People

Jade Gasek Managing Associate

Sacramento

Jade's practice includes a broad set of commercial and employment litigation matters defending employers, financial institutions, and healthcare and technology companies against breach of contract and business tort claims, claims of discrimination and retaliation, and fraud claims, among others.

Prior to joining Orrick as an associate, Jade was an Orrick Fellow at the Howard University School of Law Civil Rights Clinic where he represented plaintiffs in federal civil rights litigation at both the trial and appellate levels.

As a law student, Jade worked as a judicial extern in the Eastern District of California for Chief Judge Kimberly J. Mueller.  He also co-mediated Section 1983 claims brought by incarcerated individuals with magistrate judges also in the Eastern District of California.

Jessie Gaston Partner

Parigi

With almost 20 years’ experience, Jessie has advised clients in the private equity, insurance, banking, technology, energy (including nuclear), hospitality, and luxury goods industries, including Antin Infrastructure, AXA REIM and AIG on, amongst others, the consequences of Brexit, transfer pricing audit issues, intellectual property rights, stock option incentives packages, management compensation schemes and structuring multinational joint ventures. Jessie offers clients strategic tax planning and is adept at liaising with the relevant authorities to minimize the risk of litigation and, when necessary, assists clients in litigation proceedings both before the French courts.

Jessie is “an excellent lawyer” “highly skilled” and “an exceptional team leader who thinks out of the box” (Client Commentary, Legal 500 EMEA) as well as being a Highly Regarded Practitioner (ITR World Tax, 2023); the Thomson Reuters Foundation also nominated her as Lawyer of the Year for pro bono. She has acted as an expert witness before the New York State Supreme Court, is frequently interviewed by Bloomberg, LCI, and quoted by the BBC concerning tax regimes for tech companies in Europe.

Jessie previously served as the deputy office leader of Orrick's Paris office. Before joining Orrick Jessie worked for one of the leading auditing and consulting services firms in the world and the Paris office of two multinational law firms.

Sara Gates Corporate Innovation Attorney

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.

Magda Gathani Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

Magda advises payments companies and commercial clients engaged in money transmission with regard to federal and state compliance, including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), anti-money-laundering (AML) laws, licensing obligations and consumer compliance. She also counsels clients on consumer privacy issues arising from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and Regulation P, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Cybersecurity Rules, and other state and federal laws that address data privacy and information security.

Prior to joining Orrick, Magda was an associate at Buckley LLP.

She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

Bradford Gathright Partner

Houston

He represents investors and developers in a broad range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments and other commercial transactions involving the development, construction, financing, acquisition, sale and investment in power generation, exploration, production, storage, transportation, distribution, marketing and other energy-related projects and businesses.

Brad is recognized as Band 1 for Chambers Global and Chambers USA for Projects: Power & Renewables: Transactional, where clients describe him as having "seen a lot of deals and is good at explaining complicated issues."

Jake Gatof Partner

Boston

Jake counsels visionary founders and top-tier venture and growth equity funds on venture financings, complex M&A, corporate governance, strategic collaborations, and other mission-critical transactions. Known for his steady counsel and deep market knowledge, Jake helps emerging companies scale with confidence and investors deploy capital with clarity.

Jake’s experience also includes representation of top growth equity and venture capital funds in the execution of their deals and deployment of capital, including work with TPG Capital, 5AM Ventures, and Pillar VC, among others.

He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (New England) and is an active member of the Boston venture and emerging company ecosystem, including frequent speaking engagements for founders and other stakeholders on entrepreneurship, capital formation, and strategic transaction matters.

Prior to joining Orrick, Jake worked with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in its Boston office upon its founding. He lives in Boston with his wife Emily, an oncologist here in Boston, and their daughter Mia.

Elizabeth Gavin Managing Associate

Londra

She is broadly experienced with venture capital financing transactions, as well as corporate formation and governance matters. Elizabeth has also advised a number of leading venture capital funds.

Prior to joining Orrick, Elizabeth worked in the Boston office of another US law firm.

Matthew Gemello Partner

Silicon Valley

A seasoned deal lawyer, Matthew guides global technology companies and their financial sponsors through transformational domestic and cross-border transactions. These deals range from private company buyouts and public takeovers in the United States and around the world, to complex, multi-jurisdictional spinoffs and business carveouts.

Matthew has been recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous publications, including Legal 500 and he was selected by the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of the top 10 Innovative Corporate Lawyers in California.

William George Of Counsel

Londra

William is an experienced lawyer and certified fraud examiner who has acted for shareholders, investors, creditors, insolvency practitioners, and high net worth individuals in all aspects of litigation arising from fraud and financial mismanagement in the UK and all of the major offshore jurisdictions. Will's experience includes applications for injunctive relief and third-party disclosure orders, and claims for deceit, fraudulent misrepresentation, and unlawful means conspiracy.

William also has a depth of experience in shareholder and trusts litigation, having acted for corporations, shareholders, trustees and beneficiaries in high value disputes across multiple jurisdictions, including a leading role in the frequently cited cases of Singh vs. Singh, and Re Edwardian Group Limited.

William's involvement in Pro Bono work around the world has included high profile projects such as the negotiation of the UN Arms Treaty, the development of refugee law in Tanzania, and assisting victims of crypto fraud in the United Kingdom.

Harrison Geron Managing Associate

Silicon Valley

Harrison graduated from UC Berkeley School of Law with the BCLT Technology Law Certificate and Pro Bono Honors with highest distinction. At Berkeley Law he served as Senior Executive Editor of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal and Co-President of the Space Law Society.

Harrison is dedicated to studying and advocating at the intersection of law and technology. During law school, for fun, he co-authored a comment to the FCC that was well cited in the reply-period and by the FCC in its subsequent order. This comment led to the paper "Title Zero": Ending the Infinite Loop of Classifications for Broadband Via a Technology Agnostic Definition, which won an award after peer review at TPRC49 and is published in the California Law Review in 2022. Harrison is also dedicated to positive social change enabled by law and technology. He was the co-lead organizer for the inaugural 2020 BTLJ/BCLT symposium "Technology Law As a Vehicle for Anti-Racism."

Harrison previously worked at a boutique patent firm in the San Francisco Bay Area where he aided in the drafting of patents. Harrison also brings experience in complex litigation, having worked at a plaintiff-side class action firm during law school. He holds a BS/BA from Loyola Marymount University in Economics/Political Science and a Minor in Natural Science/Physics. He further studied post-baccalaureate at Santa Clara University in Physics.

Pariya Ghafoori Managing Associate

Washington, D.C.

Pariya represents issuers, sponsors, underwriters, servicers, and other market participants in connection with securitizations and asset-backed securities, in public and private offerings.

John Giansello Counsel

New York

Orrick’s Employment Law and Litigation group was recently named Labor & Employment Department of the Year in California by The Recorder, the premier source for legal news, in recognition of their significant wins on behalf of leading multinational companies on today’s most complex and challenging employment law matters.

He has considerable experience in and knowledge of litigation and counseling related to the hiring, firing, retention, management and promotion of employees.