People

Carsten Bernauer Partner

Düsseldorf; Munich

A special focus is on the comprehensive support of start-up technology companies and their investors. In this context, he accompanies his clients through all stages of growth with the aim of providing fast and efficient support in the implementation of their growth plans and investment strategies.

His clients benefit from his extensive experience in structuring, managing and coordinating complex transactions, including all other advisors involved in the transaction. In international transactions, he has access to Orrick's comprehensive technology, private equity and venture capital platform.

Carsten Bernauer also advises on national and international corporate transactions, in particular in the field of technology, as well as on corporate restructurings.

After many years working for an American and an English commercial law firm, Carsten Bernauer joined Orrick's Düsseldorf office in 2019.

Josh Beser Partner

New York

Josh is a member of Orrick’s Technology Companies Group, representing high-growth technology companies and their investors in a range of corporate matters, including corporate and securities law, corporate formations, venture and growth capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, and secondary offerings. Josh brings a unique perspective to working with founders and company leadership at venture-backed companies as they scale, often serving as the company’s primary outside counsel from early-stage financing through exit. He is especially skilled serving as outside general counsel to companies as they reach growth inflection points, often ranging from Series Seed to Series C and beyond, where business and legal issues tend to multiply and the experience of outside counsel with deep operating experience is particularly valuable. He is an integral part of the firm’s presence in New York and its commitment to tech & venture ecosystem in the region.

Josh’s clients include Misfits Market, Skims, Studs, Away, Crossbeam and Topline Pro. In addition, Josh regularly works with early-stage investors and venture studios such as TMV and 25madison.

Josh is a leader in the startup ecosystem in New York, as a founding member of TechGC in New York City, a mentor to growth-stage general counsels in collaboration with First Round Capital’s Fast Track program and since 2012, as a mentor to early-stage founders through ERA.

Before joining Orrick, Josh was a partner in the New York office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Prior to WSGR, Josh served as general counsel at Away, a direct-to-consumer travel brand twice named as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” and as one of Time’s “50 Most Genius Companies,” among other honors. At Away, Josh was a member of the executive team, served as corporate secretary, and built and led teams in a wide range of operational functions, including information security, real estate, and global trade. Josh built and implemented Away’s legal strategy and infrastructure at scale and led Away’s legal team through substantial revenue and headcount growth, international sales, operations and retail expansion, Series C and Series D financings, growth-stage debt financing, liquidity transactions, global intellectual property development and brand protection programs, public company readiness, and executive transitions.

Andy Bloom Senior Associate

Boston

Andy advises high growth technology companies, startup founders, private funds and other institutional investors on a broad range of corporate transactions across industries. He has extensive experience in a broad range of corporate and transactional matters, advising companies from formation to exit on formation, governance, and financing matters, and private funds and institutional investors on venture capital, growth equity and private equity investments. Andy works closely with clients to provide strategic insights and outside general counsel services, advising clients on day-to-day governance, equity compensation and general commercial matters.

Andy also has extensive experience advising sponsors of private investment funds on their formation, regulatory compliance, and fundraising activities, as well as institutional investors in connection with various aspects of their investment programs, including investments in private investment funds, co-investments and complex secondaries transactions.

Emma Cameron Senior Associate

London

Emma's primary focus is venture capital work, and she has considerable experience working with early stage companies as well as with investors and VCs. She can advise on all aspects of venture and growth capital transactions including early stage financing, institutional funding rounds and exits.

Max Cantor Partner

New York

Max has extensive experience in a broad range of domestic and cross-border corporate and transactional matters, including venture capital and growth equity financings, mergers & acquisitions, fund formation and SPAC transactions. He has represented both early and growth stage companies in hundreds of venture capital financings, growth equity investments and M&A transactions, and he regularly advises leading venture capital and private equity funds on their investments across the innovation ecosystem.

Max is also known for working closely with clients to provide strategic business insights and outside general counsel services, advising clients on corporate governance and boardroom matters, product development and design, fundraising strategy and general commercial matters.

In addition to representing US companies on domestic transactions, Max has substantial experience representing clients outside the US, including emerging companies and venture funds operating in Canada, Europe, Latin America, India, Japan, Singapore, China, Australia, Israel, the Cayman Islands and various other jurisdictions.

Christina Catzoela Partner

Seattle

In the four years prior to joining Orrick, Christina acted as Senior Corporate Counsel to Zillow Group, Inc. While at Zillow Group, Inc., Christina focused her practice on technology transactions, public reporting and compliance.

She started her practice as a corporate associate in the Silicon Valley office of Gunderson, Dettmer, Stough, Villeneuvue, Franklin & Hachigian, LLP.

Ching-Yin Chen Managing Associate

Silicon Valley

Ching-Yin represents high growth technology companies and venture capital firms in many areas, including corporate and securities law, formation, ongoing corporate matters, mergers & acquisitions and venture capital financings.

Ching-Yin received her JD/MBA from the University of Michigan in 2018. While at Michigan, she was part of the Ross School of Business' Social Venture Fund, where she assisted with the Fund’s investments in U.S.-based businesses working in the areas of education, food Systems & environment, health, and urban revitalization, including Matterhorn and Chirps.

Caroline Cherkassky Partner

Santa Monica

Caroline advises emerging and high growth companies throughout their lifecycle, as well as venture funds and other investors, across a variety of industries. Her practice focuses on venture financings and corporate governance matters, and the general day-to-day legal needs of startups. She has also counseled companies on M&A, securities and technology transactions matters.

Caroline is a frequent speaker on fundraising essentials for emerging growth companies and sits on the board of the Los Angeles Venture Association.

Prior to joining Orrick, Caroline was a Partner and Co-Chair of the Venture Capital & Emerging Growth Practice at Stubbs Alderton & Markiles.

Joseph Chern Senior IP Career Associate

Orange County

Joseph has experience drafting and prosecuting patents in several technical fields, including signal processing, memory control, optical medical devices, computer networks, database management, thermal conductivity and geomechanics, nanostructuring, e-commerce, capacitive touch panels, complex circuit designs, data security/encryption, semiconductors, in-flight entertainment systems, power systems, neural networks, and software applications.

Joseph's practice further includes conducting intellectual property due diligence to assess the quality and quantity of intellectual property assets.  For example, Joseph has represented several clients in open source licensing matters and provided counseling to develop open source software strategies.  He also has extensive experience in intellectual property and technology matters related to mergers and acquisitions.

Joseph also has substantial experience in patent infringement litigation cases in federal district courts and the United States International Trade Commission (ITC).  Joseph also has represented clients in post-grant opposition procedures with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, including ex parte reexaminations and inter partes reviews (under the America Invents Act).

Joseph began his career as a summer associate at Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor & Zaffman, LLP, in Los Angeles, and an attorney at One, LLP, in Newport Beach, Calif. Prior to law school, he worked as a software and systems engineer for a diversified systems and services company in transportation, defense and RFID markets worldwide.

Benjamin Cichostepski-Lesage Partner

Paris; Paris Tech Studio

Ben is the founding partner of Orrick's French Tech Companies Group. For more than 15 years, he has been advising high-potential innovative companies as well as venture and tech growth investors on all their corporate private equity and M&A transactions in France and globally.

As such, he is involved in every stage of their development, from incubation and fundraising to external growth and industrial exits as well as public offerings (IPO, secondary).

Ben has significant experience advising French companies expanding into the United States, and assists them over the full lifecycle of their overseas growth. He also counts a number of American investors and buyers among his clients.

From his first venture deal in 2006, where he represented Lightspeed Venture Partners in Wikio’s Series A, which became Teads, a company he then accompanied for 11 years until its sale to Altice, Ben has led more than 320 corporate tech transactions. He has been involved in the main exit transactions in recent years, particularly those with a franco-american element such as Neolane/Adobe, La Fourchette/TripAdvisor, Stupeflix/GoPro, eNovance/Red Hat, Regaind/Apple, Zenly/Snap, Teads/Altice, Getaround/Drivy, Glose/Medium, Sqreen/Datadog, Lalilo/Renaissance Learning, Tempow/Google, Context/Integral Ad Science, Monk/ACV Auctions, Cajoo/Flink, Shipfix/Veson Nautical, Bereal/Voodoo.

Ben's leadership has contributed to placing Orrick as the #1 Venture Capital and Tech Growth practice in France (ranked #1 by Pitchbook in 2021, 2022, 2023 - CF News in 2022, 2023). 

Recognized as a key lawyer in the market in venture capital and tech growth, Ben was ranked No. 1 in the "Top 10 Influential French Venture Capital Lawyers in Private Equity 2023" by Business Today. He was named "Lawyer of the Year" in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers France in the Venture Capital category. He is also ranked as a Leading Individual by The Legal 500 EMEA in Private Equity - Venture Capital/Growth Capital since 2020 and was voted as the most active tech lawyer in France in 2019 by transaction volume in CF News’ ranking.

Ben is the founder of Orrick Paris Tech Studio, a one of a kind office and working space created in June 2022 and located in the heart of the Paris Tech scene, which is the headquarters of Orrick's French Tech practice.

Claudia Francesca Micol Cirina Associate

Milan

She advises startups, investors, and corporate clients on venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters. Based in Milan, Claudia works across a variety of industries, with a strong focus on the tech, life sciences, and a particular passion about fintech. Her practice includes advising on both domestic and cross-border transactions, supporting clients throughout the full investment cycle.

Claudia has worked on a broad range of deals, including early-stage financings in sectors such as AI, healthtech, and SaaS, as well as growth capital rounds for companies developing advanced digital and industrial technologies. She has also been involved in strategic acquisitions and exits, including transactions in the energy, cybersecurity, and enterprise software fields.

Spencer Cohen Partner

New York

Spencer represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies, as well as private and public companies in all aspects of their business.

Spencer regularly advises clients on a variety of strategic transitions, including domestic and cross-border M&A, debt and equity investments and joint ventures. He also counsels boards, investors and other key stakeholders on financing transactions and general corporate matters.

He works across a wide range of geographies and industries, including a primary focus in the tech, finance, life sciences, energy and infrastructure sectors.