People

Nikita Shah Partner

Austin; San Francisco

Niki advises entrepreneurs, senior in-house leadership, and investors of technology companies at all stages and across a broad range of industries, including consumer internet, enterprise software, AI, fintech, edtech, delivery, healthcare, retail, digital media and sharing economy.

Leveraging a unique professional background, Niki is a trusted advisor to founders and provides strategic insights as outside general counsel to startups, from pre-seed to exit.

Niki has advised companies and venture capital firms on over 150 transactions, including venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and secondary offerings, with an aggregate transaction value in excess of $20 billion.

Niki’s prior company-side representations include Yelp, DocuSign (IPO team), Blue Nile, Origin Materials, Orbus Therapeutics, Singularity Education Group, SmartRecruiters, and TravelBank, among others.

Niki has also represented leading venture capital firms and strategic investors, including a16z, Battery Ventures, General Catalyst, Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital, SVB Capital, Temasek and Founders Fund, among others.

Before joining Orrick, Niki served as the Associate General Counsel at MasterClass, where she provided legal and strategic counsel on corporate and equity matters, BD and strategic partnerships, product development, content and production, marketing, IP, and data privacy. Niki started her emerging companies and venture practice at Cooley LLP and advised startup companies in-house at Techstars.

Adil Shaikh Managing Associate

Austin

Adil Shaikh is an experienced patent litigator, adept at handling cases from their initial phases through to trial. With appearances in over 120 cases, he consistently strives to achieve the best possible outcomes for his clients in every engagement.

With extensive technical knowledge and experience, Adil offers invaluable insights and assistance in intellectual property cases. As a former software engineer, he possesses a unique ability to understand clients' innovations, communicate effectively with inventors, scientists, and expert witnesses, and explain complex technologies in clear, comprehensible terms. His practice focuses on patents, particularly in complex software technology and semiconductors.

Before transitioning to the legal industry, Adil held software engineering roles at Sabre Corporation, specializing in data engineering and big data systems. He also gained experience in software development at Nokia Corp and Cisco Systems. Additionally, Adil co-founded a company dedicated to technical education and recruitment.

Evgeniya Shakina Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

As part of her practice, Evgeniya advises clients on economic sanctions administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (OFAC), export control regulations (EAR/ITAR), the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and federal procurement regulations.

She also has experience assisting clients in unfair trade practice disputes, including antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings, CFIUS/Exon-Florio examinations of foreign investment, and trade compliance due diligence in corporate transactions.

Rachel G. Shalev Senior Associate

New York

Rachel represents clients in high-stakes, complex litigation. She has argued successfully in federal and state appellate courts and has been the lead drafter of briefs and dispositive motions in both state and federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Rachel’s experience litigating and advising clients covers a wide range of substantive areas. She focuses in particular on tough questions of constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and intellectual property. Rachel also maintains an active pro bono practice.

Prior to joining Orrick, Rachel served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Judge Cornelia T.L. Pillard of the D.C. Circuit, and Judge William A. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit. Rachel received her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as a student director of the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic and as Essays Editor of the Yale Law Journal. She graduated from Williams College and received master’s degrees from University College London and University of St. Andrews, which she attended as a Marshall Scholar.

Marc R. Shapiro Partner

New York

Marc represents clients in federal and state court at the trial and appellate levels with a particular focus on class actions, multi-district litigation, and mass joinders. Among Marc’s current engagements, he represents Johns Hopkins University and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America in over a dozen class actions arising out of a data breach of the MOVEit file transfer software; University of Washington in a pandemic-related class action seeking refunds of tuition and fees on behalf of students; ZoomInfo Technologies LLC in a data privacy class action alleging unlawful disclosure of personal information under federal and state laws; Goldman Sachs in a pay and promotion gender discrimination class action; NCAA in concussion and injury-related cases throughout the country; Marathon Oil Corporation in nationwide climate change litigation; and multiple foreign defendants in a class action arising out of allegedly defective drywall.

Recently, Marc successfully prevailed at trial before the Delaware Chancery Court and earned Litigator of the Week recognition by Law.com for defeating claims by Netflix star Julia Haart that she owns half the shares of Elite World Group; secured dismissal of a dozen class actions against the University of California and Santa Clara University brought by students seeking refunds of tuition and fees due to COVID-driven transition to remote instruction; and defeated class certification and secured affirmance on appeal by the Ninth Circuit in an employment discrimination class action against Microsoft.

Marc served as a law clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to joining Orrick, Marc worked as an appellate and post-conviction attorney for the Equal Justice Initiative. In that capacity, he engaged in trial level and appellate representation of clients in both state and federal court, including two cases that were briefed and argued before the United States Supreme Court.

Gaelyn Sharp Of Counsel

Los Angeles; New York

Gaelyn has represented a wide range of financial institutions including fund sponsors, issuers, underwriters, placement agents, investment advisers and investors in connection with a wide range of financing transactions including collateralized loan, bond and debt obligations; synthetic collateralized debt obligations; trade receivables; various derivative instruments and structured finance products; and private equity funds and hedge funds.

David Sharrow Partner

Boston

David brings a wealth of expertise, focusing on diverse cutting-edge technologies, including life sciences (biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health, genomic technology), fintech, artificial intelligence, information technology (hardware, software, SaaS, and database solutions), edtech, renewable energy, sustainable technologies, AR/VR and cybersecurity.

He advises clients on corporate partnerships, strategic alliances and licensing agreements with leading U.S. and global entities, as well as major research universities and institutes. His experience includes navigating the IP and technology aspects of venture capital financings, public offerings and some of the largest M&A transactions involving venture-backed companies.

David has lectured at major institutions, including Tulane, Yale, Princeton, NYU, Columbia, Cornell and Fordham.

Geoffrey Shaw Senior Associate

Los Angeles

Geoff's experience litigating and advising clients covers a range of substantive areas. He especially focuses on complex issues of constitutional law and civil procedure.  He is passionate about partnering with public defenders and using his appellate experience to help death sentenced prisoners. 

Geoff received his law degree from Yale Law School. Before joining Orrick, he clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Geoff previously graduated from Yale College and earned a doctoral degree from Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. 

Gil Shefer Senior Associate

San Francisco

He advises developers and sponsors operating in the energy sector on a wide variety of matters, including tax equity financings, energy storage acquisitions, power purchase and sale agreements, and EPC and supply agreements. Prior to joining Orrick, Gil worked as an economic consultant for the World Bank in their Kigali, Rwanda, office.

Charles Sheldon Senior Associate

London

Charlie frequently acts in the technology, energy and media sectors and is experienced in working with a range of clients, from large private and listed corporates, institutional investors and fast growing technology startups. Charlie advises on a variety of matters including private acquisitions and disposals, public takeovers, joint ventures, direct listings and admissions on the London Stock Exchange, SPAC transactions, corporate restructurings, investments and corporate governance.

Matthew Shellenhamer Senior Associate

New York

Matthew assists major financial institutions, public and privately owned companies and direct and alternative lenders in effectively assessing legal risks in complex secured and unsecured commercial finance transactions. He advises on a wide variety of finance transactions, including corporate financings, acquisitions, dividend recapitalizations and project financings. 

Prior to joining Orrick, Matthew was an associate in the Project Finance group at Chadbourne & Parke LLP.

Li Shen Senior Associate

Houston

Li has experience representing a broad range of clients through project development and acquisitions and divestitures, including through the negotiation and drafting of master, short-term, and long-term LNG sales and purchase agreements, tolling agreements, methanol sales and purchase agreements, hydrogen purchase and sale agreements, and physically and financially settled power purchase and sale agreements.

Li also has experience working on energy commodity purchase agreements, including oil and gas, power, and renewable energy credits using industry forms such as ISDA, NAESB, EEI, and other ancillary documents. As a Mandarin speaker who has worked in both the United States and China, Li has also leveraged her unique intercultural background to counsel Chinese energy companies in the United States.

Li is also actively involved in pro bono engagements, including asylum and immigration matters.