Amanda Stephens Partner, Public Finance, Banking & Finance
Austin; Houston
Austin; Houston
Austin; Houston
Amanda has advised on more than $5 billion of both publicly-offered and privately-placed charter school financings. Her work on these financings extends across the country, including Texas, Florida, Tennessee, California, Arizona and New York, among many others. Amanda works with a first-of-its-kind nonprofit social impact fund that leverages private charter loans to the public market. Since their creation in 2018, Amanda has worked on documenting more than $1.7 billion in loans to high-performing charter schools who do not otherwise have access to long term, low cost financing. Amanda and team are tasked with working with the local borrower’s counsel for each new borrower and each new state to create a financing structure that meets the long term needs of the borrower, while conforming with state charter law and the clients lending requirements. Amanda has also created structures to help with taxable refundings, to finance around existing new market tax credit structures and many other needs of the borrowers.
Amanda also represents banks and other financial institutions in connection with direct purchases of tax-exempt bonds and the issuance of letters of credit and other liquidity facilities in connection with tax-exempt transactions.
Over the course of her career, Amanda has prepared, negotiated and reviewed contracts, loan documents, amendments, closing documents, default letters, demand letters, payoff and buyout agreements, intercreditor subordination agreements, and federal tax lien subordinations. She also has reviewed client contracts and MSA agreements in the oil and gas, construction, medical, retail and transportation industries, and she has addressed regulatory and compliance issues for the finance industry and oil and gas industry. Amanda previously served as an in-house attorney for a national financial services company. She also has served as a staff attorney for Judge Jaclanel McFarland of the 133rd Civil District Court in Harris County, Texas, and as assistant district attorney for the Harris County District Attorney’s office.
Los Angeles
She represents lenders, including banks and other financial institutions, and corporate borrowers in a wide range of secured and unsecured commercial financing transactions, including syndicated transactions, asset-based financings, private equity acquisition financings, cross-border transactions and refinancings. Cris also supports other practice groups, including the Mergers & Acquisitions/Private Equity group, the Technology Companies Group and the Energy and Infrastructure group, on financing matters for clients.
Cris is an active member of Orrick LA's recruiting committee. She also regularly engages in various types of pro bono matters, including immigration matters and wills and trusts matters.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
John advises major financial institutions (tax equity investors and infrastructure funds), lenders, developers, and sponsors, particularly those in the wind, solar, storage, biomass and energy tech space. He helps clients structure financings for their projects to take advantage of federal and state tax incentives, like the Federal production tax credit (PTC), energy investment tax credit (ITC) and accelerated depreciation (MACRS and “bonus”) using partnership flips, sale-leasebacks, public/private partnerships, and other structuring options. He has been particularly focused on providing clients with the latest guidance and opportunities relating to the Inflation Reduction Act, including with respect to Section 6418 tax credit transfers and Section 6417 direct pay opportunities.
Recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global in Band 2 for Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy, clients describe John as “extremely knowledgeable, flexible and can put technical jargon into plain terms.” Client sources also state “he knows the tax equity markets very well and is very commercial.”
Prior to law school, John founded an information management company based in Austin, Texas. He is also a veteran of the Texas Army National Guard.
San Francisco
San Francisco
Wolf represents many of the country’s most prominent developers and financing parties in structuring transactions to take advantage of tax credits, Treasury cash grants, depreciation benefits, and other available tax benefits. He has represented developers and tax equity investors in financings of both wind and solar projects, as well as on tax planning for energy storage, carbon capture, and carbon sequestration projects.
Austin
Justin’s practice focuses on public finance, which includes the representation of local government entities, including: state agencies, municipalities, school districts, and special districts; non-profit organizations; and financial institutions that serve as underwriters to municipal bonds. Prior to joining Orrick, Justin represented and counseled government entities and private corporations in litigation matters.
New York
Elizabeth has played a key role in numerous pioneering esoteric deals and has extensive experience in the securitization of commercial PACE liens, musical composition and sound recording copyrights, television, movie and other IP royalties, whole business operating companies, diamond receivables, litigation settlement awards, and PDP oil & gas wellbore interests. In addition to her work in esoteric ABS, Elizabeth represents a wide array of market participants, including sponsors, issuers, underwriters, and service providers, in both public and private commercial mortgage-backed securities offerings.
New York
Jamie concentrates on a broad range of federal income tax matters, including tax issues related to cross-border stock and asset acquisitions, debt and equity offerings, collateralizations, reorganizations, cross-border financings and transfer pricing.
Prior to joining Orrick, Jamie was an associate at White & Case LLP.
Monaco
Timo heads our Capital Markets and Banking & Finance (incl. Regulatory) practice in Germany and has been advising clients on respective law matters for more than 20 years.
He inter alia advises in the fields of regulatory & asset management (incl. AIFs) and restructuring, corporate law and derivative/carbon trading and is member in creditors committees.
Timo helps his clients, among them banks, corporates, listed companies, and asset managers in capital markets and finance transactions, M&A, squeeze outs, IPOs/ICOs as well as with regard to compliance. He also has special market experience regarding (renewable) energy, banking (stock exchange), insurance, and fund structuring as well as technology.
Houston; Austin
Houston; Austin
In public finance matters, Cathleen has served as bond counsel and special tax counsel for a variety of transactions, including health care facilities, multifamily housing, airport, ports, transit authorities, non-profit organizations, public utilities, hospitality projects, as well as tobacco revenue securitizations. In addition to tax-exempt financings, Cathleen also represents clients in IRS audits and non-profit corporation tax matters.
New York
With more than 30 years of experience, Richard is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities, having broad experience with tax exempt financings and related transactions involving governmental and not-for-profit entities. His skill and stature in the public finance community was recognized by the National Association of Bond Lawyers’ highest award for his career of distinguished service in public finance.
Richard focuses on new products, including the development of new and creative financing techniques for governments, non-profits and investment bankers. He regularly works on transactions throughout the country. However, in his home office in New York City, he leads the relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, serving as counsel on well over 100 transactions over a period of more than 20 years and has headed the tax work in connection with every financing of a cultural facility relating to museums and performing arts in New York City over this same period. Richard has worked on the tax aspects of several of the largest and most complex public private partnership (P3) transactions in recent years. He frequently acts as special tax counsel to issuers and underwriters of municipal finance issues.
Seattle; Boston
A leading cybersecurity and online safety authority, Aravind is recognized by Chambers USA in Privacy and Data Security in both Litigation and Incident Response. Clients describe him as “a very talented lawyer experienced with incident responses” and “incredibly responsive and technically savvy.”
Aravind’s deep knowledge of his clients’ business objectives and technological capabilities distinguishes him as a strategic advisor and frontline crisis responder. He advises some of the world’s leading online platforms, public and private financial institutions, tech companies, higher education institutions, and critical infrastructure providers on cybersecurity, and their obligations to monitor and remove harmful or illegal content online and root out instances of child exploitation.
He is adept at guiding companies through cybersecurity incidents, having directed more than 500 data breach investigations, including enterprise-wide network intrusions to cyberattacks with national security implications. Aravind defends clients in an array of cybersecurity and privacy class actions and regulatory enforcement actions brought by the SEC, FTC, NY DFS and State AGs, and also represents individual C-level executives in criminal and civil regulatory enforcement matters.
As a former assistant United States attorney, he investigated and prosecuted a broad array of cybercrime, child exploitation cases, digital crimes, and white-collar crime cases. This first-hand knowledge of federal agencies allows him to navigate the system, partner with investigators and find creative solutions for clients.
Aravind is a member of Orrick’s Board of Directors, and he devotes much of his free time to advising independent schools on AI, online safety, and cybersecurity, and teaching and coaching.
Sacramento
Chris has experience in acquisition, disposition and financing of large portfolios of commercial real estate; distressed debt; negotiation of joint ventures for development projects; construction contracts; data center leasing/co-location; office leasing; and transactions involving multi-family housing.
Chris is very involved in Orrick’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and has served as a co-chair of the San Francisco DEI Committee for many years. She is also involved in diversity efforts at UC Berkeley School of Law and has previously served on its Alumni Board and the Board of the East Bay Community Law Center.
Chris was resident in the firm's Tokyo office from 1999-2002.