People

Richard Krebs Partner

Orange County

As a co-lead of the Life Settlements group at Orrick, Rich has soared to the company of top attorneys in the space, bringing a wealth of experience to the table. From federal and state courts to private arbitration rooms, Rich has represented policyholders, investors, funds, trusts, asset managers, banks, and brokers and agents in a myriad of arenas, including cost of insurance (COI) disputes, carrier and estate challenges, ownership and coverage disputes, and fraud cases.

Rich’s extensive experience in the life settlements space goes far beyond litigation and dispute resolution. Rich is a trusted advisor to clients transacting in the space, guiding clients through complex portfolio transactions, due diligence, and restructurings. He also works closely with Orrick’s Public Policy group to pursue legislative solutions on behalf of his clients. Rich’s relentless pursuit of victory and record of success directly lends to his ingenuity and innovative strategies, setting him apart from competitors in the life settlements space.

Raghav Krishnapriyan Partner

San Francisco

Raghav has litigated a broad range of technology, life sciences, and trade secret cases through trial and appeal. In the life sciences space, he helped secure a $178 million patent infringement verdict for a Bay Area pharmaceutical client, was instrumental in obtaining a highly favorable settlement in a complex contract case involving CAR-T technology, and fended off IPRs filed against foundational fusion protein technology by biosimilar makers. In the technology space, his facility with both web programming and legal minutiae has resulted in victories in a bet-the-company trade secret litigation against a startup revolutionizing scientific research, summary judgment in an action against his client involving five widely-litigated web patents, and a judgment of patent invalidity under § 101 against seven patents. He has also litigated class actions and criminal cases that have a technology-related focus. He has assisted numerous emerging and venture-funded companies across industry sectors.

Raghav also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing asylum seekers and inmates seeking compassionate release.

Raghav holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Davis, and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He clerked for the Honorable James Donato of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and the Honorable Jane Kelly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

John Kromer Partner

Washington, D.C.

John helps clients navigate the complex maze of federal and state laws and regulations. He regularly counsels clients on compliance with regulations issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as well as examination and enforcement actions by the bureau, federal banking agencies, state regulators and other enforcement agencies. He advises on the laws governing licensing and chartering, usury, advertising, disclosures, privacy, lending and servicing practices, and laws prohibiting unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices (UDAAP).

He advises financial services firms on new product and business line development, including structuring and negotiating commercial relationships, joint ventures and partnership agreements. He also assists financial and strategic purchasers of fintechs and financial services firms on regulatory matters, including due diligence of companies, assets and portfolios, and transactional structuring in light of federal and state licensing and regulatory requirements.

John is recognized by Chambers USA as a leading attorney in the field of Consumer Finance Compliance and has been noted by The Legal 500, in the practice areas of Financial Services Regulation, Cyber Law (including Data Protection and Privacy), and Fintech. He frequently speaks at industry conferences on legal issues affecting consumer finance companies. John is a co-author of a number of publications, including Residential Mortgage Lending: State Regulation Manual; Residential Mortgage Lending: Brokers; Pratt’s State Regulation of Second Mortgages and Home Equity Loans; Mortgage Bankers Guide to Regulatory Compliance and The Law of Electronic Signatures and Records, and has written numerous articles for consumer financial services industry publications.

John is Fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers, served on the Advisory Council of the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators from 1998-2018, was a Board member of the Online Lending Policy Institute from 2016-2021 and is a past Chair of the Housing Finance Subcommittee of the Consumer Financial Services Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Prior to joining Orrick, John was a partner at Buckley LLP. He served as Buckley’s Co-Managing Partner from 2009-2019 and was a member of the firm’s partner board from 2019-2022.

Adam Krueger Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

Adam works closely with founders, directors and venture capitalists from pre-formation through exit and has significant experience leading high growth companies through:

• company formation;
• capital raising strategy and venture capital financings;
• general corporate and governance matters;
• complex corporate transactions of all types; and
• successful exit transactions, including mergers & acquisitions.

Adam also leverages his unique business and legal perspective to advise venture capital investors (including venture firms, strategic corporate investors and individuals) in evaluating, structuring, and managing their investments throughout the life cycle of disruptive technology companies.

Adam is known for partnering with companies and sharing in their vision for change to provide flexible solutions that meet evolving business needs. He represents companies and their investors in a variety of industries, including space tech, life sciences, digital platforms and software services, transport, artificial intelligence, health and lifestyle and sports tech, among others.

Adam is a proud father of two young daughters and is actively involved with orphanage work in Kenya, helping drive non-profit efforts throughout the region.

Leslie Conard Krusen Partner

Seattle

Les is a Partner in the Public Finance practice group in Orrick’s Seattle office. He has served as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriters’ counsel on public and privately placed tax-exempt and taxable debt issued by airports and ports, mass transit agencies, electric and water utilities, industrial development agencies and bond banks, higher education institutions and health care facilities. He has experience in advising clients in such financings in several states and U.S. territories, including Alaska, California, Guam, Nevada, New York, Oregon and Washington.

During the course of his practice, Les has worked on various types of financing structures, including standard general obligation and revenue bond financings, bond and grant anticipation financings, master trust indenture financings, conduit financings, pooled financings, variable rate bonds and current and advance refundings.

Prior to joining Orrick, Les was an associate in the Capital Markets practice group at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York, where he represented major foreign and domestic banks and boutique financial institutions as issuers, depositors, loan sellers, underwriters, initial purchasers and placement agents in connection with approximately $20 billion of public and private offerings of commercial mortgage-backed securities and collateralized loan obligations.

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.”

Igor Kukhta Partner

Parigi

He advises on a range of lender-side and borrower-side transactions, including leveraged acquisition financings with a specific focus on private credit, and special situations and distressed financings. He also has experience with corporate finance matters, debt restructurings and venture debt financings for high-growth companies.

Igor is fluent in French, English, Ukrainian and Russian.

Karthik Kumar Partner

Singapore

Karthik has a strong focus on the renewable energy sector with extensive experience in solar, onshore and offshore wind, biomass, and waste-to-energy projects across the region. Karthik is highly regarded in the market for his in-depth regulatory knowledge and significant transactional experience. Clients laud him for his commercial approach and deep regional background.

He has extensive experience advising developers, sponsors, borrowers and financial institutions, including banks and multilateral lending institutions, on a wide range of renewable energy projects in jurisdictions such as Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, China and Australia.

Karthik is a top-ranked lawyer in the Chambers Global and Asia Pacific directories as well as by Legal 500 and India Business Law Journal. Clients describe him as a “top-notch lawyer” and is “known for his project finance capabilities, particularly in the renewable energy segment.” They also note that he “deeply understands the business needs and stakeholder expectations and has time and again proven to have our 100% confidence in his counsel.” Clients extol his India-focused project finance practice, commending him for his "second to none" knowledge of Indian law and practice and noting a particular acquisition of an Indian company where "his ability to understand unique local issues" was "amazing." 

Ethan Kutinsky Project Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Mr. Kutinsky works with litigation attorneys and third party vendors to manage the review and production of documents relevant to investigations and litigation. This work includes using early case assessment technology to analyze, categorize, and cull data. He also manages teams of skilled professionals performing document review, redaction, analysis, production, and drafting of privilege logs. He also works with practice office attorneys on transactional tasks, including contract review and due diligence.

Ethan is Seattle-based attorney who has built a career as an experienced e-discovery authority. He has worked as an attorney managing a wide range of projects in e-discovery for over 10 years, and has worked as an e-discovery consultant for the City of Seattle.

Jerry V. Kyle, Jr. Partner

Austin

Jerry has been active in traditional bond financings for governmental entities such as school districts, cities, counties and special-purpose districts, advising them on general obligation, ad valorem tax-secured financings and special or limited obligation financings, such as utility system revenue-secured financings, conduit financings, financings for state agencies and financings for entities authorized to act on behalf of the State of Texas and its political subdivisions, including tax and revenue anticipation and general obligation and special-purpose facility revenue financings.

Matthew D. LaBrie Partner

Boston; San Francisco

In his commercial litigation practice, Matthew represents clients in federal and state court at the trial and appellate levels.  While Matthew routinely assists clients at all stages of the litigation process, through motions practice, discovery, witness preparation, and trial, he has a particular focus on class action defense.  Matthew's litigation experience is broad, including data security litigation, commercial and contractual disputes in all industries, shareholder derivative litigation, and class action defense, as well as commercial arbitration.  His current engagements include representation of clients facing consumer class actions arising out of a data breach of the MOVEit file transfer software; a social media company facing consumer class actions arising out of a data breach; the University of Washington in a pandemic-related class action seeking refunds of tuition and fees on behalf of students; and a series of litigations over the ownership and control of a social media company.  

In his cybersecurity practice, Matthew counsels clients across the globe through all stages of a privacy or data security incident, navigating the relevant legal regimes, managing the response to and investigation of an incident, and handling any litigation or regulatory investigation resulting from the incident.  Matthew spent a year based in Orrick's London office developing and coordinating Orrick's worldwide data breach incident response and litigation capabilities.

Matthew maintains an active pro bono practice. He has assisted individual clients with family law matters, advocated on behalf of veterans' and immigrants' rights, and represented human trafficking survivors in a series of federal cases.

Amanda Lack Managing Associate

Chicago

Amanda’s practice centers on all types of intellectual property matters including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation. Amanda also handles other civil litigation matters including commercial and contract-based disputes.

Amanda clerked for Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for Judge Arenda Wright Allen of the Eastern District of Virginia. During her tenure on the fast-paced “rocket docket,” Amanda assisted Judge Allen in all aspects of presiding over several jury trials and in managing her weighty civil docket. While clerking on the Ninth Circuit, Amanda was intimately involved in oral argument preparation, case strategy, and opinion drafting for both en banc and three-judge panel proceedings. Both clerkships give Amanda invaluable “behind the scenes” experience and an understanding of persuasive writing and argument techniques as well as the mechanics of judicial decision making. Amanda uses these insights and her ability to quickly identify the tipping point of complex cases to clearly and concisely draft the most compelling argument on behalf of her clients.

Prior to clerking, Amanda was previously an associate at another national law firm, where she handled commercial, appellate, and intellectual property matters. She also served as a PILI Fellow at the National Immigrant Justice Center while studying for the bar examination.

During law school, Amanda served as the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Law and Policy and her student note—(Il)Legal Violence at the Border: A Comparative Analysis of LGBTQ+ Asylum Claims in the United States and Europe—was published in the same. She also earned a Certificate in Public Interest Law and authored the top-ranked Respondent’s brief in the Wiley Rutledge Moot Court Competition.

Amanda is deeply committed to pro bono work. She has successfully represented several asylum seekers from around the world as well as incarcerated individuals alleging civil rights violations.