People

Nikita Shah Partner

Austin; San Francisco

Niki advises entrepreneurs, senior in-house leadership, and investors of technology companies at all stages and across a broad range of industries, including consumer internet, enterprise software, AI, fintech, edtech, delivery, healthcare, retail, digital media and sharing economy.

Leveraging a unique professional background, Niki is a trusted advisor to founders and provides strategic insights as outside general counsel to startups, from pre-seed to exit.

Niki has advised companies and venture capital firms on over 150 transactions, including venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and secondary offerings, with an aggregate transaction value in excess of $20 billion.

Niki’s prior company-side representations include Yelp, DocuSign (IPO team), Blue Nile, Origin Materials, Orbus Therapeutics, Singularity Education Group, SmartRecruiters, and TravelBank, among others.

Niki has also represented leading venture capital firms and strategic investors, including a16z, Battery Ventures, General Catalyst, Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital, SVB Capital, Temasek and Founders Fund, among others.

Before joining Orrick, Niki served as the Associate General Counsel at MasterClass, where she provided legal and strategic counsel on corporate and equity matters, BD and strategic partnerships, product development, content and production, marketing, IP, and data privacy. Niki started her emerging companies and venture practice at Cooley LLP and advised startup companies in-house at Techstars.

David Sharrow Partner

Boston

David brings a wealth of expertise, focusing on diverse cutting-edge technologies, including life sciences (biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, digital health, genomic technology), fintech, artificial intelligence, information technology (hardware, software, SaaS, and database solutions), edtech, renewable energy, sustainable technologies, AR/VR and cybersecurity.

He advises clients on corporate partnerships, strategic alliances and licensing agreements with leading U.S. and global entities, as well as major research universities and institutes. His experience includes navigating the IP and technology aspects of venture capital financings, public offerings and some of the largest M&A transactions involving venture-backed companies.

David has lectured at major institutions, including Tulane, Yale, Princeton, NYU, Columbia, Cornell and Fordham.

Kyle Amendt Shimomura Associate

San Francisco

Kyle advises companies throughout their lifecycle, including formation, corporate and securities law, venture capital financings and corporate governance matters. In addition to advising companies, Kyle represents venture firms and other investors in connection with their investments in private companies.

Before practicing law, Kyle was a product manager in a leading medical device company. He also worked on multiple units of a nationally recognized children's hospital and sat on the Hospital Ethics Committee.

Damien Simonot Partner

Monaco

He has many years of experience advising private equity investors, established companies and family offices as well as startups and scale-ups. He counsels clients on complex and often cross-border transactions, restructurings, joint ventures and buy-outs and other partnerships and investments in the tech sector and beyond.

Before joining Orrick, Damien worked for an international law firm in Munich and Frankfurt for more than eight years.

Alex Sobolev Partner

Londra

Alex’s multidisciplinary practice and transatlantic experience enable him to provide strategic commercial advice for technology led companies, including coordinating and implementing data and consumer risk mitigation projects, providing outsourcing advice and developing key legal risk mitigation strategies in relation to products where the pace of innovation nearly always outpaces the law.

He has advised companies at all stages of the corporate lifecycle, from software development and product launch, through technology licensing, sale and purchase, to mergers and acquisitions of data and tech-heavy businesses. He has assisted organisations with the design, development and implementation of global data protection and compliance policies, as well the management of risk and security associated with data retention, processing and transfer.

Mark Solakian Partner

Boston

With more than three decades of experience advising both private and public companies—and having served as a senior in-house executive across multiple pioneering biotech and life sciences companies—Mark brings a uniquely business minded perspective to his counsel and delivers a rare blend of legal acumen and executive experience that positions him as a trusted strategic partner to entrepreneurs, companies and investors.

Mark is a veteran of hundreds of successful venture capital financings, technology and licensing transactions, strategic alliances, corporate governance matters, mergers and acquisitions, and public and private equity and debt offerings on behalf of companies in every health and biotech related vertical.

Before joining Orrick, Mark was a partner and co-founder of the Wilson Sonsini Boston office. He previously held senior executive roles at Affymetrix (AFFX), Helicos Biosciences (HLCS) and Joule Global Holdings, where he oversaw legal strategy, led public offerings and financings, negotiated strategic partnerships and licensing transactions, and managed critical business functions including HR, finance, and government affairs.

Mark and his wife, Christine, have been married for more than 25 years and have two adult children.

Manon Speich Senior Associate

Parigi; Paris Tech Studio

Manon advises startups and high growth technology companies in raising capital and building their businesses from formation through exit. She assists founders developing and implementing effective corporate governance strategies throughout the life of their startup and issuing customized equity instruments for their fundraising. 

Before joining Orrick, Manon worked as an M&A and Private Equity attorney at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel in Paris.

Ben Spitz Counsel

Tokyo

Ben works with innovative technology companies and the investors who back them, focusing on those that operate in the blockchain, web3, NFT, and cryptocurrency sectors or have a relationship to Japan.

Drawing from his in-house experience at a global cryptocurrency exchange, Ben has a keen understanding of the challenges faced by high-growth companies developing transformative technologies and products in a regulated industry. He has also gained insight into both the Silicon Valley and Japanese tech and venture ecosystems, having previously worked in the Palo Alto office of another major law firm before practicing in Japan.

Not admitted in Japan.

Christopher Sprado, LL.M. (University of Virginia) Partner

Düsseldorf

Christopher has profound experience in advising multinational corporations and international investors on their most important transactions and strategic challenges. His clients particularly value his pragmatism and his ability to break complex issues down to the essentials and to find efficient solutions.

Prior to joining Orrick in 2021, Christopher worked at Linklaters LLP for more than 10 years. During such time, he had the opportunity to undertake client secondments at two large German-listed companies.

Ylan Steiner Partner

Londra

Following an earlier career as a computer software programmer, Ylan has a passion for technology and innovation across numerous sectors.

Ylan’s notable company-side representations include Currencycloud, EVRYTHNG, Griffin Financial, MFS Africa, nPlan, Railsbank, Signal AI and Taster. One CEO client described Ylan as the “most incredible lawyer… [who I have worked with] for years. He's that good and his deal team is good too.”

In addition to his company-side representations, Ylan acts for leading venture capital and private equity firms and other strategic investors, including Vitruvian Partners, Warburg Pincus, Kennet Capital Partners, Kinnevik, Marlin Equity Partners, Seedcamp, and Oxx.

Ylan has been consistently recognised as a leading venture capital advisor in both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. Ylan was described by one client in Legal 500 UK 2022 as “an exceptionally knowledgeable counsel – he helped guide me through a number of challenges around our fundraise with ease, speed and clarity.”

A recent career highlight for Ylan was being invited by HM Treasury to advise on the UK Government’s Future Fund in response to calls from the technology industry to support VC backed start-ups throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Hiroki Sugita Partner

Tokyo

He also has extensive experience in fund formation, real estate and various types of finance transactions.

Hiroki has a deep understanding of clients’ needs from his secondment experience with a U.S. investment bank in 2005 and a Japanese major trading house from 2012 to 2014.

Prior to joining Orrick, Hiroki worked at O’Melveny’s Tokyo office as a counsel where he mainly worked on cross border M&A.

Mike Sullivan Partner

San Francisco

Some of Mike's clients have included:

• Artyc PBC (refrigerant-free cold storage and shipping; funded by Lowercarbon Capital, True Ventures and SOSV)
  
• AIMotive, Inc. (autonomous vehicle software; funded by Robert Bosch Venture Capital; Tim Draper and others)
• Alta Reality (virtual reality; funded by a16z and others)
• EarnUp (loan optimization platform; funded by Blumburg Capital and SignalFire)
• Earth.AI Inc. (AI-enabled platform for mineral discovery; Y Combinator)
• Earthshot Labs (platform for nature-based carbon sequestration projects; funded by Acorn Pacific Ventures)
• Fountain Therapeutics (discovery and development of treatments for aging-associated diseases; undisclosed investors)
• Goodly Inc. (student loan repayment as an employee benefit; Y Combinator)
• Grabango (checkout-free technology; funded by Propel Venture Partners, Ridge Ventures and Commerce Ventures)
• Hangar One Vodka (acquired by Jose Cuervo)
• JOSH.AI (AI control for the smart homes; undisclosed investors)
• Kloudfuse (AI-enabled unified data observability platform; funded by Blumberg Capital, Newlands and others)
• Matterport (3D scanning solutions; Nasdaq MTTR)
• Mayfield Robotics (home robots)
• Medcorder Inc. (healthcare tech; funded by Future Ventures)
• Movidius (computational image processor chips; funded by DFJ Esprit; Atlantic Bridge and others; sold to Intel)
• Neptune Flood Incorporated (AI-enabled insurtech solutions for flood insurance; funded by Bregal Sagemount and FTV Capital)
• Planet Labs (satellite data company; NYSE: PL)
• Quidnet Energy Inc. (energy storage; funded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Evok Innovations)
• Radiant Graph (AI platform to drive personalization for healthcare organizations; funded by True Ventures and M13)
• Safehub (earthquake sensors; funded by A/O PropTech, Fusion Fund, Ubiquity Ventures and others)
• Samasource Impact Sourcing (machine learning training; funded by Ridge Ventures and CDPQ)
• SquareTwo (casual games; funded by Walden Ventures and Translink)
• St. George Spirits (spirits company focused on single malt whiskey, bourbon, agricole rum, absinthe, gin, brandies and liqueurs)
• StartOut (LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship accelerator)
• Tempo Interactive (home fitness platform; funded by Softbank, Norwest Ventures, General Catalyst and others)
• TS Conductor (next generation conductor technology; funded by Breakthrough Energy Ventures)
• Unison (proptech; funded by F-Prime and RBC)
• Zeguro Inc. (insuretech - cyberinsurance; funded by Mosaik Partners; Healthy Ventures, Social Capital and others)

Mike also represents a number of venture capital firms, including Blumberg Capital, Evok Innovations,  Griffin Gaming Partners, iGlobe Partners, Illuminate Ventures, Marcy Venture Partners, Ridge Ventures and Walden Venture Capital.