People

Jeremy Kudon Partner

New York

No other group in the United States - whether at a law firm, public affairs firm, or inside the Beltway - can match Jeremy and Orrick's record of success in the state legislatures. Unlike others, who specialize in tracking bills, identifying contract lobbyists (and taking a % of their fee), or developing expensive media and PR campaigns, Jeremy and his team don't specialize in any one area of state government affairs; they specialize in EVERYTHING. They learn your business, work with you on your objectives--both overall and in the state legislatures, identify threats/opportunities, develop a budget, hire contract lobbyists, draft legislation, prepare advocacy pieces, attend legislative conferences, travel to state capitols and educate members about your issue, testify before committees, develop and implement grassroots and PR campaigns, coordinate roll calls, and coordinate every aspect of both the state and overall campaign to add the most possible value to your business.

Just listen to what the media and our clients have to say – The New York Times profiled our efforts in passing online sports betting and daily fantasy sports legislation in an extensive above-the-fold report and in an episode of their podcast, “The Daily.” And from an interview with TechCruch, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said Jeremy and Orrick’s Public Policy team have “helped us go from a tech company that didn’t know a whole lot about legislative affairs and regulation to really being sophisticated there” and praised that “For anyone who’s in a disruptive industry and might be regulated, they really did a fantastic job.”

Samir R. Bakhru Partner

New York

Samir has advised on venture financings totaling over $10 billion for both early and late-stage companies, and he has provided guidance on M&A transactions exceeding $5 billion.  He has experience in advising founders on structuring their companies to maintain control and frequently counsels executive teams in maintaining and managing a successful board of directors.  Samir also works closely with boards to guide them through complex crisis management situations, helping to navigate and overcome challenges.  

Samir’s notable company-side representations include Betterment, Beacon Platform, K Health, Dataiku, Chime, Merama, Warby Parker (until IPO), Codecademy (until sold), Maisonette, Capchase, GlossGenius, Inspiren and ResearchGate, among many others.

In addition to his company-side representations, Samir has represented leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners, Eight Roads Venture Capital, AE Industrial Partners, Charles River Ventures, Coatue Management, Krealo VC, Heavybit Industries, TPG Growth, Vista Equity Partners, Walden Venture Capital, Warburg Pincus, and Y Combinator Continuity Fund.

Before joining Orrick, Samir was an Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in the General Corporate and M&A group.

Olivia Clements Senior Litigation Attorney

New York

Olivia represents companies and individuals in high-stakes litigation in federal and state courts nationwide. She has served a pivotal role in multiple successful jury trials, including arguing motions and formulating effective direct and cross examination strategies for both fact and expert witnesses. Olivia has extensive experience in all phases of litigation from drafting and responding to complaints to managing fact and expert discovery to drafting briefs to working on creative settlement solutions in alignment with clients' overall business and organizational goals. Her engagements have involved mass torts and product liability, multi-million dollar contract disputes, joint venture and partnership disputes, trade secret misappropriation, and defamation and trade libel. She also has experience with FCPA compliance and investigations.

Olivia maintains an active pro bono practice and serves as a member of the Pro Bono Advocates Council for Volunteers of Legal Service.

Kayla Z. X. Southworth Senior Associate

New York

Kayla advises public and private life sciences, technology, and energy companies, and private equity funds and their portfolio companies, on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, minority and majority investments, joint ventures, licenses, collaborations, royalty and revenue-sharing financings, and other complex transactions. She also advises clients on New York and Delaware corporate, partnership, limited liability company, and non-profit law, including corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.

Prior to joining Orrick, she was an Antitrust Associate at Davis Polk and a Litigation Associate at Sullivan & Cromwell.

Mayling Leong Of Counsel

Sacramento

In addition, Mayling serves as issuer’s counsel to the California Statewide Communities Development Authority and the California Public Finance Authority for 501(c)(3) conduit financings, and as special counsel to the California State Treasurer’s Office in transactions for bonds insured through the California Department of Health Care Access and Information’s Cal-Mortgage Loan Insurance program.

Darren Pouliot Senior Associate

Londra

Darren is a dual-qualified American lawyer and solicitor-advocate of England and Wales. He has an established record of working closely with clients across the finance, commodities, energy, life sciences and technology industries on all stages of disputes.

He represents clients in international arbitral proceedings under the major arbitral institutions' rules, as well as in American federal and state courts. He also holds Higher Rights of Audience with the Senior Courts of England & Wales. Darren maintains an active pro bono practice with a focus on criminal, habeas, and constitutional cases on appeal.

Darren also has direct in-house experience, having undertaken secondment to the fast-paced litigation department of one of the world's largest investment banks. He worked closely with the in-house team to assess litigation risk, advise stakeholders, and manage ongoing global litigations. He now frequently works with clients to develop their dispute resolution terms, processes, and trainings for other in-house functions.

Prior to joining Orrick, Darren earned his Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School where he led the Columbia Business Law Review as its Editor-in-Chief and extensively studied federal constitutional, administrative, and criminal law. While there, he was a judicial intern in multiple levels of the U.S. federal judiciary, including the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the Southern District of New York, and the District of New Jersey.

Sara Little Managing Associate

Parigi; Londra

Sara represents clients across the United States, Europe and Asia in the energy and infrastructure, real estate, licensing and distribution, defense, and aerospace industries. She has experience handling disputes governed by French, Swiss, Iranian, and US (Maryland, New York, Washington, Illinois) law in most of the major arbitral forums, including the ICC, HKIAC, ICSID, and the Swiss Arbitration Centre.

With a strong background in Public International Law, Sara brings a nuanced understanding of the international legal frameworks that impact cross-border disputes to her cases. She also has a keen interest in defense technology and aviation, combining industry-specific knowledge with a solutions-oriented mindset to tackle the unique legal challenges these fields present.

Before joining Orrick, Sara gained valuable experience working in the Emerging Companies department of another major international law firm in New York City. She also represented the City of New York in family court, prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases for two years. In addition to her legal practice, Sara serves as a coach for the International Criminal Court moot court and is a Steering Committee member of the young practitioners’ group of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR).

Sara is recognised for International Arbitration by Legal 500 France.

Eric Rivas Senior Associate

Orange County

Eric draws on significant experience in a broad range of matters across the artificial intelligence, pharmaceutical, retail and hospitality spaces to help clients resolve disputes in high-exposure, complex antitrust and unfair competition litigation and class actions.

His experience spans claims involving:

• Price fixing (including claims involving algorithmic pricing software)
• Information exchanges
• Monopolization
• Exclusive dealing
• Vertical distribution
• Noncompetes
• Resale price maintenance
• Group boycotts
• Mergers & acquisitions

Eric regularly resolves litigation at the motion to dismiss and summary judgment phases. His advocacy spans matters in both the class action and business-to-business contexts. Eric also helps clients navigate civil and criminal investigations brought by the DOJ, the FTC and state attorneys general.

Eric is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Law Section and the California Lawyer’s Association’s Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section. He maintains an active pro bono practice, including representing clients in section 1983 matters and immigration removal petitions.

Before joining Orrick, Eric served as a law clerk to Judge Michael M. Anello of the US District Court for the Southern District of Southern California. During law school, he was a judicial extern to Magistrate Judge Jan M. Adler of the Southern District of California, a law clerk in the Criminal Division of the California Attorney General’s Office, and a law clerk for the US DOJ’s Civil Division.

Rebecca Grevitt Senior Associate

Londra

Mark Mushkin Partner

New York

Mark counsels clients on access to the U.S. public markets, including advising on registered and 144A/Reg S debt and equity offerings, IPOs, private placement transactions and general securities law matters. He also provides counsel to underwriters and issuers on various offerings.

He also represents clients on public and private acquisitions, mergers and divestitures, private equity transactions, strategic investments, joint venture disputes, long-term commercial arrangements and general corporate matters, as well as advising financial institutions in negotiating credit facilities with investment grade and non-investment grade borrowers.

Adele Harrison Senior Associate

Londra

Adele has advised clients on a wide range of cybersecurity and data privacy matters.  Adele has a particular interest in online safety requirements for companies and has advised clients in relation to the Age Appropriate Design Code, Video Sharing Platforms requirements and the Online Safety Bill. 

Before joining Orrick, Adele worked for two years on a global investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption, resulting in settlements with the UK Serious Fraud Office, French Parquet National Financier, U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of State.

Prior to her work in private practice, Adele practiced at the independent Bar for five years. She has experience in prosecuting and defending in a wide range of criminal law cases and has developed a practice focusing on fraud, white collar crime and regulatory law.  Adele has conducted secondments with the Serious Fraud Office and Crown Prosecution Service on high profile banking fraud cases, as well as internships with the International Criminal Court and the New York State Division of Human Rights.

Adele has obtained the Certified Information Privacy Professional - Europe (CIPP/E) designation from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Yves Lepage Partner

Parigi

Recognized by Chambers as a notable practitioner in International projects, Energy and Africa, Yves is praised for his “very good sector experience and knowledge”, as well as his “enormous negotiating skills”. With 30 years' experience in PPP, international infrastructure projects and power industry projects, Yves regularly advises operators in both the public and private sectors, government entities and financial institutions for operations in Europe, Africa and Latin America. Recently, he has led a cross-border multidisciplinary team advising Actis, one of the largest and most active private equity firms operating in Africa, in its purchase of a majority interest in three power assets in Cameroon from Fortune 200 global power company AES Corporation.

Yves also has substantial experience in privatizations and acquisitions in France and internationally with companies whose main assets are infrastructure facilities. He notably advised VINCI Airports in connection with the acquisition of nine airports and three partial management contracts following acquisition of the airport portfolio held by Airports Worldwide.

Yves is a lawyer with the Paris Appeals Court and a member of the New York Bar. He was appointed as French Foreign Trade Advisor in 1996.