clients in connection with both litigation and regulatory investigations.   

She was named as a Rising Star for both Commercial Litigation and International Arbitration in Legal 500 UK for 2021. She was described as "clever and tenacious", and "a fabulous senior associate! She’ll stop at nothing to produce an excellent document, and her contributions on every aspect of a case are invaluable. She someone you can depend upon with total confidence. Terrific.”

Amanda originally qualified in New Zealand, and relocated to the United Kingdom in 2010.

Olivier Vuillod Partner

Paris; Paris Tech Studio

Olivier advises startups and high growth technology companies throughout their lifecycle, from formation to financings, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as venture and growth capital investors. He has significant cross-border and U.S. transaction experience in venture capital markets. Olivier also advises on complex cross-border M&A transactions in the tech sector. Outside his practice, he lectures on venture capital at the EDHEC Business School. Olivier has worked in Orrick’s Paris, San Francisco and Menlo Park offices.

Olivier’s company-side representations include Aledia, Alice & Bob, Another Brain, Bellman, Dataiku, Finary, Ganymed Robotics, Gatewatcher, Highlife, Murfy, Myr.ai, Payfit, SESAMm, SiPearl, Tehtris, Upowa, Volta Medical, Xelan, XXII, Yescapa.

In addition to his company-side representations, Olivier has represented leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors, including Airbus Ventures, Alven, Astanor, Bpifrance, ETF Partners, Felix Capital, NGP Capital, One Peak, Princeville Capital, Raise Capital, Seedcamp.

Before joining Orrick, Olivier worked in the Corporate department of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Paris.

Jillian Victoria Wagner Senior Associate

Silicon Valley

Jillian has spent her career representing clients in wide variety of employment matters, including equity disputes, FEHA and Title VII claims, and employment contract claims. Jillian has been a crucial part of numerous litigation and trial teams. 

Before joining Orrick, Jillian clerked at San Francisco Superior Court.

Jillian graduated Magna Cum Laude and Order of the Coif from UC Hastings College of the Law.  During law school, Jillian won multiple awards for both brief writing and oral advocacy.  Jillian also served as the Executive Editor of the Hastings Women's Law Journal.  

Minako Wakabayashi Partner

Tokyo

Minako has significant experience advising international and domestic sponsors and developers on complex and innovative projects. She was called upon by the Japanese government in structuring the renewable Feed-in-Tariff scheme in Japan and prepared the government’s model contracts for specific contracts (power purchase contract/interconnection contract), which are a key component of the Feed-in-Tariff scheme in Japan. Recently, she has also been handling numerous corporate PPA projects.

She was appointed as Auditor of the Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA) in May 2022.

Minako practiced at Orrick’s New York office in 2004-2005. She also worked as a public prosecutor in Japan for four years and served as a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Supervising Committee for Public Bidding (Tokyo-to Nyusatsu Kanshi Iinkai) for eight years. She is serving as Audit of Veritas In Silico Inc since March 2022.

Christopher Walczyszyn Managing Associate

New York

Chris advises banks, non-banks, and other financial industry clients on a wide range of regulatory compliance and licensing issues, with an emphasis on the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), the Truth in Savings Act (TISA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and laws prohibiting unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices. He also assists financial services providers with examinations and represents clients before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other federal and state regulators. 

Joseph Walker Partner

Washington, D.C.

In private practice, Joe represents companies and executives in FCPA internal investigations, enforcement actions, compliance and defense matters before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and similar authorities. While at DOJ, Joe was a member of several task forces, including the Securities Fraud Task Force and DOJ’s Task Force into corruption allegations relating to the award of the Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City. Joe also acted as lead prosecutor on several high-profile matters, such as the first-ever joint FCPA enforcement action between the SEC and the DOJ against KPMG and Baker Hughes (which is now the template for FCPA enforcement); an insider trading matter against the former CFO of a waste removal company; and a tax fraud prosecution involving an executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Joe provided counsel in high-profile matters, including leading the internal investigation for HealthSouth (relating to the first criminal indictment under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act); representing an executive for Credit Suisse under indictment for allegations related to tax evasion by U.S. citizens; working on notable FCPA investigations and representing financial institutions in enforcement matters with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Joe was appointed by the DOJ and the SEC to be the FCPA Compliance Monitor of Weatherford International Ltd., a large multinational corporation in the oil and gas industry, to monitor its FCPA Compliance Program in connection with a deferred prosecution agreement and settlement with those agencies. Joe has acted as Counsel to the monitor for FCA US LLC in the first-ever appointment of a monitorship by the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Joe also represents boards of directors, audit committees, officers, senior management and employees of global corporations in enforcement and criminal matters around the world and he frequently conducts internal investigations and due diligence for global clients. Such matters have included allegations of FCPA violations, healthcare fraud, qui tam and False Claims Act actions, insider trading and similar matters. These matters have included such locations as Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkestan, Turkmenistan, the UK, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

Eric Wall Partner

San Francisco

Eric counsels private and public companies, including private equity funds, on the tax aspects of their most important business transactions, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, and restructurings. In particular, Eric has significant experience with the tax matters most critical to clients in the technology and life science sectors. Eric also has significant experience advising clients on equity and other compensation tax matters, real estate tax matters and tax controversy matters.

Eric began his career at the firm as a summer associate in 2001.

Mary Wallace Of Counsel

Washington, D.C.

Mary represents financial institutions and other entities in connection with private debt financings (secured and unsecured), co-investment transactions, private equity financings and restructurings involving privately held companies. She regularly negotiates and drafts complex legal documents to implement these transactions.