People

Eric Shumsky Partner

Washington, D.C.; San Francisco

Chambers USA reports that Eric is “hailed as ‘highly intelligent, an effective communicator and a great writer’ by contacts, and his high-profile work in the tech patent sector is of particular interest to those who recognize him as one who ‘prepares meticulously, anticipates every question, and is a gifted orator.’” Legal 500 touts his “exceptional courtroom demeanor and presentation skills” as one of “the finest appellate litigators in the nation.” And Reuters, in a report reviewing some 17,000 practitioners, identified Eric as part of an “elite cadre” of 75 lawyers who are “the most influential members of one of the most powerful specialties in America: the business of practicing before the Supreme Court.”

Eric has served as appellate counsel to a who’s who of leading companies, including AT&T, DISH Network, Facebook, Genentech, Gilead, KPMG, LG Electronics, LinkedIn, Lyft, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Netflix, Norfolk Southern, Synopsys, Twitter, and Union Carbide. Across an array of industries, Eric has briefed and argued issues as diverse as patent and copyright, labor and employment, preemption, punitive damages, environmental law, national security, and foreign sovereign immunity. He has been a primary author of more than 100 briefs in the Supreme Court alone.

Eric has particular proficiency in matters of technology and intellectual property. He regularly litigates novel issues concerning the regulation of the internet, including CDA Section 230, computer fraud, takedown notices, and internet domain names. He has been counsel in dozens of patent appeals in the Federal Circuit—litigating patents ranging from semiconductor construction, computer architecture, and genetic sequencing to tobacco curing, keyboard trays, and electrical junction boxes. A former law clerk on the Ninth Circuit and the Central District of California, Eric has extensive experience in the California state and federal appellate courts where tech issues commonly arise. 

In addition to traditional appellate work, Eric has years of experience developing legal strategy in high-profile and complex cases in trial courts. Eric has performed this role in high-stakes multi-district litigation, criminal trials, and civil litigation involving critical dispositive motions.

Prior to joining Orrick, Eric was a partner in the appellate group at Sidley Austin. 

Ramy Shweiky Partner

San Francisco

Ramy advises public and private companies and their financial sponsors in the technology and life sciences sectors on complex, strategic transactions, including cross-border M&A, joint ventures, and multi-jurisdictional carve-outs. He also counsels boards and investors on fiduciary duties and other corporate governance matters.

Ramy is a member of the board of directors of Crisis Text Line, a global not-for-profit organization providing free mental health texting service. He has been recognized as a "Rising Star" in M&A by Super Lawyers.

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.

Caroline Stapleton Partner

Washington, D.C.

Client-centered experiences are at the heart of Caroline’s practice. She has provided a wide variety of institutions, from fintech startups to multinational banks, with tailored, practical guidance that considers each company’s unique characteristics and strategic goals. Caroline draws on her prior experiences as an attorney at a federal prudential regulator and as the head of compliance at a consumer finance company to give clients a comprehensive picture of the legal risks and opportunities each new matter presents.

Her work on behalf of financial services providers has included:

• Providing guidance regarding novel or complex regulatory questions, often in the context of developing new financial products and services
• Performing compliance risk assessments of marketing, underwriting, pricing, origination, servicing and loss mitigation activities
• Advising banks and supervised lenders with examinations by federal and state regulators, including responding to exam findings, CAMELS ratings, Matters Requiring Attention (MRA/MRIA) and enforcement referrals
• Strategically responding to and defending enforcement actions by state and federal regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve Board and Department of Justice (DOJ), and, if necessary, negotiating favorable settlements
• Developing strategies for bank partnership, state licensing and bank charter opportunities for consumer financial services providers
• Conducting internal investigations of suspected misconduct or violations of an institution’s policies and/or regulatory requirements

In these and other representations, Caroline brings strong substantive knowledge of the key federal and state statutes and regulations governing the financial services industry. Her specific areas of focus include:

• Fair lending and anti-discrimination laws, including the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)
• Prohibitions on unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices (UDAP and UDAAP)
• Technical regulatory compliance under federal and state laws governing loan marketing, disclosures, settlement practices, servicing and collection practices, consumer reporting and electronic payments
• Federal preemption, including under the National Bank Act
• Compliance management best practices and regulatory expectations, including third-party vendor and merchant oversight
• Treatment and disclosure of confidential supervisory information (CSI)
• State lease-to-own laws and regulations

Prior to joining Orrick, Caroline was senior counsel at Buckley LLP. She also has served as an attorney-advisor in the litigation division of the OCC, where she represented the agency in civil litigation, bank receivership preparation, employment disputes and other administrative contexts. Caroline also gained valuable in-house experience as the head of compliance and assistant general counsel of a Richmond-based consumer finance company.

Ylan Steiner Partner

Londres

Following an earlier career as a computer software programmer, Ylan has a passion for technology and innovation across numerous sectors.

Ylan’s notable company-side representations include Currencycloud, EVRYTHNG, Griffin Financial, MFS Africa, nPlan, Railsbank, Signal AI and Taster. One CEO client described Ylan as the “most incredible lawyer… [who I have worked with] for years. He's that good and his deal team is good too.”

In addition to his company-side representations, Ylan acts for leading venture capital and private equity firms and other strategic investors, including Vitruvian Partners, Warburg Pincus, Kennet Capital Partners, Kinnevik, Marlin Equity Partners, Seedcamp, and Oxx.

Ylan has been consistently recognised as a leading venture capital advisor in both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. Ylan was described by one client in Legal 500 UK 2022 as “an exceptionally knowledgeable counsel – he helped guide me through a number of challenges around our fundraise with ease, speed and clarity.”

A recent career highlight for Ylan was being invited by HM Treasury to advise on the UK Government’s Future Fund in response to calls from the technology industry to support VC backed start-ups throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Hiroki Sugita Partner

Tokyo

He also has extensive experience in fund formation, real estate and various types of finance transactions.

Hiroki has a deep understanding of clients’ needs from his secondment experience with a U.S. investment bank in 2005 and a Japanese major trading house from 2012 to 2014.

Prior to joining Orrick, Hiroki worked at O’Melveny’s Tokyo office as a counsel where he mainly worked on cross border M&A.

Emily S. Tabatabai Partner

Washington, D.C.; Houston

Emily provides strategic counseling and advice on privacy, consumer protection and online safety matters to clients across industries, including retail, ecommerce, mobile apps, gaming, social media, advertising technology (adtech), financial services, education, business services and technology. She also represents clients subject to regulatory investigations, including before the FTC and States Attorneys General, Congressional committees and other regulatory agencies and groups.

Emily provides proactive compliance guidance, and regulatory investigation defense, on a variety of privacy and consumer protection laws, including:

• U.S. state privacy laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Virginia and other states
• Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
• Online safety laws for kids and teens, including California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (AADC), Utah Social Media Regulation Act and others
• Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and state unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) laws
• Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
• California’s Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA), New York’s Education Law 2-d and other state student data privacy laws
• Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and other biometric privacy laws
• Washington My Health My Data Act and other state health privacy laws
• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
• Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR)
• Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA)

Emily is a frequent speaker on data privacy matters, with a particular focus on children’s privacy (COPPA), student data privacy and EdTech and online safety laws for kids and teens. She has been featured as an “Up and Coming” Privacy & Data Security attorney by Chambers USA and Chambers Global. Clients tell Chambers, “She’s been an excellent partner. She has a very good understanding of the practical realities of implementing privacy policies for large companies.” Citing her expertise in the field of educational privacy, student data and EdTech matters, Chambers reports that clients regard her as “very knowledgeable and truly an expert in this space,” with some saying, “On the student data side, she is unmatched,” and The Legal 500 notes that Emily “is the first port of call for child- and student-directed service providers for compliance advice with COPPA, SOPIPA and CalOPPA regulations.”

Emily also has an active consumer protection practice, focused on marketing and promotional issues. She counsels clients on advertisements and endorsements, retail sales and e-commerce, advertising substantiation, SMS and telemarketing, social media and online advertising.

Stephen Tallon Of Counsel

Londres

Stephen works with technology companies and the investors that back them. He is particularly interested in advising founders building exciting new businesses and is focused on providing innovative and pragmatic advice to his clients.

As part of a market-leading team at Orrick, who can provide a full stack of legal services and advice to clients in the technology sector, Stephen focuses on corporate advice, ranging from incorporation strategies through financing rounds, M&A and private equity transactions. He works closely with the rest of the team to cover share options, IP protection, commercial contracts, regulatory matters, employment issues and tax advice.

Managing transactions in an efficient and productive manner and providing clear and concise advice is at the core of Stephen's approach to work. Recognised as a “Recommended Individual” for Venture Capital in the Legal 500 UK 2024, Stephen actively engages with clients to understand the key issues and concerns in order to provide tailored advice that really adds value. Stephen is driven by being a trusted advisor to his clients, not just another service provider.

Stephen represents notable companies such as Stripe, Butternut Box, Vitesse, Graphcore, TrueLayer, Codility and LoopFX on an ongoing basis for financing and general corporate matters. He has also advised tech industry leaders such as Revolut and Scalapay.

While he has a significant company-side mandate, Stephen also advises many of the key investors in the market including Salesforce Ventures, ABN AMRO Ventures, Macquarie, BMW iVentures, Energy Impact Partners and Sony Innovation Fund on their respective investments in the UK, Ireland and across Europe.

Stephen is qualified in both England & Wales and Ireland (non-practising), having trained and qualified in a top-tier Irish law firm, and is committed to helping to build the Irish tech ecosystem.

Samuel Tazartes Senior Associate

Paris

Basé au Orrick Paris Tech Studio, Sam combine une approche business de la pratique juridique avec une passion pour l'innovation, aidant les entreprises à forte croissance à lever des fonds et à se développer efficacement.

Sam conseille les fondateurs, les startups et les investisseurs de la tech dans le cadre de leurs financements en capital-risque et en croissance, de la gouvernance d'entreprise, des plans d'intéressement des salariés, des opérations de build-up et des transactions de sortie/fusions-acquisitions. Il dispose d'une solide expérience des tours de financement (plus de 50, de Seed à Series F), des opérations de croissance externe et des sorties, avec des sociétés telles que Mistral AI, Homa, BeReal, amo, Poolside, Payfit, etc., ainsi qu'avec des VCs français et américains (Sequoia, Serena, Frst, Fabric), apportant une expertise variée aux transactions axées sur la tech.

Grâce à son expérience franco-américaine, Sam aide les fondateurs d'entreprises françaises à se développer sur le marché américain et accompagne les investisseurs américains entrant dans l'écosystème technologique français, en comblant le fossé culturel.

En tant que cofondateur d'une startup de legal tech (pome.gr), il adopte une approche axée sur le produit pour son travail juridique et aide les startups à rationaliser les processus juridiques et à améliorer l'efficacité grâce à des solutions innovantes. Sam est membre du Core Group de l’Orrick Digital Council et dirige des initiatives d'innovation au sein du bureau de Paris.

En dehors du bureau, Sam explore les derniers gadgets technologiques, toujours à la recherche de nouvelles façons de repousser les limites de l'innovation.

Serena Tibrewala Managing Associate

New York

Serena also represents investors and venture capital firms on their investments in early and high-growth technology companies.

Ramin Tohidi Partner

Silicon Valley

Ramin helps clients maximize their intellectual property and technology portfolios in a variety of ways, including drafting, negotiating, and advising on development, production, supply, procurement, and other technology licensing arrangements. He represents both mature and emerging companies in a variety of industries, including in SaaS, software, AI, hardware, information technology, business process outsourcing, enterprise resource planning, and data intelligence.

Ramin also counsels companies in developing artificial intelligence (AI) policies and deploying AI tools, and he also advises clients on open-source licensing and intellectual property issues in connection with mergers, acquisitions, and financing transactions.

According to Chambers USA, Ramin is “an excellent, practical, client- and business-oriented tech transactions attorney”, and “someone clients can work with as a tech expert, a business confidant and, of course, a legal expert." Chambers USA ranked him as an Up and Coming Partner, and Legal 500 ranks him as a Rising Star in 2021 and 2022 for Technology: Transactions.