Lauren Guilford Managing Associate
San Francisco
San Francisco
San Francisco
Lauren advises clients on a broad range of executive compensation and employee benefits matters such as equity-based compensation, deferred compensation arrangements, and 280G compliance, especially as these issues arise in mergers and acquisitions and corporate transactions.
New York
Lauren also represents investors and venture capital firms in their investments in technology companies.
Prior to joining Orrick, Lauren was an associate in the Corporate Group at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in New York.
Washington, D.C.
Lauren has extensive experience advising clients on compliance with environmental and natural resources laws, including:
She represents clients in matters before federal, state and local agencies, including the U.S. EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public utilities commissions, state natural resources and environmental agencies and other resource protection authorities. She has advised clients on wind and transmission projects in areas of significant tribal interest, facilitating constructive tribal engagement and the preservation of cultural heritage.
Her work includes transactions, project development and permitting, litigation, agency proceedings and enforcement actions. She has advised on environmental and land use matters for projects representing tens of thousands of megawatts of capacity and billions in investment, including a new $1.7 billion 550-mile double circuit transmission line spanning 12 counties.
Prior to Orrick, she was Assistant General Counsel at Xcel Energy, serving as lead environmental counsel for their solar, wind, energy storage, electric generation and transmission projects; an enforcement attorney at the EPA; and an advisor to an independent oil and gas company on exploration, production and development. At the EPA, she enforced environmental laws and regulations and ensured state hazardous waste programs met federal requirements.
Orange County
She focuses on innovating creative solutions for all types of utility scale renewable power purchase agreements and carbon offset and removal agreements. This work includes virtual, physical, master-confirm portfolios, block delivery, aggregation, 24/7 hourly delivery, load following, battery storage, REC agreements, on-site solar, and green tariff direct agreements. Lana leverages her deep sell-side experience as Senior Counsel to one of the largest renewable energy developers in the world, with her extensive corporate buy-side knowledge, and background in electrical engineering, to advise effectively and close deals swiftly. Lana and her team at Orrick are at the forefront of corporate renewable energy procurement and are setting the industry standards for implementation of energy justice and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) considerations.
Prior to joining Orrick, Lana was a Senior Associate at an international law firm where she managed portfolio growth for leading corporate purchasers and developers representing over 3.5 GWs of renewable transactions. She also served as Senior Counsel to Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, for 8 years, where she was responsible for its entire US portfolio of power purchase agreements (7.5 GWs). Before her legal career, Lana managed a product engineering team in the development of a new cutting-edge wireless technology for consumer electronics.
San Francisco
San Francisco
As a partner, he represented public and private high growth technology companies, and venture capital funds in a broad range of industries including, energy, semiconductors, Internet, software and consumer products. He has extensive experience in start-up enterprises, venture financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and has advised companies and investors in cross border transactions involving Asia.
Larry was appointed in 1995 by President Clinton as one of four U.S. representatives to serve on the panel of arbitrators of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes. He has served as an officer and board member for numerous non-profit organizations. From 2021 to 2023, he served as the Chief Operating Officer of Ascend, the largest network of Asian professionals.
Larry has published articles that have appeared in publications of the California Continuing Education of the Bar and the Practicing Law Institute. He has made presentations to the Practicing Law Institute, Law Journal Seminars, Silicon Valley Association of Start up Entrepreneurs, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, University of California at Berkeley, Haas Business School, UC Berkeley Law and the California State Bar among others. He was a lecturer at Stanford Law School during the Fall of 2024.
Silicon Valley
Sara advises on a variety of corporate matters, including both domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions on the buy- and sell-side, corporate governance issues, venture capital financings and other strategic transactions. Sara works with a wide range of companies, including public companies, tech startups, private equity portfolio companies and unicorn companies.
Prior to law school, Sara worked in operations for a tech startup in North Carolina.
Los Angeles; Houston
Los Angeles; Houston
As both bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel, he has been responsible for
structuring and analyzing the tax aspects of many tax-exempt financings
throughout the country.
Larry has extensive experience in handling IRS
audits of bond transactions. He has represented issuers in dozens of audits all
of which have ended favorably either with the IRS issuing a “no change” letter
or by negotiating a reasonable settlement when needed. Larry also has handled a
number of submissions under the IRS’ Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (or
VCAP). The two most recent VCAP submissions represented cases of first
impression for the IRS; one involving an issue of qualified energy conservation
bonds relating to determining the amount of those bonds eligible for the federal
subsidy; the other involved the plan to convert a “new money” bond issue into an
advance refunding (which did not meet all of the requirements for a tax-exempt
advance refunding). Both cases ultimately were resolved on the original terms
proposed to the IRS.
Larry has also been instrumental in developing new
financing techniques and structures. He first devised the tax structure and
analysis for, and has served as tax counsel on, Orrick’s tax exempt tobacco
revenue securitizations. He has developed the tax structure on numerous
tax-exempt prepayments for natural gas for municipal utilities both within and
outside of California.
New York
Her practice focuses on project development, acquisitions, and financing, including debt and tax equity financing, in the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors.
San Francisco
Larry's typical representations range from formation and early stage corporate counseling, angel and venture capital financing, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships to angel and venture fund formations and lending and other commercial transactions. Larry's practice focus on a range of technology companies focused on education technology and education services, software and SAAS based businesses, consumer products to semiconductor businesses.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Prior to joining Orrick, Kara served as a Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force. In that capacity, she served as both a Prosecutor and Defense Counsel, developing extensive litigation experience through 27 federal trials. Kara excels under pressure, having previously advised General Officers on Air Force operations, internal investigations, and administrative law. She draws from her military service, applying her discipline, organization, and leadership skills to enhance her litigation practice and advocacy for her clients.
Dusseldorf
His background in economics, Chinese language skills and extensive international experience add to his excellent legal knowledge and allow him to advise his clients on a comprehensive basis.
Lars has represented clients before the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office in all areas of competition law, inter alia including mergers, compliance, cartels, litigation and abuse of dominance.
In these areas, he provides companies with innovative solutions on high-profile complex matters including private damages actions and cartel investigations, often involving multiple jurisdictions.
Lars also pursues international trade and compliance matters, including matters involving foreign investment filings in Germany.