People

John Stanley Partner

San Francisco

In his municipal finance practice, John has served as bond counsel, special tax counsel and underwriter’s counsel for a variety of transactions, including particularly governmental, airport, and public power financings. John has represented issuers and borrowers before the Internal Revenue Service in connection with audits, private letter rulings, and requests pursuant to the voluntary closing agreement program (VCAP). 

John has worked with issuers to establish post-issuance compliance programs tailored to their specific financings, and also has significant experience with tax-exempt commercial paper programs for both governmental and exempt facilities.  John is a regular speaker at various conferences focused on public finance and tax, including conferences organized by the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the American Bar Association Tax Section, and the California Bond Buyer Conference.  John is serving as Chair of the National Association of Bond Lawyers' "The Institute" conference in 2024.  

Caroline Stapleton Partner

Washington, D.C.

Client-centered experiences are at the heart of Caroline’s practice. She has provided a wide variety of institutions, from fintech startups to multinational banks, with tailored, practical guidance that considers each company’s unique characteristics and strategic goals. Caroline draws on her prior experiences as an attorney at a federal prudential regulator and as the head of compliance at a consumer finance company to give clients a comprehensive picture of the legal risks and opportunities each new matter presents.

Her work on behalf of financial services providers has included:

• Providing guidance regarding novel or complex regulatory questions, often in the context of developing new financial products and services
• Performing compliance risk assessments of marketing, underwriting, pricing, origination, servicing and loss mitigation activities
• Advising banks and supervised lenders with examinations by federal and state regulators, including responding to exam findings, CAMELS ratings, Matters Requiring Attention (MRA/MRIA) and enforcement referrals
• Strategically responding to and defending enforcement actions by state and federal regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve Board and Department of Justice (DOJ), and, if necessary, negotiating favorable settlements
• Developing strategies for bank partnership, state licensing and bank charter opportunities for consumer financial services providers
• Conducting internal investigations of suspected misconduct or violations of an institution’s policies and/or regulatory requirements

In these and other representations, Caroline brings strong substantive knowledge of the key federal and state statutes and regulations governing the financial services industry. Her specific areas of focus include:

• Fair lending and anti-discrimination laws, including the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)
• Prohibitions on unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices (UDAP and UDAAP)
• Technical regulatory compliance under federal and state laws governing loan marketing, disclosures, settlement practices, servicing and collection practices, consumer reporting and electronic payments
• Federal preemption, including under the National Bank Act
• Compliance management best practices and regulatory expectations, including third-party vendor and merchant oversight
• Treatment and disclosure of confidential supervisory information (CSI)
• State lease-to-own laws and regulations

Prior to joining Orrick, Caroline was senior counsel at Buckley LLP. She also has served as an attorney-advisor in the litigation division of the OCC, where she represented the agency in civil litigation, bank receivership preparation, employment disputes and other administrative contexts. Caroline also gained valuable in-house experience as the head of compliance and assistant general counsel of a Richmond-based consumer finance company.

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.

Connor Steelberg Managing Associate

New York

Connor has experience representing sponsors, investors, and lenders in financings and equity transactions relating to solar, battery, and storage projects, as well as purchasers in acquisitions of infrastructure assets.

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.

James Stengel Partner

New York

Jim is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer in legal publications such as Chambers USA and Benchmark Litigation. Chambers notes Jim is "able to handle a wide range of mass torts and class actions, including particular strength in toxic tort-related mandates.” Clients told the publication that Jim “is extremely professional, with excellent brief writing and oral arguments,” calling him “a great guy and a great lawyer."  

Jim has served in a variety of management roles at Orrick, including Managing Director of Litigation, Member of the Executive Committee and Board, Lead Director, and as a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Jim has written and lectured on complex litigation and mass tort subjects at a variety of law schools and seminars.

Before joining Orrick, Jim was a partner at Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine LLP.

Tobias Stephan Managing Associate

Düsseldorf

Being born a „digital native“, Tobias is fascinated by what technology has to offer. That’s why he chose to advise on how best to implement digitization while staying within the framework of the regulations we need in our society, something that has long become a sales argument customers value.

Tobias helps clients to navigate complex data protection issues and advises on the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), data processing and transfer agreements as well as a wide range of further data and privacy implications.

Prior to joining Orrick, Tobias worked as a research associate in the data protection practice of a multinational pharmaceutical company, in the IT and data protection team of a large German accountancy and business advisory firm, as well as the corporate practice of a "big 4" firm.

Eric Stephens Partner

San Francisco

Eric helps clients design and build successful renewable energy businesses by advising on how projects and portfolios large and small can maximize their value through well-informed negotiation, efficient diligence and acquisition techniques, and responsive and creative problem solving.

Eric has particularly deep knowledge in helping developers strategically procure the equipment and services necessary to develop, construct, commission, operate and sell renewable energy projects of all sizes, and in helping investors evaluate the development work of potential investments. Development and procurement managers excel at sourcing and pricing a project’s needs, and Eric can build on this by bringing these contracts to completion with deep market knowledge, in a way best suited to the client’s commercial objectives and so that they withstand the scrutiny of project investors, lenders and buyers. Eric balances work for utility-scale projects with the growing distributed energy generation and storage sector, both of which recently include negotiation of contracts to “safe harbor” equipment or construction activities to preserve higher levels of ITC or PTC. He has represented energy project developers, equipment suppliers and installers, publicly-owned utilities, private equity investors and other parties in developing energy projects from very early stages of securing technology and land/resource rights to buying and selling operating assets, and everything in between.

Amanda Stephens Partner

Austin; Houston

Amanda has advised on more than $5 billion of both publicly-offered and privately-placed charter school financings. Her work on these financings extends across the country, including Texas, Florida, Tennessee, California, Arizona and New York, among many others. Amanda works with a first-of-its-kind nonprofit social impact fund that leverages private charter loans to the public market. Since their creation in 2018, Amanda has worked on documenting more than $1.7 billion in loans to high-performing charter schools who do not otherwise have access to long term, low cost financing. Amanda and team are tasked with working with the local borrower’s counsel for each new borrower and each new state to create a financing structure that meets the long term needs of the borrower, while conforming with state charter law and the clients lending requirements. Amanda has also created structures to help with taxable refundings, to finance around existing new market tax credit structures and many other needs of the borrowers. 

Amanda also represents banks and other financial institutions in connection with direct purchases of tax-exempt bonds and the issuance of letters of credit and other liquidity facilities in connection with tax-exempt transactions. 

Over the course of her career, Amanda has prepared, negotiated and reviewed contracts, loan documents, amendments, closing documents, default letters, demand letters, payoff and buyout agreements, intercreditor subordination agreements, and federal tax lien subordinations. She also has reviewed client contracts and MSA agreements in the oil and gas, construction, medical, retail and transportation industries, and she has addressed regulatory and compliance issues for the finance industry and oil and gas industry. Amanda previously served as an in-house attorney for a national financial services company. She also has served as a staff attorney for Judge Jaclanel McFarland of the 133rd Civil District Court in Harris County, Texas, and as assistant district attorney for the Harris County District Attorney’s office.

Alexa Steranko Project Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Alexa works with corporate teams across practice groups to increase efficiency of client services by utilizing new technologies and data analytics. She applies a process-driven approach and machine learning technology to review information from contracts, amendments, company charters, board and shareholder materials, corporate filings, investor materials, and related documents to prepare detailed analyses for a variety of client needs. Examples of this work include due diligence matrices tracking red flag provisions; corporate audits identifying potential issues for acquisitions, sales, or flips; financing packages; and draft documents. Alexa also 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. She manages teams of skilled professionals performing document review, redaction, analysis, production, and privilege log drafting. She assists the litigation team to prepare for trial, including drafting deposition summaries, factual memoranda, and exhibit charts.

Evan Stergoulis Partner

Londra

Evan advises lenders, ECAs, institutional investors, renewable energy companies, investment firms and pension funds on financings, M&A, joint ventures and other strategic combinations. He brings considerable experience in wide range of renewable energy portfolio deals, as well as gas and power transmission and distribution projects and he has a market-leading offshore wind practice.

Chambers Global 2020 notes that clients say Evan is a “leading figure who has secured incredible and loyal clients because he does an excellent job.” He has also been named to The Lawyer’s Hot 100. and named to A Word About Wind's Top 100 Legal Power List.

Jessica Stern Associate

San Francisco

Her experience also includes providing clients with IP diligence and patent portfolio management advice, including preparing competitive landscapes, patentability assessments, and freedom to operate analyses. She is a graduate of University of San Francisco School of Law and has a master’s degree in Biochemistry from the George Washington University.

Prior to pursuit of a career in law, Jessica worked in industry on the development of novel cancer and autoimmune disease therapeutics and biomarkers in both early discovery and clinical laboratory settings.