People

Caroline Simons Partner

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.

Lisa T. Simpson Partner

New York

Lisa has been recognized as one of the "Top 250 Women in IP" by Managing Intellectual Property and has received accolades from American Lawyer, Benchmark Litigation, The Legal 500 USA and New York Times Magazine with World Trademark Review 1000 noting that Lisa “marries a rich comprehension of IP law with a gift for connecting with people, making full use of each advantage in the courtroom.” Lisa was recently named to Lawdragon's 500 Leading Litigators in America list.

Trial Experience

Lisa has served as trial counsel across a wide range of matters. She recently served as co-lead trial counsel in a case in Delaware Chancery Court in a dispute over corporate control and ownership. She is currently serving as lead trial counsel in an energy distribution contract and rate dispute in North Dakota. Lisa also served as trial counsel for Oracle in its dispute with Google over the Java APIs in Android phones in the Northern District of California and served as trial counsel in a matter involving the trade dress of a hip implant medical device in the District of Colorado. Lisa has also served as trial counsel in a number of product liability matters involving allegations concerning talc, analgesics and herbicides.

Intellectual Property

Lisa handles a variety of high-profile trademark, trade secret, and copyright matters. Lisa’s copyright experience includes some of the leading copyright cases of the past decade: she represented Oracle in its litigation with Google over the Java APIs, represented DISH Networks, LCC in its copyright litigation with the broadcast networks over various features offered by DISH’s Hopper DVR, including AutoHop and Sling and served as counsel to Supap Kirtsaeng before the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of the copyright first sale doctrine’s applicability to goods manufactured abroad.

Lisa’s trademark and trade secret litigation has spanned a variety of courts and industries: she successfully defended trademark infringement claims in the Northern District of California on behalf of Sony over its popular “Gran Turismo” racing video game and scored two separate wins in the Southern District of New York and then in the Second Circuit on behalf of client Sanei in trademark litigation brought by fashion designer Jill Stuart. Lisa also successful established secondary meaning and secured a preliminary injunction for the New York City Triathlon in S.D.N.Y. Lisa also represented a major pharmaceutical and healthcare company in trade secrets litigation concerning multi-payor coordination of prescription drug benefits loyalty cards.

Products Liability and Consumer Class Action

Lisa serves as counsel to Johnson & Johnson, Chanel, and Avon in cases asserting claims arising from the use of its talcum powder products, including claims of mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. She also represented Wyeth and Dow Agrosciences in a variety of complex products liability and consumer class action litigations. Lisa served as counsel in hundreds of product liability matters concerning injuries allegedly associated with childhood vaccines, handled litigations involving the labeling and advertising of Advil, and obtained the dismissal, prior to class certification, of a consumer class action in a matter concerning the calcium supplement Caltrate.

Current Pro Bono Representation

Lisa served as trial counsel for Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, securing an important trial win invalidating as unconstitutional a statewide law that jeopardized access to safe and legal abortion services in Kentucky.
Lisa also has served in a variety of firm management roles, including on the Firm’s Management Committee, as Hiring Partner for the New York office as well as Partner-in-Charge of Firmwide Campus Recruiting and as a member of the Professional Development Committee.

Spencer Sinclair Senior Associate

Houston

Spencer is a trusted advisor to a diverse range of clients, including renewable energy developers, private equity investors, multi-national energy companies, and startups, providing expert guidance on complex transactions and helping clients achieve their most important business goals. Known for his strategic insight and practical approach, Spencer delivers tailored solutions that drive value and mitigate risks, ensuring successful outcomes for clients across the full lifecycle of their ventures.

As global energy demand continues to grow amidst an increased focus on decarbonization of the energy industry, Spencer takes pride in working closely with pioneers involved in the energy transition, helping to steer development and investment in solutions such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, ammonia, offshore wind, renewable power generation, energy storage and other exciting technologies that are critical to achieving decarbonization on a global scale.

Harmann Singh Managing Associate

Washington, D.C.

Harmann is a member of Orrick’s Supreme Court and Appellate group. He counsels clients in high-stakes constitutional, administrative, intellectual property, and commercial disputes across industries. His experience includes representing some of the world’s largest companies, nonprofits, and universities in trade secret cases, patent and copyright disputes, challenges to federal and state laws and regulations, and complex business litigation. Harmann also serves as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches the seminar Contemporary Civil Rights Issues at the Supreme Court.

Harmann maintains an active public interest practice and has represented clients in federal immigration appeals challenging their unlawful removal from the United States, advocated for criminal defendants in state appellate courts, and contributed to a gender equity investigation of the NCAA. Harmann is experienced in election law, as he has represented Pennsylvania in defending its certification of the 2020 presidential election results at the U.S. Supreme Court, defended the constitutionality of New York’s candidate filing deadline in federal court, and submitted briefs in support of election administration grants in state and federal court. Governor Andrew Beshear commissioned Harmann as a Kentucky Colonel—the Commonwealth’s highest civilian honor—for successfully defending the Governor’s COVID-19 public health measures at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Harmann served as a law clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court; Judge Raymond J. Lohier, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Earlier in his career, he was an associate at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP. Before law school, he was a Truman-Albright Fellow at the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Harmann graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and Columbia University, where he was named a Truman Scholar.

Gary Siniscalco Senior Counsel

San Francisco

Gary has handled numerous class actions, pattern and practice cases and government audits,  Most recently, Gary served as senior counsel on the Orrick team that obtained a complete dismissal for Oracle in OFCCP v. Oracle, a high-stakes systemic compensation discrimination case that garnered national media attention. Gary and the Orrick team was named "Litigator of the Week" by American Lawyer for their role in the successful defense of Oracle in litigation against the OFCCP. He brings a particularly unique perspective to clients on matters involving the EEOC, having served as regional counsel and senior trial attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in San Francisco prior to joining Orrick.

Gary’s counseling practice extends beyond the United States and includes assisting U.S. multinational companies in dealing with complex employee issues in foreign jurisdictions

Gary is widely recognized as one the top management employment lawyers in the United States by every major ranking organization, including Chambers USA, the National Law Journal, Best of the Best USA (Euromoney), and Who’s Who Legal. Among management employment lawyers in the United States and Europe, Gary is ranked in the top 10 of Who’s Who international management labor and employment lawyers and is described as “absolutely superb.”

Gary also serves regularly on the NYU faculty for training federal judges on employment law, the OFCCP Institute, PLI International Employment Law and ABA Labor and Employment Law Section programs.

Ashlie J. Smith Senior Associate

Boston

Ashlie grew up in a family of restaurant franchisees, and she learned about the power of a strong trademark at a young age. This understanding led her to pursue a career in trademark and copyright law, and from her start as a trademark prosecution intern at Hewlett Packard Enterprise in law school, through her work in trademark and copyright litigation at Fish & Richardson P.C., her practice has always focused on assisting businesses with their intellectual property needs.  

Ashlie’s practice at Orrick focuses on domestic and international trademark and copyright prosecution and counseling. She has experience assisting businesses ranging from small start-ups to multi-billion dollar corporations with trademark clearance, protection, and strategy. Additionally, Ashlie has extensive experience in intellectual property litigation in federal district courts and at the International Trade Commission. Because of her wide-range of experience, she brings to each matter a unique understanding of the intersection of copyright and trademark clearance and prosecution and enforcement and litigation.      

Jarrad Smith Project Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Jarrad works with litigation attorneys and third party vendors to manage the review and production of documents relevant to investigations and litigation. This work includes using early case assessment technology to analyze, categorize and cull data. He also manages teams of skilled professionals performing document review, redaction, analysis, production and drafting privilege logs. Jarrad assists the litigation team to prepare for trial, including drafting deposition summaries, factual memoranda and exhibit charts. He also works with practice office attorneys on transactional tasks, including contract review and due diligence.

Adam Smith Partner

London; Singapore

Adam also has a complementary breadth of experience from a variety of financing, M&A, capital markets and general corporate matters in numerous sectors.

"Adam Smith is a highly competent financing lawyer with excellent commercial judgement and experience." - Chambers

"Adam's style is practical. He is able to explain complex legal matters so that we can make informed decisions." - Chambers

"Adam Smith is very capable and able to adapt to his client's needs." - Chambers

"Adam Smith is practical and easy to work with – he is able to explain legal concepts and how to appropriately allocate risks between parties and has good legal market knowledge." - Legal 500 UK

"We are very satisfied and impressed by the work performed by Adam Smith." - Legal 500 UK

"Adam Smith is very responsive and has excellent product expertise." - Legal 500 UK

"Adam Smith is a partner with the expertise to interpret and resolve disputes among counterparties." - Legal 500 UK

“Very pleased to have worked with Adam and the Orrick team on this unique and highly innovative debt product. The team demonstrated a combination of strong technical skills alongside excellent sector specific knowledge.” - Client testimonial

Richard Smith Partner

San Francisco

Richard also has represented clients in a wide range of SEC-registered, underwritten and privately placed stock and debt offerings, and he has assisted companies in connection with issuer tender offers (both equity and debt), recapitalizations, restructurings, share repurchase programs, and rights offerings. He regularly represents clients in the preparation and filing of periodic SEC reports, proxy statements and Williams Act reports. He also advises clients on compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 and JOBS Act; reporting under and compliance with Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; disclosure and reporting issues; sales of restricted securities and sales of securities by insiders; universal proxy cards; and NYSE/NASDAQ rule compliance and inquiries.

Neil Snead Project Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Neil works with litigation attorneys and third party vendors to manage the review for cyber incident response, investigations, and litigation. This work includes using early case assessment technology to analyze, categorize, and cull data. He also manages teams of skilled professionals performing document review, quality control, and notification list deliverables.

Larry Sobel Partner

Los Angeles; Houston

As both bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel, he has been responsible for structuring and analyzing the tax aspects of many tax-exempt financings throughout the country.

Larry has extensive experience in handling IRS audits of bond transactions. He has represented issuers in dozens of audits all of which have ended favorably either with the IRS issuing a “no change” letter or by negotiating a reasonable settlement when needed. Larry also has handled a number of submissions under the IRS’ Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (or VCAP). The two most recent VCAP submissions represented cases of first impression for the IRS; one involving an issue of qualified energy conservation bonds relating to determining the amount of those bonds eligible for the federal subsidy; the other involved the plan to convert a “new money” bond issue into an advance refunding (which did not meet all of the requirements for a tax-exempt advance refunding). Both cases ultimately were resolved on the original terms proposed to the IRS.

Larry has also been instrumental in developing new financing techniques and structures. He first devised the tax structure and analysis for, and has served as tax counsel on, Orrick’s tax exempt tobacco revenue securitizations. He has developed the tax structure on numerous tax-exempt prepayments for natural gas for municipal utilities both within and outside of California.

Alex Sobolev Partner

London

Alex’s multidisciplinary practice and transatlantic experience enable him to provide strategic commercial advice for technology led companies, including coordinating and implementing data and consumer risk mitigation projects, providing outsourcing advice and developing key legal risk mitigation strategies in relation to products where the pace of innovation nearly always outpaces the law.

He has advised companies at all stages of the corporate lifecycle, from software development and product launch, through technology licensing, sale and purchase, to mergers and acquisitions of data and tech-heavy businesses. He has assisted organisations with the design, development and implementation of global data protection and compliance policies, as well the management of risk and security associated with data retention, processing and transfer.