People

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.

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.

Nicole Walsh Partner

Los Angeles

Nicole guides real estate investment funds, banks, developers and corporate clients through their most intricate real estate deals. With a strong background in corporate finance, she can bridge relevant viewpoints and offer distinct context across a wide range of real estate transactions, such as restructurings, workouts, foreclosures, mortgage and mezzanine financings, construction contracts, joint ventures, acquisitions and dispositions.

She serves as the relationship co-lead for one of our largest real estate clients, Hackman Capital Partners. Nicole also works closely with Sagehall Partners, Westbrook Partners, Local Bounti and Walton Street Capital, and has deep relationships with CoreVest.

Amy Walsh Partner

New York

Amy represents individuals and institutions in government investigations, enforcement actions and prosecutions conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Internal Revenue Service. She negotiates resolutions with government officials, but also tries cases against the government. She is a fierce advocate for her clients, and her work often results in the government declining to bring charges.

Amy was an Assistant United States Attorney for 12 years in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she led dozens of investigations and cases on behalf of the U.S. government and supervised several sections within the Office.

Amy has also served as a court-appointed monitor for a global financial institution.

Gerard Walsh Partner

Los Angeles

Jerry is particularly recognized for his work in connection with the acquisition, restructuring and realization of distressed debt in the real estate and hospitality markets. Clients seek him out for the most complex distressed debt transactions, including securitized and mezzanine debt intercreditor workouts and the establishment of mezzanine debt lending platforms. Jerry led a multidisciplinary Orrick team in one of the most sophisticated real estate debt transactions that was restructured in 2013, involving a series of complex transactions and multi-state litigation. Recognized as a key lawyer in the 2022 Real Estate category, a client told The Legal 500 US that Jerry is “smart, responsive and extraordinarily helpful and collaborative.”

In addition, Jerry leads Orrick’s hospitality practice and advises global opportunity, hotel and pension funds and advisors in connection with the acquisition, repositioning and disposing of hotel portfolios throughout the United States. He advises on acquisitions, joint ventures, financing, rebranding, disposition and negotiation of hotel management agreements, shared services and amenities agreements, and franchise agreements, including termination of hotel management and franchise agreements involving brands such as Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, St. Regis, Renaissance, Luxury Collection, Westin, Kimpton and other Sheraton/Starwood brands.

Jerry's representative clients include Cisco Systems, Inc., Cornerstone Advisers LLC, JMA Ventures, LACERA, The Newhall Land and Farming Company, Walton Street Capital, and Westbrook Partners.

Before joining Orrick, Jerry was a partner with a magic circle firm and chairman of the real estate group of a prominent national law firm.

Ashley Walter Partner & Chief Sustainability Officer

Seattle

As Orrick’s Chief Sustainability Officer, he also oversees Orrick's strategic sustainability initiatives. Ashley focuses on developing innovative methods of supporting clients in achieving ESG objectives, including designing novel systems to manage supply chain risk; forming and guiding management-level ESG Steering Committees; and helping clients address the ESG requirements of major customers by engaging with those customers on our clients’ behalf.

Ashley is a co-founder and past chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section, has co-chaired the Practising Law Institute's annual ESG program for the last four years, and is heavily involved in ESG initiatives at Stanford Law School, where has served as a moderator at the Stanford Directors' College, has lectured on ESG at business law courses, has taught the course “Corporate Social Responsibility,” and will be teaching the course “Law and Governance in ESG Strategy” in the spring of 2025. Prior to Orrick, Ashley founded the corporate social responsibility practice at a Silicon Valley-based law firm.

How I help clients:

• Customer ESG Engagement: Engaging with clients’ major customers in response to ESG inquiries or requirements
• Supply Chain Risk: Developing responsible sourcing systems for high-risk supply chains
• ESG Goal Management: Advice regarding retaining, modifying or withdrawing ESG goals
• ESG Steering Committees: Forming and guiding management-level ESG Steering Committees
• ESG Due Diligence: Conducting ESG due diligence with a focus on post-closing program building
• Quarterbacking Compliance: Creating and advancing a project plan for regulatory compliance, including working with third-party consultants