Washington, D.C.
As Chief Practice Officer, Debbie advises on strategic planning, operations, and management of Orrick's Banking & Finance, Public Finance, Real Estate, Restructuring, and Structured Finance practice groups, which comprise more than 200 attorneys globally. Her responsibilities include oversight of the Finance Business Unit's financial performance, advancement of the Unit's strategic initiatives, business planning and execution, and lawyer recruiting.
As a lawyer in Orrick's Restructuring group, Debbie represents secured and unsecured creditors, investors, lenders, asset purchasers, financial institutions, preference defendants, debtors and other parties in a wide variety of bankruptcy and restructuring matters, as well as in related litigation throughout the United States. In 2020 and 2021, Chambers USA named Debbie an Associate to Watch in the District of Columbia’s Bankruptcy/Restructuring category, and clients praised her as “extremely knowledgeable” and providing “very business-minded, practical advice in the most efficient manner possible.”
Debbie is currently the lead restructuring associate representing the court-appointed representative for future asbestos personal injury claimants in a complex Chapter 11 pending.
Debbie was the lead restructuring associate representing Toyota in the $30 billion bankruptcy of Takata Corporation. Takata and several of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States and sought bankruptcy protection in Japan and several other jurisdictions in the aftermath of a worldwide problem involving faulty airbag inflators that led to numerous deaths and the recall of millions of vehicles. Toyota was one of the largest creditors in the proceedings, with claims of over $7 billion. Orrick’s work in the Takata bankruptcy and restructuring matter – which included the sale of all of Takata’s assets except for the inflator business to the Chinese-owned, Michigan-based Key Safety Systems – was awarded the “2019 Cross Border Turnaround of the Year / Large” by Global M&A Network.
Debbie was also the lead restructuring associate in the representation of the Conflicts Committee of Seadrill Partners (SDLP) in the $14 billion Chapter 11 bankruptcy and associated restructuring proceedings of Seadrill Limited, SDLP’s parent company. This bankruptcy and related restructuring was awarded “2019 Cross Border Turnaround of the Year / Mega” by Global M&A Network.
Other recent notable engagements include representing counsel to a borrower in the restructuring of a toll road, representing financial institutions and others in the global Lehman insolvency proceedings, representing a lender in the restructuring of a performing arts center, representing a purchaser in a section 363 bankruptcy sale and representing a defendant in a preference and fraudulent transfer litigation.
Debbie is active in pro bono matters including advising distressed clients in corporate dissolution proceedings pursuant to state statutes. She recently drafted a white paper on “Pay for Success” (PFS) programs – a social services funding mechanism in which non-governmental investors fund social programs and receive returns on their investments from the government only if the programs are successful – which explores the feasibility of using PFS programs to provide civil legal aid to vulnerable populations. She also represents proposed guardians and adoptive parents in connection with guardianship and adoption proceedings involving abused or neglected children in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.
In addition, Debbie serves as Orrick's Risk Management Counsel where she advises the Firm's management and more than 1,100 Orrick lawyers across the world on issues related to professional responsibility, risk management, and legal issues involving the Firm.
Debbie regularly presents CLE training programs to clients on bankruptcy-related topics, including best practices for creditors.
Prior to joining Orrick, Debbie was an associate at Swidler Berlin LLP. As an undergraduate, she spent four summers as an intern in the Clerk’s Office of the United States Supreme Court. During her time at the United States Supreme Court, Debbie researched and wrote a paper on the U.S. Attorneys General, which she presented to the U.S. Solicitor General.
Los Angeles; Santa Monica
Los Angeles; Santa Monica
For more than a decade, Nick has guided high-growth companies from inception to exit, advising on formation, financings, mergers and acquisitions, and IPOs while serving as outside general counsel on day-to-day legal matters as they scale.
Leveraging Orrick’s sector-focused approach and legal innovation tools, Nick works with companies across a range of industries, with a focus on disruptive technologies—including fintech, Web3 and blockchain, artificial intelligence, healthcare and biotech, digital media, and consumer products. He also represents top venture capital firms investing in these sectors across equity, debt, and token financings.
Prior to joining Orrick, Nick was a senior counsel at Gunderson Dettmer.
Nick earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review and received the Otto Kaus Award for Excellence in Legal Scholarship.
Before law school, he built a career as a journalist, photographer, and publicist covering music, food, and the arts. A proud Husky, he earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
He has experience supporting litigation involving a wide range of technologies, including software, consumer electronics, semiconductor technologies, and automotive and aerospace technologies.
Jacob graduated from The Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law. He also graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.
San Francisco
San Francisco
Patrick Ferguson brings two decades of experience guiding clients through the development, financing, acquisition, and sale of some of the most innovative energy projects in the United States. His practice spans a wide range of technologies—including solar, wind, geothermal, energy storage, and natural gas peaking and combined-cycle plants—and he is recognized for his ability to navigate complex regulatory, commercial, and transactional challenges.
Patrick advises project sponsors at every stage of the development lifecycle. His work includes negotiating power purchase and long-term offtake agreements, physical and financial swaps, interconnection and engineering arrangements, operations and maintenance agreements, and management services agreements. He has led the negotiation of many gigawatts of energy storage tolling and capacity agreements with utilities as well as commercial and industrial offtakers, and regularly counsels major power companies on energy and capacity sales under WSPP, EEI, and ISDA contracting frameworks.
Patrick also plays a leading role in the rapidly expanding data center sector. He represents power producers and data center companies in the development of hyperscale facilities across the country, advising on power sleeving arrangements with utilities and behind-the-meter energy solutions. He is the editor of Megawatts to Megabytes: Orrick’s 2025 Guide to Developing, Financing & Powering Data Centers, the firm’s definitive publication on data center infrastructure and energy strategy.
A recognized authority in energy regulation, Patrick has been at the forefront of many of the industry’s most significant and groundbreaking projects. Clients recommend him in Chambers USA for his “expert regulatory and commercial advice” and his “experience across a range of assets including solar and geothermal power plants and transmission lines.” He is ranked as a market leader by Chambers USA, Legal 500 USA, and Best Lawyers.
Londres
Jake regularly acts for banks and other financial institutions and professional services firms in connection with cross-border litigation, arbitration, investigations and regulatory enforcement matters.
New York
Jordan has represented clients in an array of intellectual property disputes, including those involving patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and trademark infringement. He has also represented clients in disputes involving intellectual property licenses. Jordan has practiced in various federal district courts, as well as before the Federal Circuit, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the International Trade Commission, achieving successful outcomes for both plaintiffs and defendants at jury and bench trials alike.
In addition to his work in the life sciences sector, Jordan has substantial experience in the technology sector. He has litigated intellectual property disputes related to energy storage, OLED displays, base station antennas, fiber optics, and video game rendering. Jordan has also counseled clients on intellectual property licensing, patent prosecution and portfolio management, and intellectual property and information technology issues arising in commercial transactions.
Jordan maintains a robust pro bono practice and is currently involved in litigation concerning reproductive rights. He previously litigated claims of racial discrimination by police, which resulted in criminal justice reform within the police department. Jordan also helped exonerate a pro bono client, who had spent over 16 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit.
Washington, D.C.
Before joining Orrick, Brenna clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Prior to clerking, Brenna was an associate at Covington & Burling LLP, where she focused on litigation and investigations.
Brenna graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, magna cum laude, and was elected to Order of the Coif. During law school, Brenna served as the Managing Online Editor for the Michigan Journal of Law Reform, a research assistant to Professor Nina Mendelson, and a student-attorney for the International Refugee Assistance Project and Criminal Appellate Practice Clinic.
Milan
Giuseppe regularly assists private equity funds, industrial players and families/entrepreneurs in M&A and Private Equity transactions in Italy, including in competitive auction processes, carve-outs, minority investments, exits, joint ventures and cross-border acquisitions. Giuseppe's notable transactions include the sale of the industrial group Fassi Gru to Investindustrial, CVC Capital Partners' purchase of Business Integration Partners S.p.A., Fondo Italiano d'Investimento's acquisition of Mecaer Aviation Group S.p.A., the sale of Salpa&Cherubini S.r.l. to Apheon, and Mitsubishi Chemical's acquisition of C.P.C. S.r.l.
He received his law degree cum laude from Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in 2019 and has been a member of the Milan Bar since 2022.
Orange County; Los Angeles
Orange County; Los Angeles
He is also a member of Orrick's Leasing Practice Group, Assessment/Mello-Roos Practice Group, and Revenue Practice Group. Don has extensive experience, as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriter's counsel, in the financing techniques used by school and community college districts, cities and counties in California. His practice focuses on local governmental infrastructure financing, including general obligation bond financing, municipal lease financing, and land-secured financing, as well as tax and revenue anticipation note (TRAN), pension obligation and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) obligation financings. Don serves as the lead lawyer for the California School Boards Association's annual tax and revenue anticipation note pool.
New York
Alex's practice focuses on drafting and negotiating offtake agreements, including physical and virtual power purchase agreements, capacity sales agreements and tolling agreements for solar, storage, wind and first-of-a-kind projects. Alex's offtake practice also includes advising on data center load agreements, carbon credit agreements, and aggregated distributed energy resources. Alex also advises on other project development and project M&A matters.
Prior to joining Orrick, Alex was an associate at another leading law firm where he focused on advising domestic and international corporate buyers, developers, investors, lenders, and sponsors in the acquisition and sale, development, financing, and offtake of energy projects.
San Francisco
San Francisco
He advises publicly held and privately owned (including sponsor-backed) companies, financial institutions, credit funds and other alternative lenders in connection with broadly syndicated loans, pro rata (bank-only) credit facilities and a wide variety of private credit transactions (including senior secured, junior lien, senior subordinated and mezzanine loans). His experience also extends to asset-based loans, project financings, debt restructurings and workouts. In addition, Zach regularly represents technology companies on various types of growth capital financings used to rapidly expand their businesses and to deploy new and market-disrupting products and services.
Zach has a particular passion for the digital infrastructure sector, stemming from his extensive experience representing data center operators, service providers, lenders and investors in the space. As one of the leaders of Orrick’s multidisciplinary data center practice, he is well-versed in traditional and increasingly bespoke financing structures to address the unique needs and challenges of clients in this ever-evolving industry.
In the 2025 California Banking & Finance category of Chambers USA, clients praise Zach as “a phenomenal” and describe him as “extremely aware of the market and a great resource when it comes to debt financing.” He is also recognized by IFLR1000, where clients note that Zach “is an outstanding business partner” and “his strengths are his creativity, accessibility, diligence and his ability to bring all of Orrick's resources to bear.”
Zach previously served a three-year term on the Commercial Transactions Committee (formerly called the Uniform Commercial Code Committee) of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California, acting as its Co-Chair for the final year of his term.