People

Daniel S. Kim Partner

Santa Monica; Los Angeles; Orange County

Dan has a general business and corporate law practice, representing both emerging and public companies in a variety of matters, including corporate and securities law, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, de-SPAC transactions, day-to-day general corporate matters, structured liquidity programs, public offerings, Securities and Exchange Commission reporting and compliance and corporate governance.

Dan began his legal career in Silicon Valley and works with a significant number of clients in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world.  Dan is also an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Law School. 

Dan’s current and former representations include:

• Beyond Meat
• Ceradyne
• Compellent Technologies
• GitHub
• Luminar Technologies
• Momentus
• Outward
• Pinterest
• Planet Labs
• Spectrum Pharmaceuticals
• ZestFinance

 Dan also has represented numerous venture capital and private equity investors including Founders Fund, Kapor Capital, Storm Ventures, Warburg Pincus, Wicklow Capital and many others.  

Jae Kim Associate

New York

A member of the firm’s Litigation business unit, Jae is currently working with teams defending against claims brought by investors, trustees, and monoline insurance companies and state security actions for Orrick’s marquee clients. Jae has extensive experience supporting trial teams defending clients in bet-the-company complex litigation, mass torts, product liability matters, and financial services disputes, as well as working with teams guiding clients through government and agency regulations, compliance, investigations, and enforcement actions. Jae has worked with various global companies on their U.S. litigations, investigatory, and compliance matters. Jae also has experience working with a team in a high-profile white-collar matter and assisted manufacturers with various government filings.

Before attending law school, he served in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps and worked at a South Korean government security agency.

Brian Kim Senior Associate

Seattle

Brian is a Seattle-based lawyer in Orrick’s Technology Companies Group. He combines his corporate law experience with academic and personal background and interests in technology and life sciences to provide pragmatic advice to start-ups, founders and investors.

Brian also has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border M&A transactions advising sellers, targets, buyers and private equity sponsors across a wide array of industries, including software, healthcare, manufacturing, food and beverage, agribusiness, financial services and natural resources.

Sojin Lillian Kim Managing Associate

Orange County

Ernan Kiselica Managing Associate

Orange County

Before joining Orrick, Ernan served as a law clerk for the Honorable Mary H. Murguia of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable David G. Campbell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Ernan earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he served as Executive Editor on the California Law Review. He also earned a Masters in Advanced International Studies from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna (Austria) and a B.S. in Justice Studies from Arizona State University.

Alexandra Kleemann Managing Associate

San Francisco

Alex draws on her experience representing clients at all stages of development on a variety of matters, including litigating employment and contract disputes; conducting internal investigations; guiding clients through complex executive terminations and large-scale reductions-in-force; defending clients before state agencies in wage-and-hour, discrimination, and labor-related disputes; drafting internal policies; conducting due diligence for mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions; and advising clients on compliance with the complex web of federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.

Melissa Klimkiewicz Senior Counsel

Washington, D.C.

She frequently assists Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgagees with their program approval efforts, annual recertifications, compliance with and understanding of program rules and self-reporting obligations, audits by the Quality Assurance Division (QAD), inquiries from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and enforcement actions by the Mortgagee Review Board (MRB). Melissa performs similar work related to the Ginnie Mae, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 184, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA Department) and U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service loan programs. Her work also includes assisting clients with False Claims Act (FCA)-based risk assessments arising from participation in government lending programs. She represents both mortgage and reverse mortgage/Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) lenders and servicers.

In addition, Melissa’s practice focuses on the mandatory purchase of flood insurance requirements under the Flood Disaster Protection Act, which includes regularly advising lenders and servicers on the ins and outs of the federal banking agencies’, FHA’s and the government sponsored enterprises’ (GSE) flood insurance-related regulations and guidance. She also assists clients with satisfying Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other regulators’ expectations for providing assistance to consumers impacted by presidentially declared disasters.

Melissa frequently counsels clients in matters arising under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA), Mortgage Acts and Practices Rule (MAP), the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act (SAFE) and related state licensing laws, state regulation of real estate brokers and property managers, and a range of other federal and state consumer financial laws impacting lending and servicing.

Melissa has been recognized by The Legal 500 in the Financial Services: Litigation practice area. She is a former Co-Chair (2014-2017) and Co-Vice Chair (2011-2014) of the Housing Finance Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Consumer Financial Services Committee. She also is an active member of the Mortgage Bankers Association and National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.

Prior to joining Orrick, Melissa was senior counsel and a former partner at Buckley LLP. Previously, she was an associate at Howrey LLP and was a law clerk at Buckley Kolar LLP while attending law school.

Sarah Koch Of Counsel

Washington, D.C.

Sarah advises on legal, legislative, and regulatory matters for a coalition of major online gaming operators. She helps clients structure products and business operations to comply with evolving gaming laws and regulations, and conducts diligence on gaming issues in relation to mergers and acquisitions.

Before joining Orrick, Sarah led the team responsible for providing legal analysis of gaming regulatory matters and products in development at one of the largest online gaming operators in the country. She worked across business units to respond to regulatory inquiries and operational incidents.

Prior to that role Sarah worked on the government affairs team of the operator, advocating for reasonable legal frameworks to govern sports betting, fantasy sports and igaming at a time of unprecedented industry change and growth. She drafted proposed legislation and regulations, testified to legislators, and met with regulators and policymakers as they considered and implemented these frameworks.

Sarah also has previous private practice experience advising online gaming and e-commerce clients in regulatory, transactional and litigation matters.

Millay Kogan Project Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Millay is a recent addition to the Orrick Analytics team, where she will leverage her unique background, as well as extensive experience in operational planning, development and execution, to support wide variety of business units across the Orrick's practices.

Joseph Kolar Partner

Washington, D.C.

In addition to closely monitoring the regulatory and enforcement activity of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Joe advises on Federal Housing Administration-insured and Department of Veterans Affairs-guaranteed single-family loan programs, Ginnie Mae guaranteed securities programs and the programs and policies of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they relate to loan origination, servicing, and secondary market transactions. In addition, Joe frequently represents mortgage lenders and others in negotiating joint ventures, marketing and internet origination agreements, vendor agreements, as well as other contracts used or needed by a wide variety of financial services companies.

He is a member of the Consumer Financial Services Committee of the American Bar Association, where he is a past Co-chair of the Housing Finance and RESPA Subcommittee, and a member of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. Prior to practicing law, Joe worked as a staff member for former U.S. Representative Jim Leach (R-IA).

Joe currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Legal Counsel for the Elderly, which is associated with AARP, and of Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington. He was President of the Kolar Charitable Foundation at Buckley.

Joseph Kolker Senior Associate

New York

In his trial-level practice, Joey develops legal strategy, writes persuasive and accessible briefs, and works as embedded appellate counsel at trial. Joey has drafted dozens of briefs in litigation involving patent infringement claims, false advertising claims, and other complex business disputes. At trial, in his hybrid role as embedded appellate counsel, Joey advises on legal strategy and preservation issues and drafts and argues trial motions, briefs, and jury instructions. 

In his appellate practice, Joey has presented argument before the Federal Circuit and Third Circuit, and drafted briefs at the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, and at the U.S. Supreme Court, across a wide range of subject matters--ranging from patents, copyright, and contract interpretation to white collar and criminal procedure, immigration, and civil rights law.

Before joining Orrick, Joey served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Janet Bond Arterton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Prior to clerking, he worked as a civil rights litigation fellow in the New York office of a national firm.

Katherine M. Kopp Senior Career Associate

Washington, D.C.

Katie leverages her deep experience in the Federal Circuit into efficient case management strategies that slash client costs. She has represented clients such as Dow AgroSciences LLC in two Federal Circuit victories in a multifaceted patent dispute with Bayer CropScience AG; VeriFone Systems, Inc. in an appeal from a district court order that would have undermined its ubiquitous payment terminals; Nintendo Co. in defense of its most important product―the Wii; and EMC Corp. in obtaining the definitive pre-America Invents Act opinion addressing the improper use of joinder in patent cases. 

Katie also has an active pro bono practice. She petitioned the Supreme Court to reconsider its rule regarding retroactive application of changes to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Court ruled 6-3 for our client after having previously divided 4-1-4 on the same issue. In addition, she has represented

• a class of detained immigrants challenging ICE’s systemic response to COVID-19 in its detention facilities;
• veterans’ service organizations supporting a reversal of the Feres doctrine, which broadly prohibits tort recovery for injuries sustained by military personnel “incident to service;” and
• a group of former Division 1 student-athletes supporting the NCAA in its prominent pay-for-play battle.