People

Search Language

français / French | Use language selector above (below, on mobile) to search additional languages

1354 items matching filters

Search Results

340826

Practice:

  • Structured Finance
  • Derivatives
  • Banking & Finance
  • Swaps et autres instruments de couverture

Olivier Bernard Partner

Paris

Olivier conseille des institutions financières, des fonds, des assureurs et des groupes français et internationaux dans le cadre d’opérations de titrisation, de financements structurés et de marchés de capitaux, domestiques ou multi-juridictionnelles, faisant l’objet de placements privés ou publics, et sur des sous-jacents aussi variés que les créances commerciales, le crédit export, le crédit corporate, les financements d’infrastructures et de projets, le crédit-bail, le crédit à la consommation ou le crédit immobilier.

Il a participé à la mise en place d’un grand nombre d’opérations d’émissions d’obligations sécurisées et de titrisations innovantes.

Avant de rejoindre le cabinet Orrick en 2016 comme associé, Olivier était counsel au sein du département financements structurés du cabinet Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Practice:

  • Technology Companies Group
  • Mergers & Acquisitions

Carsten Bernauer Partner

Dusseldorf; 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.

463965

Practice:

  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges
  • International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution
  • Antitrust and Competition
  • Life Sciences & HealthTech

Lauren Bernstein Counsel

New York

Lauren’s practice spans the full spectrum of dispute resolution, from pre-litigation counseling and strategy development to trial and appeal in high-profile antitrust and complex commercial litigation matters. She has worked with clients to evaluate and navigate potential disputes and assess opportunities to settle or negotiate a resolution ahead of litigation. Additionally, she helps clients develop robust dispute resolution strategies at the transactional stage, advising on dispute resolution clauses and positioning clients for favorable outcomes in potential future disputes.

Lauren has extensive experience representing clients in the life sciences industry in disputes arising from drug development, licensing, and joint ventures, and has defended clients in multi-billion dollar arbitrations and antitrust litigation, including multidistrict proceedings.

Lauren is dedicated to giving back to her community through her pro bono practice. She has been instrumental in providing legal advice and support to pro bono clients related to reproductive rights, including securing a preliminary injunction in North Dakota blocking the state’s ban on abortion, which was affirmed unanimously by the North Dakota Supreme Court. She also is an active member of her local synagogue in New York, including by serving on the membership committee.

446124

Practice:

  • Renewable Energy
  • Energy
  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges
  • Public Finance

Charlotte Berrat Associate

Paris

Charlotte Berrat intervient en matière de contrats publics, notamment des concessions et des partenariats public-privé sur des projets de grande envergure (aéroportuaire, portuaire, autoroutier, bâtimentaire, télécommunication). À ce titre, elle accompagne les groupements candidats à l'attribution de ces contrats, depuis la phase de l'offre jusqu'aux étapes ultérieures, incluant la passation des contrats, leur exécution, et, le cas échéant, la gestion des litiges.

Elle a notamment conseillé le groupement attributaire de la concession pour l'exploitation de l'aéroport de Beauvais-Tillé, ainsi qu'un groupement candidat dans le cadre de la procédure de mise en concurrence pour l'attribution du contrat de service public des lignes 16 et 17 du Grand Paris Express.

Charlotte Berrat possède également une expertise approfondie dans le secteur de l'énergie et en droit de l'environnement. Elle conseille régulièrement des opérateurs sur des questions complexes liées au raccordement aux réseaux de distribution et de transport d'électricité. Elle contribue également à la rédaction et à la négociation de plusieurs Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), intervenant tant du côté des producteurs que des acheteurs selon les opérations.

Charlotte Berrat agit également en tant que conseil pour des opérateurs, sponsors et prêteurs dans la réalisation de projets ou lors d'opérations de fusion-acquisition portant sur des actifs éoliens et solaires, tant en France qu'à l'international.

Sa pratique couvre également l'ensemble des aspects réglementaires liés aux secteurs régulés tels que les télécommunications, le transport et l'énergie.

Elle intervient en outre au contentieux dans ces secteurs.

Avant de rejoindre Orrick, Charlotte a acquis une expérience significative en travaillant au sein de plusieurs cabinets d'avocats internationaux spécialisés en droit public et en droit de l'énergie, ainsi qu'au sein d'un opérateur de transports publics.

740

Practice:

  • Technology & Innovation Sector
  • Compensation & Benefits
  • ERISA et litiges d'avantages sociaux
  • Régime de retraite admissible et ROSAE
  • Programmes d'assistance sociale

William Berry Senior Counsel

San Francisco

William also has substantial experience with the employee benefit aspects of sales and acquisitions of businesses (including bankruptcy transactions), the restructuring of defined benefit pension plans, the defense of ERISA class action litigation, and public pension plan matters.

His clients include a wide range of large and medium-sized corporations, as well as individual and public clients. He also provides tax and retirement planning advice to many of Orrick's corporate clients.

William has been a frequent lecturer on employee benefits and related individual tax and fiduciary topics for the American Law Institute-American Bar Association; California Continuing Education of the Bar; the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans; the Practicing Law Institute; the Western Pension & Benefits Conference; various Bay Area Estate Planning Councils; and other organizations.

William became a senior counsel in 2013 after having been an Orrick partner since 1999.  Before joining Orrick, William was a partner at the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop LLP in San Francisco.

Practice:

  • Energy & Infrastructure
  • Energy
  • Infrastructure
  • Public Finance

Geoffroy Berthon Partner

Paris

Geoffroy intervient en matière de contrats publics, notamment dans le cadre de concessions et de PPP. En matière d’infrastructures et de bâtiments, il est notamment intervenu sur les projets relatifs au financement, à la construction et à l’exploitation du Stade Vélodrome de Marseille, de la ligne à grande vitesse Sud Europe Atlantique, du village des athlètes en vue des Jeux Olympiques de Paris 2024, du Grand Paris Express ou encore de l’extension en mer de la Principauté de Monaco. Il est également intervenu sur plusieurs projets autoroutiers (A412, A69, RCEA, A88, A41, A150), portuaires (Calais, Cannes) et aéroportuaires (Nice, Lyon, Beauvais).

En matière d’énergies renouvelables, il intervient aux côtés de l’Etat (Ministère de la Transition énergétique) dans les appels d’offres relatifs à la réalisation des parcs éoliens en mer, posés et flottants. Il conseille également des opérateurs, notamment, dans la réalisation de projets de biomasse et de géothermie, ainsi que des investisseurs dans le cadre d’opérations « M&A » portant sur des actifs éoliens et solaires ou encore en matière de méthanisation. Il dispose également de plusieurs références en matière d’hydroélectricité. Il conseille à la fois les sponsors et les prêteurs et travaille régulièrement avec les entités publiques et les gouvernements. Il a également développé une pratique de conseil dans la rédaction et la négociation de corporate PPA, à la fois aux côtés de producteurs d’énergie et aux côtés d’acheteurs.

Geoffroy Berthon est reconnu par ses clients comme "un avocat talentueux, dynamique et brillant. C'est un travailleur acharné. Son calme et son écoute rassurent le client" (Legal 500) et comme Leading Partner par Legal 500 (EMEA 2025) en droit public et énergie.

Geoffroy est Docteur en Droit public, et a été maître de conférences en droit des contrats publics à Sciences Po et publie régulièrement en français et en anglais.

449088

Practice:

  • Technology Companies Group
  • Technology & Innovation
  • Life Sciences & HealthTech
  • Mergers & Acquisitions

Josh Beser Partner

New York

As a partner in Orrick’s top 5 ranked Technology Companies Group, Josh Beser is the first call for high-growth company and venture investor clients. Focused on guiding startups from seed stage through late-stage financings and strategic exits, he brings the perspective of a former general counsel who has scaled e-commerce businesses from the inside. This includes helping Away, for whom he continues to serve as primary outside corporate counsel, raise over $200 million and achieve a $1.4 billion valuation.

Josh is particularly passionate about building high-growth companies in regulated environments, helping his clients synthesize a wide range of potential legal and regulatory issues to drive growth, product innovation, fundraising, expansion, and M&A, while navigating founder transitions and board dynamics.

In doing so, he draws on his Orrick colleagues' deep regulatory expertise across AI, digital health/healthtech, fintech, consumer and retail innovation, energy and infrastructure, gaming, space, life sciences and other verticals.

Josh works closely with founders, executives and boards in:

  • Digital Health and Health Tech – Partnering with Orrick’s healthtech regulatory team, Josh is primary outside counsel to digital health and healthtech startups at all stages, including telehealth platforms, AI/ML in diagnostics, and care delivery innovation.
  • Consumer Brands and Retail Innovation – As a former high-growth consumer brand General Counsel, Josh is uniquely positioned to understand and support high growth brands and the platforms supporting them across retail, logistics and fulfillment, such as Away, Studs, Skims, Blueland and Packsmith.
  • Fintech – Partnering with Orrick’s fintech and financial advisory team, Josh is primary outside counsel to high-growth fintech companies in areas such as consumer finance and embedded payments.

Josh also regularly advises leading VCs and strategic investors active in these markets.


“Working with Josh is different because it really feels like he has my back. I know I’m getting great, practical advice from someone who’s been there.”

— General Counsel, Late-stage consumer brand


Operator Insight. Founder-Focused.

Before joining Orrick, Josh served as General Counsel at two high-growth, late-stage startups where he built and led legal, compliance, people and operations functions. This hands-on experience gives him a deep understanding of startup dynamics and what it takes to scale responsibly.

He has served as a key leadership voice during periods of hypergrowth, board transitions, crisis response, and internal investigations — bringing valuable market-wide perspective and judgment to fast-moving situations.

  • Advised 25m Health on incubations, investments and strategic projects, including a joint venture in the consumer wellness/medical aesthetics space.
  • Advised Ataraxis AI, an AI-powered personalized medicine startup,since inception, including on its Series Seed and Series A financings and commercial and regulatory matters.
  • Provided product and corporate counsel to Alan Meds, a scaling telehealth company, including equity and debt financing matters.
  • Provided corporate counsel to SimpliFed, a scaling digital health company focused on virtual lactation consulting and women’s health.
  • Advised Misfits Market in growth financing and M&A matters.
  • Supported Crossbeam in its Series C financing and its merger with Reveal to build a cross-border go-to-market data platform.
  • Represented a late-stage fintech company on its role in the largest prepaid card program in the United States, as well as corporate and financing matters.
  • Represented Meadow, an education fintech, since inception, including in its Series Seed and Series A financings and commercial and regulatory matters.
  • Represented Studs in growth equity and debt financings and strategic growth initiatives.

Leadership & Community

Josh is active in New York’s tech and venture ecosystem as a mentor, panelist and investor. He is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from digital health innovation to scaling the legal function as a business driver.

455206

Practice:

  • Data Centers
  • Renewable Energy
  • Power
  • Oil & Gas
  • Energy
  • Energy & Infrastructure

Ari Bessendorf Partner

Singapore

Ari’s practice cuts across sectors, including conventional power, renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric), infrastructure, oil & gas and mining throughout the United States and Asia. His combination of project development and finance experience allows him to advise clients on bankability considerations for development matters.

Clients commend him for being “meticulous on the finer details”, and “a firm but calming and amiable presence at the negotiating table.” They add that “he gained our trust” and has “a cost-effective approach and a drive to successfully close deals.”

Chiara Bettinzoli Associate

Milan

Chiara assists the team in advising companies and individuals in investigations in relation to white-collar crimes (such as anti-money laundering, financial crimes, corporate crimes, bankruptcy crimes, tax crimes, environmental crimes, occupational health and safety crimes).

Chiara participates in carrying out internal investigations aimed at strengthening the internal control systems of leading national and international companies.

Chiara also collaborates on an ongoing basis in advising major companies and corporate groups in managing potential compliance risks, in particular in relation to the Organisational, Management and Control Models adopted pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 231/2001.

Chiara has been appointed as member of Supervisory Body (Organismi di Vigilanza) of Italian companies.
Since November 2024, Chiara is a PhD student at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan (PhD in business, labour, institutions and criminal justice).

Since 2023, Chiara has been teaching assistant in Business and Corporate Criminal Law at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan.

Chiara graduated with honours from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan following a study period spent at the University of California - Berkeley.

Chiara is fluent in English, French and Spanish

Practice:

  • Supreme Court & Appellate
  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges
  • Mass Torts & Product Liability
  • Life Sciences & HealthTech

Upnit K. Bhatti Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

Upnit has served as litigation, trial, and appellate counsel for pharmaceutical, chemical, technology, cosmetics, and manufacturing companies. As a member of trial teams, she works on complex commercial matters to develop creative legal strategies for trial and subsequent appeals. As embedded counsel, Upnit takes the lead in drafting dispositive motions and pre- and post-trial filings and ensures that appellate issues are preserved. She has presented oral argument in state and federal courts and has co-authored countless briefs before state and federal trial and appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States. In addition, Upnit maintains an active pro bono practice.

Prior to joining Orrick, Upnit focused on products liability and complex litigation work at Arnold & Porter LLP and a mid-size firm in Upstate New York. This included representing a consumer products company in the defense of thousands of personal injury cases in state and federal courts. She was the primary drafter of several motions and appellate briefs. She was also deeply involved in the firms’ pro bono practices and first chaired a trial dealing with First and Eighth Amendment claims.

Outside of the firm, Upnit serves on the Board of Directors of the DC Women’s Bar Association and serves as its Advocacy Committee Co-Chair. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of her law school’s Alumni Association.

Upnit previously clerked for the Honorable Theodore A. McKee of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and interned for the Honorable Thérèse Wiley Dancks of the Northern District of New York. In law school, Upnit served as the Managing Editor of the Syracuse Law Review, and was an arguing member of the American Bar Association’s National Appellate Team. She received the Moot Court Honor Society’s Executive Director Award and the Syracuse Law Review Distinguished Leadership Award.

740

Practice:

  • Technology & Innovation Sector
  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges
  • Propriété intellectuelle
  • Mass Torts & Product Liability

Peter Bicks Partner

New York

In recognition of Peter’s career trial work, he was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2015. Juries have compared him favorably to Johnnie Cochran and F. Lee Bailey. Clients laud Peter, telling Chambers USA 2020-2022, “He’s a standout trial lawyer and an outstanding advocate overall. He appreciates the client’s needs and advocates for them everywhere.” Another client notes, “He is brilliant in the courtroom under the most intense pressure,” “a master of seeing the full chessboard.” That praise is echoed by sources saying, Peter is “one of these lawyers that really turns big cases; he’s a real trial lawyer,” and calling him “one of the most gifted trial lawyers that I have ever seen.” Clients go on to applaud his trial experience and strategic approach saying, “Peter really knows his way round a courtroom. He's a great trial tactician.” “He is an outstanding advocate who appreciates the client's needs and reputational questions involved.” A peer in the trial bar told Law360, “What is most impressive is his ability as a true Field General – calmly directing his team’s efforts.”

With precedent-setting trial wins in intellectual property, commercial and products liability litigation, Peter has amassed honors from annual top rankings in Chambers USA, Legal 500, and Benchmark Litigation, to awards for excellence, such as New York “Litigation Star,” “Law360 MVP,” “Litigator of the Week,” and “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America.”

It is Peter’s versatility that sets him apart. He brings a combination of deft courtroom skills, strategic acuity and team leadership. In July 2023, a leading company in the biotech agricultural space, Corteva Agriscience, retained Peter as lead trial counsel in a high profile intellectual property lawsuit Corteva filed against Inari Agriculture, Inc. and Inari Agriculture NV to protect its highly valuable patent protected genetically modified seeds. As noted in the complaint, the lawsuit "…seeks to prevent Inari from continuing its brazen efforts to steal Corteva's groundbreaking work." Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Inari deliberately used a third-party agent to obtain protected Corteva seeds, illegally exported the seeds out of the United States, made slight genetic modifications of the biotech traits and is seeking U.S. patents for those modified traits. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court, Delaware and is in discovery. In May 2022, when faced with a headlining trial over control of the leading international model and talent company, Elite Worldwide Group, the company and its Chairman tapped Peter as lead trial counsel to parachute in just 45 days before trial. Our complete trial win for the client earned Peter and the team Litigators of the Week Runner-Up honors from the American Lawyer. Louis Dreyfus Company turned to Peter recently as lead trial counsel once they saw that a massive, high stakes trial was on the horizon with over $1 billion at stake amid class action claims alleging manipulation of the cotton futures market. DISH Network brought Peter in shortly before trial when the FTC and various state attorneys general sought $700 billion in damages and penalties for alleged telemarketing violations. He achieved an astounding trial victory for DISH limiting recovery to less than one percent of the exposure. For Johnson & Johnson, Peter has been part of a small group of market-leading outside counsel overseeing the defense of more than 15,000 talc-related cases, including product liability trials, consumer class actions, and cases brought under California’s Prop 65; handling multiple trials, SEC, DOJ, and AG investigations; and representing senior executives in major depositions, at trial, and before Congress.

Peter served as co-head of the firm's Global Litigation practice and is a former member of Orrick’s Board and Management Committee. Before joining Orrick, Peter was a partner at Donovan Leisure. He captained his college tennis team to a national ranking, has successfully competed in major national sailboat competitions, and serves on the Board of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program. With his wife Linda, he has three children: Avery, Isabelle and Phoebe.

740

Practice:

  • Supreme Court & Appellate

Richard Bierschbach Associated Law Professor

New York

Richard has substantial experience advising clients across a wide range of cases, with particular focus on matters involving novel or complex constitutional, statutory, administrative, or other public-law issues, appeals, and legal and strategic counseling. A former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and to Judge A. Raymond Randolph on the D.C. Circuit, Richard served both as a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Solicitor General and as an Attorney-Adviser in its Office of Legal Counsel. During that time, he regularly counseled federal government attorneys on appellate and legal strategy issues and provided written and oral advice to the White House, the Attorney General and other executive branch offices on a broad spectrum of constitutional, statutory, and regulatory questions. He also practiced as an appellate litigator in the New York office of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering from 2001-03 and, more recently, as of counsel in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Before his appointment as Dean, he was a tenured professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was Vice Dean from 2015-16.

Richard teaches and writes in the areas of administrative law, criminal justice, and corporations. His published work has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Michigan Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Georgetown Law Journal, and the University of Minnesota Law Review, among other journals. He twice—in 2013 and 2015—received the Best Professor Award from Cardozo’s graduating class. He has been quoted on legal developments by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News, Slate, and other media.