San Francisco
Erin's practice covers all aspects of employment law. She defends employers in class actions and other complex cases, as well as in systemic investigations and audits by the EEOC, DOJ, and the California CRD. Erin has led dozens of internal pay equity analyses and is a trusted advisor for several of the nation's most prominent employers on developing areas of employment law, including pay equity and pay transparency, DEI best practices, and the use of AI in employment decision making.
Erin also is an accomplished first chair trial lawyer. She has tried several cases before juries and in arbitration, and has obtained numerous defense summary judgment rulings and other favorable resolutions in state and federal court. Erin led the trial team that obtained a complete dismissal for Oracle in OFCCP v. Oracle, the largest pay equity case ever brought by the US Department of Labor, which garnered national media attention and earned Erin recognition as a "Litigator of the Week" by the American Lawyer and a 2021 Employment MVP by Law360. As lead counsel, Erin also successfully obtained decertification in a statewide California pay equity class action, Jewett v. Oracle.
Erin's clients include leading technology and Fortune 500 companies, including: Oracle, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Pinterest, Workday, PayPal, Sony Interactive Entertainment, NVIDIA, Airbnb, SiriusXM, Dropbox, Zendesk, Splunk and Goldman Sachs.
Erin frequently speaks on California and national employment law issues. She is currently a Council Member with the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section (LEL) and is the Conference Chair for the American Employment Legal Council (AELC). She is also a faculty member with the Institute for Workplace Equality (IWE), and formerly served as the management chair of the ABA Equal Employment Opportunity Committee. Erin also previously served on the Board of Directors for the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), as well as BASF’s Justice & Diversity Center (JDC). She has published numerous articles and papers on employment law issues in publications around the country. She also provides employment law training and conducts internal investigations on employment-related matters.
San Francisco
Eric helps clients design and build successful renewable energy businesses by advising on how projects and portfolios large and small can maximize their value through well-informed negotiation, efficient diligence and acquisition techniques, and responsive and creative problem solving.
Eric has particularly deep knowledge in helping developers strategically procure the equipment and services necessary to develop, construct, commission, operate and sell renewable energy projects of all sizes, and in helping investors evaluate the development work of potential investments. Development and procurement managers excel at sourcing and pricing a project’s needs, and Eric can build on this by bringing these contracts to completion with deep market knowledge, in a way best suited to the client’s commercial objectives and so that they withstand the scrutiny of project investors, lenders and buyers. Eric balances work for utility-scale projects with the growing distributed energy generation and storage sector, both of which recently include negotiation of contracts to “safe harbor” equipment or construction activities to preserve higher levels of ITC or PTC. He has represented energy project developers, equipment suppliers and installers, publicly-owned utilities, private equity investors and other parties in developing energy projects from very early stages of securing technology and land/resource rights to buying and selling operating assets, and everything in between.
San Francisco
In addition to representing clients in state and federal courts nationwide and in arbitration, Ariel also counsels public and private companies and their directors and officers on a wide range of issues relating to corporate governance and litigation risk and strategy. On the regulatory side, Ariel represents institutions and individuals in connection with investigations by the DOJ, SEC, FINRA, and other state and federal agencies. She also has defended clients in several high-profile SEC and DOJ enforcement actions.
Ariel additionally maintains an active pro bono practice focused on immigration and civil rights matters.
San Francisco; Sacramento
San Francisco; Sacramento
Sean serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, and underwriter's counsel on a variety of public finance transactions, including general obligation and revenue bond financings. Sean's experience includes counseling large public transportation agencies, and assisting in the financing of affordable housing, charter schools and higher education institutions throughout California.
Sean earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis in 2018, and his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2013.
San Francisco
Her experience includes structuring and negotiating various strategic and leveraged acquisitions of public and private targets, divestitures, carveouts, mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, minority and growth investments, restructurings, employment and executive compensation, corporate governance and other general corporate counseling matters.
She advises clients across a wide range of industries, including tech, AI, software, fintech, mobility tech, women’s health, life sciences and healthtech, insurance, consumer and retail, consulting services, education, manufacturing and transportation.
Leah also serves on the Board of Directors for National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS), a leader in brain tumor patient advocacy, research, information, and support.
Parigi
Hugues advises on the development and financing of international projects, with a particular focus on Africa and Europe. He has extensive experience advising sponsors (investors and industrialists), developers, and lenders (export credit agencies, commercial lenders, and development banks), particularly in the energy, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors.
Hugues regularly works on transactions in Africa. Through his involvement in numerous large-scale projects, he has acquired in-depth expertise in various national and regional legal systems and regimes, particularly those of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), and the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).
Hugues is also the author of numerous legal articles published in renowned law journals such as Lexis Nexis (France and Morocco), the Revue de droit bancaire et financier, the Revue Banque, and the Revue Contrats et Marchés Publics. In addition, he co-edits the annual editions of Lamy Droit du Financement and L’Essentiel Droits Africains des Affaires (Lextenso). He has also published the first book devoted to Islamic project financing.
Boston
Albert is involved in a broad range of corporate legal engagements for high growth technology companies, including IPOs, follow-on public offerings, private and public company securities law compliance matters, public company disclosure obligations, venture financings, mergers and acquisitions, de-SPAC transactions and SPAC IPOs. He also regularly advises public and private companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance issues.
Albert's clients include public and private companies in technology, energy, automotive, Internet related industries, real estate, finance and the life sciences (including, among others, immuno-oncology, gene therapy, restorative cell therapy and medical device companies). He also represents underwriters in initial public offerings, follow-on offerings and PIPE offerings and venture capital firms in a variety of investment transactions.
Albert was named to the Deal’s Top Rising Stars 2021 list, which recognizes top new partners at U.S. law firms who are “doing spectacular work in the field of deal-making and who have continued to progress in their career despite the obstacles put in front of them.”
Santa Monica
Matt represents major financial institutions (cash and tax equity investors and infrastructure funds), developers, sponsors and lenders across the full project lifecycle. With experience in all renewables sectors, including solar, wind and storage, Matt provides comprehensive guidance from project inception to financing (tax equity, tax credit monetization and debt), corporate planning, equity investment and M&A transactions.
Recognized in Chambers USA, Matt is praised by clients as “thoughtful and commercial,” “super responsive, pragmatic, and skilled at blending business and legal” and “notable for his expertise across the full range of renewables asset types.”
San Francisco
He conducts a broad federal tax practice in large corporate transactions and reorganizations, corporate finance and partnership, including pre-acquisition tax structuring. He also has substantial experience in executive compensation tax planning, exempt organizations and federal tax controversies, and has written on related tax topics.
Düsseldorf
His focus is on corporate transactions and their financing, financial restructurings, as well as tax audits and tax litigation. The tax support of growth companies at all stages has become an increasingly larger part of his work in recent years. U.S. flips, management incentivization, financing rounds, and exits are just some of the areas in which Stefan has been active in the growth sector.
Stefan leads the German Orrick offices together with Christoph Brenner.
Silicon Valley
Michael’s practice covers executive agreements, cash and equity-based incentive programs, change in control and severance plans, 409A and other deferred compensation issues and 280G “golden parachute” compliance, as well as compensation and benefits structuring in the context of mergers and acquisitions.
Michael authors the chapter “Executive Compensation and Benefits Issues for Start-ups and Emerging Companies” within Bloomberg BNA’s Benefits Practice Resource Center treatise.
From 2005 to 2010, Michael was a statistician with a Stanford University School of Medicine research group.
New York
Chris focuses in a variety of cross-border employment matters, including corporate immigration and workforce mobility strategies for multinational organizations. From startup ventures to large Fortune 500 companies and international conglomerates, he has represented clients across a diverse range of industries, including technology, banking and financial services, energy, manufacturing, retail and e-commerce, insurance, logistics and transportation, and academic institutions, among others.
As a member of Orrick's Global Employment Team, Chris focuses on international comparative employment law and assists clients on matters such as compliance, HR policies, global offer letters/employment contracts, separation agreements, etc.
Having practiced U.S. immigration and nationality law for many years prior to joining the Firm, Chris bolsters Orrick's capabilities and subject matter experience in the ever-changing corporate immigration space. To this end, he routinely advises HR and management teams on I-9 compliance, procurement of work authorization for foreign national talent, and the immigration-related impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and other types of corporate restructuring. Chris has successfully assisted companies with obtaining nonimmigrant visas for H-1B Specialty Occupation Professionals, L-1 Intracompany Transferees, E-1/E-2 Treaty Traders and Investors, TN NAFTA professionals, F-1 Students, J-1 Exchange Visitors, B-1/B-2 Temporary Visitors, and O-1 Extraordinary Ability Individuals. He also has extensive experience with the PERM labor certification process, immigrant visas, legal permanent residency (green card) applications, and naturalization/citizenship applications.