People

Justin Giovannettone Senior Career Associate

Sacramento

Justin has represented individuals, corporations and public entities in connection with civil lawsuits, government investigations, insurance conservatorships, and compliance monitorships.  He has managed civil litigation matters and corporate internal investigations relating to accounting fraud, harassment, securities laws, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  He has also been a member of two government-appointed SEC and DOJ Monitorships, and helped represent a medical device company under a multi-year Monitorship ultimately resulting in dismissal of the criminal Information against the company. 

In October 2018, Justin represented the victim of a sexual assault in a jury trial in Yolo County Superior Court.  Sitting first chair at trial, Justin obtained a unanimous verdict and full damages for this pro bono client.

Prior to attending law school, Justin served on active duty for nine years in the United States Air Force.  He is currently a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

Alyssa Wolfington Managing Associate

New York

Alyssa navigates clients through privacy programs and policy creation, and provides guidance on compliance with federal, state and international laws and regulations, including the U.S. state privacy laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Virginia and other states, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and state data breach notification laws. She advises clients on security incident response and federal and state investigations related to privacy and data security. She also provides assessments of privacy and security practices for companies carrying out due diligence in the context of corporate transactions.

Thora Johnson Partner

Washington, D.C.

Thora works with medical device, pharmaceutical, biotech and digital health companies, helping them navigate the increasingly complex patchwork of state and federal health privacy laws. One client described her to the Legal 500 as a “very practical” advisor providing “exceptional guidance” on health information privacy and HIPAA compliance matters.

Her breadth and depth of experience enable Thora to assist clients in harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and executing data-sharing arrangements, all while protecting health data. As a result, Thora spends much of her time counseling pioneering startups and high-growth companies on responsible innovation in healthcare and life sciences.

Thora brings extensive experience counseling clients, including Fortune 500 companies and brick and mortar providers, on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other state and federal health privacy and regulatory compliance regimes including:

• Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s interoperability and information blocking regulations
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service’s (CMS’s) interoperability and patient access regulations
• Part 2 confidentiality requirements applicable to substance abuse records
• State health information privacy laws
• State consumer privacy laws with special controls for health data
• Medicare/Medicaid compliance
• Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA)
• Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)
• Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance
• Regulatory requirements of the Employer Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code, HIPAA, and the ACA as they apply to employer health and wellness plans

Thora routinely helps companies and large employers prepare for and respond to privacy and security incidents involving health information. She also defends clients in government investigations initiated by the OCR, OIG, DOJ, FTC and State AGs, among others.

Shannon Yavorsky Partner

San Francisco; Londra

She advises public and private companies across several sectors, including life sciences and health technology, financial services, private equity, insurance, social media and technology on a range of EU and U.S. federal and state privacy laws. Shannon’s strategic counseling advice includes, but is not limited to:

• Advertising and payment card processing self-regulatory frameworks
• Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM)
• Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
• EU AI Act
• EU e-Privacy Directive (EPD)
• EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework (AIRMF)
• Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
• U.S. state breach notification laws
• U.S. state privacy laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Virginia and other states
  

Shannon also helps clients undertake comprehensive privacy, cybersecurity and AI risk assessments, evaluates privacy, security and AI risks in corporate transactions and drafts and negotiates data-related contracts. She advises clients on cross-border data transfers, data breaches and developing global privacy and AI compliance programs.

Christine Reynolds Partner

Portland; Seattle

Christine has more than two decades of experience in public infrastructure finance, advising on both traditional bond financings and innovative funding structures. She serves as a Vice-Chair of the Public Finance Group and on the leadership team for the Impact Finance Group.

Christine’s experience includes various general obligation and revenue bond financings, including those relating to transportation, education, healthcare, water and wastewater, economic development, urban renewal, public power and other complex and innovative social and infrastructure financings sometimes involving public-private partnerships (P3) for large transportation and utility issuers, state and local municipalities, and other for-profit and nonprofit corporations.

She has extensive knowledge and experience with disclosure requirements for municipal issuers under federal securities laws, including both initial and continuing disclosure issues, material events disclosure, public offerings, private placements and other municipal securities regulatory matters.

Christine is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars given by trade and professional organizations within the municipal finance industry, including serving as Chair for The Bond Buyer's 2022 Infrastructure Conference and Board of Directors to Women in Public Finance.

Zac Padgett Partner

Austin

Zac advises clients on:

• growth equity transactions
• buyout acquisitions and mergers
• venture capital investments
• exit transactions
• take-private deals
• management buyouts
• joint ventures
• private placements
• debt-like preferred equity and project finance investments

As co-lead of the firm’s Energy Tech Team, Zac focuses on supporting companies and investors developing technologies like hyperscale data centers, alternative fuels, carbon capture, eVTOL aircraft, agtech and digital infrastructure. Zac is a key member of Orrick's energy transition practice, which was recognized as Band 1 in Energy Transition by Chambers USA (2023).

Zac is passionate about legal tech and implementing AI tools to enhance legal services. He helps lead the firm’s MAPE 2.0 project team, a platform that transforms M&A execution, which won the Financial Times' Reinventing the Legal Practice category.

Anisha Dasgupta Partner

New York

At the FTC, Anisha headed the 55-person Office of General Counsel, oversaw the FTC’s appellate litigation, defended regulatory decisions and enforcement actions in district court, and counseled Commissioners and other agency leaders. She litigated high profile anticompetitive conduct and merger cases, successfully arguing the FTC’s challenge to an $8 billion vertical merger in the biotech industry. She also supervised consumer protection work relating to advertising, artificial intelligence, data privacy, financial services, and marketing. She contributed to numerous significant rulemakings, including the 2025 Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) rule changes, 2024 Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, and 2023 Merger Guidelines.

Prior to her time at the FTC, Anisha served as Deputy Solicitor General at the Office of the New York State Attorney General and as an attorney on the Appellate Staff of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division.

As Deputy Solicitor General, Anisha handled some of New York’s most important appeals and provided legal guidance during trials and investigations. Her notable appellate arguments included groundbreaking antitrust, administrative law, statutory interpretation, and constitutional cases.

As an appellate attorney in the Civil Division, Anisha represented federal agencies in challenges to their statutes and regulatory actions. Her clients included the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, Health and Human Services, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs. During her tenure, she also served on detail to the White House Counsel's Office.

In addition to her first-chair appellate argument experience, Anisha has briefed hundreds of cases. She has handled numerous matters in the U.S. Supreme Court, every federal court of appeals, and New York’s state appellate courts.

 

Georgia C. Ravitz Partner

Washington, D.C.

Georgia also has extensive experience in assisting clients with product recalls, crisis management and government enforcement. Her practice in this sector includes assisting manufacturers, distributors, retailers and importers on all types of FDA regulated products including pharmaceuticals, medical devices and software, wearables, health and wellness products, cosmetics, cell and plant based foods, conventional foods, ag tech, compounded drugs, and dietary supplements.

Georgia’s deep experience and ability to provide practical guidance in FDA and FDA-adjacent regulatory matters allows her to work closely with innovative companies looking to minimize regulatory burdens and maximize U.S. marketing opportunities in the life science and health tech industry verticals. She also conducts regulatory due diligence for private equity and public company transactions involving life science, medtech and innovative companies.

Georgia is a frequent speaker at conferences and events who contributes regularly to leading trade and consumer media outlets.

Rachel Leigh Senior Associate

Londra

Rachel acts for early-stage and high-growth companies primarily in the technology sector.

Erin M. Connell Partner

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.

Alexandra Stathopoulos Partner

San Francisco; Los Angeles

Alex is based out of Orrick's San Francisco and Los Angeles offices and represents clients across California in their most critical employment law disputes. Legal 500 has recognized Alex as a "stand-out" attorney "who communicates quickly, confidently, and efficiently" and noted that she is "prepared, firm, and patient in depositions, with opposing counsel and with witnesses, and thinks very well on her feet." A thought leader in the employment law space, Alex is active on the Executive Committee for the California Lawyers Association (CLA) Labor and Employment Section and is an Editor-in-Chief of the CLA Labor & Employment Law Review. Alex also serves on the Executive Committee for the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF) Labor and Employment Law Section.

Alex's north star is understanding a client's business objectives first, whether in litigation or counseling matters. Alex defends employers in class, collective, and representative actions alleging wage and hour violations, discrimination, and other claims under federal and state laws, including Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) claims. She also routinely defends employers in high-stakes single plaintiff cases involving contract disputes, leaves and accommodations, and allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowing, wrongful termination, and trade secrets misappropriation. In her counseling practice, Alex provides bespoke counseling advice to management, designs workplace policies and procedures, and offers creative and practical solutions to address a wide range of employment issues including new and developing areas of the law.

Orrick’s Employment Law and Litigation group was recently named Labor & Employment Department of the Year in California for the fourth consecutive year 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.

Julie Totten Partner

Sacramento; San Francisco

In doing so, Julie closely collaborates with each client, gathering an in-depth understanding of their specific tensions, challenges and objectives. Legal 500 noted she “truly understands corporate politics and works with in-house counsel to understand the intersections of legal advice and business objectives.” Julie then draws upon nearly three decades of experience to guide clients towards the best possible resolution. Her client-focused approach is one of many reasons she was selected to lead Orrick’s global employment practice, which Chambers ranks as one of the country’s foremost practices and describes Julie as “a big thinker and a thought leader.”

Julie has experience defending both class actions and individual plaintiff cases. She has successfully defended clients in trial and arbitration and helps clients with all types of employment matters, including complex wage-and-hour class, collective and representative actions; pay equity and promotion cases; whistleblower retaliation actions, discrimination, harassment and retaliation litigation and trade secret and non-compete matters. She also guides clients through systemic government investigations and audits. Julie is proactive in helping clients avoid litigation by assisting them with the development of policies and practices designed to minimize exposure, including advice and counselling work in the areas of AI and DEI in selection and recruiting.

Julie is honored to be a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment and a member of the American Employment Law Council. She also served as a Council Member of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.