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Vinny Mei Managing Associate

Silicon Valley

Vinny Mei is an Associate in Orrick’s Technology Companies Group. Vinny advises technology companies across the software, financial technology, artificial intelligence, consumer internet, and enterprise software industries on matters ranging from general formation to venture capital financings to technology transactions, capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to practicing law, Vinny co-founded Marq Vision, a Y Combinator-backed startup on a mission to eliminate counterfeits from online retail. He is passionate about access to justice, gamification in education, and empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Vinny received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was the Bluebook Business Chair of the Harvard Law Review and Managing Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology. He earned his B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Alison Roffi General Counsel

New York

Alison advises the firm on matters related to corporate governance, client relationships, and professional responsibility and ethics related to the practice of law. She has developed deep experience in the ethical considerations surrounding the use of legal tech, including AI and GenAI tools.

Alison provides legal advice to Orrick’s Board and Management Committee regarding firm management, growth, and policies. She is a member of the firm’s Operations Team and sits on the Risk Management Committee and AI Council. She also serves on the Risk Management Committee of MPC, the firm’s malpractice insurer.

Prior to joining the firm’s Office of General Counsel, Alison was a litigator in the firm’s Complex Litigation and Dispute Resolution group. Her practice focused on representing audit firms and accountants in regulatory proceedings as well as civil disputes related to professional liability and representing insurance policyholders in matters related to coverage, claims, and recovery. She has experience managing and conducting large-scale internal investigations, liaising with regulators, and managing cross-border risk and liability. Alison also defended financial institutions in lawsuits arising out of the global financial crisis.

740

Practice:

  • Technology & Innovation Sector
  • Technology Companies Group
  • Mergers & Acquisitions

Harold Yu Partner

Silicon Valley; San Francisco

Harold advises technology companies and has significant experience with venture capital financings, debt financings, public offerings, mergers & acquisitions and technology transactions. He is deeply interested in technology. Prior to law school, Harold was a software engineer at Oracle Corporation and an intern at NASA Ames Research Center.

740

Practice:

  • Technology & Innovation Sector
  • Propriété intellectuelle
  • Trademark, Copyright & Media
  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges
  • Mass Torts & Product Liability
  • Life Sciences & HealthTech

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.
740

Practice:

  • Finance Sector
  • Technology & Innovation Sector
  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Technology Companies Group
  • Gouvernance d'entreprise

Karen Dempsey Senior Advisor

San Francisco

Karen is involved in a full range of corporate legal projects for high growth technology companies including venture financings, public offerings, public company securities law compliance matters and mergers and acquisitions. She also regularly advises public companies and board of directors on corporate governance issues. Karen's clients include private and public companies in the biotechnology, real estate, finance and Internet related industries. She also represents underwriters in initial public offerings and follow-on offerings and venture capital firms in investment transactions.

Karen is a frequent speaker on corporate and securities law topics including Initial Public Offerings, Corporate Governance and Sarbanes-Oxley matters. She is also Co-Editor of Part III of Venture Capital & Public Offering Negotiation, published by Aspen Law & Business.

Before joining Orrick, Karen was a shareholder at Heller Ehrman LLP and was chair of their firmwide corporate governance practice group.

Practice:

  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges
  • Financial Services Litigation
  • Class Action Defense
  • Investigations internationales et mesures d'application
  • Propriété intellectuelle

David McGill Partner

Washington, D.C.

The Legal 500 reports that David has earned a reputation among clients for dispensing “invaluable and practical, business-oriented advice,” and his approach to disputes has been praised as “insightful, uber responsive and fearless.”

Known as an aggressive advocate, David is frequently retained by financial firms to design creative solutions for investigations and disputes involving allegations of market misconduct across an array of financial products, commodities, and other asset classes. He has successfully persuaded the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to walk away from threatened charges in numerous contexts, and his recent litigation wins include obtaining the first-ever dismissal of a criminal spoofing scheme charge in a commodities futures case. Alternative asset managers and technology companies often turn to David for advice on regulatory and compliance issues, including in the areas of digital currency and exchange enforcement.

David’s practice also extends to intellectual property disputes and investigations into alleged workplace misconduct. He regularly represents technology, sports, and media companies in matters involving allegations of trade secret misappropriation, licensing disputes, unfair competition, and employee/insider misconduct.

Practice:

  • Employment Law & Litigation
  • Compensation & Benefits

Luciano Vella Senior Associate

Milan

Luciano Vella has extensive experience in advising Italian and international clients on employment law and industrial relations, both in contentious and non-contentious matters.

He assists companies across a wide range of industries with the day-to-day management of employment relationships, providing strategic and operational advice on all aspects of HR management — from employment contracts and hiring practices to the termination of employment relationships. His practice includes advising on disciplinary procedures, the implementation of compensation and benefits policies, employee transfers and secondments, and the negotiation of various types of workplace agreements.

Luciano has gained significant experience in managing workforce restructuring processes and extraordinary corporate transactions, supporting clients in the design and implementation of individual and collective incentive plans, as well as in related disputes.

He has developed specific expertise in health and safety at work, both in terms of regulatory compliance and in managing employer liability and litigation, with a particular focus on the implementation of health and safety governance structures, delegation of functions, and their alignment with organizational models under Legislative Decree 231/2001, as well as in dealings with labor and safety authorities.

Luciano is the author of numerous articles on employment law, published in specialized journals and on industry platforms, and regularly speaks at conferences and webinars.

He graduated with top marks from the University of Pisa in 2015 and has been a member of the Milan Bar Association since 2018.

He is fluent in Italian and English.

434952

Practice:

  • Renewable Energy
  • Solar Energy
  • Wind Energy
  • Offshore Wind
  • Energy Storage
  • Energy & Infrastructure
  • Energy
  • Power

Tahiya Sultan Of Counsel

San Francisco

She has extensive experience working on regulatory compliance at the state level, advising on energy purchase and storage, resource adequacy, central procurement, renewables portfolio standard, integrated resource planning, reliability, distributed energy resources, energy efficiency, microgrid commercialization and offshore wind development.

She represents developers, power producers, community choice aggregators and utilities in bilateral negotiations for the purchase and sale of energy resources, including solar, wind and geothermal resources.

Practice:

  • Energy & Infrastructure Sector
  • Energy & Infrastructure
  • Renewable Energy

Ladan Mohaddes Managing Associate

New York

Her practice focuses on project finance and development for renewable energy projects.

Prior to law school, Ladan worked as a patent examiner at the USPTO. Her concentration area was in renewable energy technology including battery storage and hydrogen and fuel cells. She received a Bronze Medal from the Department of Commerce for Superior Federal Service.

Prior to USPTO, Ladan was a senior packaging engineer in a leading semiconductor company where she led supplier selection and qualification effort and helped with suppliers' development activities and capacity expansion.

Bess Blumenfeld Managing Associate

Santa Monica

Bess advises high-growth technology companies and venture capital firms in many areas, including venture financings, secondary transactions, corporate formations, and day-to-day legal needs of executive teams. Bess represents companies and their investors across a variety of industries, including software, financial technology, consumer goods, aerospace, and life sciences. She is a trusted advisor to founders, boards, and venture investors, helping them anticipate challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

Practice:

  • International Arbitration & Dispute Resolution
  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges
  • Mergers & Acquisitions

Sebastian Meul Partner

Munich

His professional focus is on providing legal advice in complex post-M&A and shareholders' disputes, in which he can particularly make use of his many years of experience as an M&A lawyer.

In addition, Sebastian advises his clients in disputes relating to major construction projects, manager liability cases and in other commercial disputes.

He also has extensive experience in advising clients on M&A transactions and corporate law matters.

Besides the above, Sebastian particularly deals with Legal Tech and Blockchain technology developments and frequently shares his knowledge by publishing articles in legal and social media.

Before joining Orrick, Sebastian worked in the Munich office of a renowned German law firm and in the Toronto office of a major Canadian law firm.

458322

Practice:

  • Propriété intellectuelle
  • Contentieux complexes & Résolution des litiges

Amanda Lack Managing Associate

Chicago

Amanda’s practice centers on all types of intellectual property matters including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation. Amanda also handles other civil litigation matters including commercial and contract-based disputes.

Amanda clerked for Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for Judge Arenda Wright Allen of the Eastern District of Virginia. During her tenure on the fast-paced “rocket docket,” Amanda assisted Judge Allen in all aspects of presiding over several jury trials and in managing her weighty civil docket. While clerking on the Ninth Circuit, Amanda was intimately involved in oral argument preparation, case strategy, and opinion drafting for both en banc and three-judge panel proceedings. Both clerkships give Amanda invaluable “behind the scenes” experience and an understanding of persuasive writing and argument techniques as well as the mechanics of judicial decision making. Amanda uses these insights and her ability to quickly identify the tipping point of complex cases to clearly and concisely draft the most compelling argument on behalf of her clients.

Prior to clerking, Amanda was previously an associate at another national law firm, where she handled commercial, appellate, and intellectual property matters. She also served as a PILI Fellow at the National Immigrant Justice Center while studying for the bar examination.

During law school, Amanda served as the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Law and Policy and her student note—(Il)Legal Violence at the Border: A Comparative Analysis of LGBTQ+ Asylum Claims in the United States and Europe—was published in the same. She also earned a Certificate in Public Interest Law and authored the top-ranked Respondent’s brief in the Wiley Rutledge Moot Court Competition.

Amanda is deeply committed to pro bono work. She has successfully represented several asylum seekers from around the world as well as incarcerated individuals alleging civil rights violations.