Hichem Hadj Abdelkader Associate

Paris

Hichem intervient en matière de fiscalité transactionnelle auprès de groupes français et internationaux ainsi que de fonds de private equity.

Il accompagne les entreprises dans le cadre de leur développement en France et à l’international, d'opérations de fusions-acquisitions, de restructurations, de refinancement ainsi que lors de contrôles et de contentieux fiscaux.

Il intervient également dans la structuration et la mise en place de plans d'actions pour les salariés et de management packages.

Hichem conseille également les particuliers dans la gestion et la transmission de leur patrimoine.

Avant de rejoindre Orrick, Hichem a été stagiaire au sein de cabinets d'avocats français de premier plan et a travaillé au sein de la direction fiscale d'une grande banque française.

Aravind Swaminathan Partner

Seattle; Boston

As a strategic cybersecurity advisor, Aravind partners with clients to proactively plan for a crisis and develop strategies to improve resiliency, respond efficiently and effectively, protect their business and brand, and defend them in the onslaught of litigation and enforcement actions that follow. He guides organizations from large public company financial institutions to start-up technology companies to critical infrastructure providers through incidents, and develops business- and brand-centric strategies to mitigate and manage risk. He has directed more than 200 cybersecurity incident and data breach investigations, including enterprise-wide network intrusions to cyberattacks with national security implications. 

With extensive trial, litigation and appellate experience, he defends his clients in cyber, privacy, and payments related class actions and other civil litigation (particularly Computer Fraud and Abuse Act matters), and in when these issues lead to regulatory investigations by the SEC, DOJ, FTC, and State Attorneys General.   

Aravind’s background as an Assistant United States Attorney and Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section attorney gives him first-hand understanding of federal agencies that allows him to swiftly navigate the system, partner with investigators and find creative solutions for his clients. As a federal cybercrime prosecutor, Aravind investigated and prosecuted a broad array of cybercrime cases, including hacking, phishing, trade secrets theft, click fraud, cyber threats, and identity theft. Aravind also led the cybercrime outreach program, where he worked with members of the Department of Justice, state and federal regulators, law enforcement and other organizations on cybersecurity and related privacy issues. During his time as federal prosecutor in the Complex Crimes Unit, he also investigated and prosecuted a wide array of white-collar crimes, including investment schemes, corporate fraud and embezzlement, securities fraud, tax evasion and the nation’s largest bank failure.

Dr. Benedikt Kamann Associate

Dusseldorf

He advises companies on German and European antitrust and competition law, in particular on merger control, compliance, internal investigations, cartels and abuse of dominance.

Furthermore, Benedikt advises on foreign trade law issues, in particular on investment review proceedings before the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Prior to joining Orrick, he worked as a research assistant at a leading German law firm and as a trainee lawyer in the antitrust team of a leading international law firm, at a U.S. law firm in its Los Angeles office, and at the German Federal Parliament in the department for EU policy issues.

Parth Sagdeo Senior Associate

Silicon Valley

Parth’s practice combines his deep technical knowledge and his passion for zealous oral and written advocacy. With the benefit of his Master’s degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering, and engineering experience at leading software companies including Microsoft and Synopsys, Parth dives into the technical weeds and distills the issues on which a case will turn. Informed by his experiences clerking at the District of Delaware and the Federal Circuit, he understands how to convey complex technical and legal concepts in a way that persuades juries and judges.

Parth has experience at all stages of trial and appellate practice. His recent achievements include invalidating a patent claim for indefiniteness, obtaining dismissal of tortious-interference and unfair competition claims brought by a competitor against his client, and securing affirmance of an inter partes reexamination decision in an appeal he argued at the Federal Circuit.

Parth graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he led the submissions team for the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology and won the Irving Oberman Memorial Award for best student paper in intellectual property. Prior to law school, Parth used his technical background in computer engineering to write, prosecute, and challenge patents for clients like Apple, Becton-Dickinson, Pixar, and Visa.

Tristan Konstantin Allen Managing Associate

San Francisco

Tristan's practice focuses on the representation of public and privately-held companies in securities class actions, shareholder derivative suits, and other complex business litigation matters. He also maintains an active pro bono practice that includes criminal and civil rights matters.

Tristan graduated Order of the Coif from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. During law school, he externed for the Honorable Joseph C. Spero in the Northern District of California. Before law school, Tristan worked in investment banking.

Charnay Jones Managing Associate

Los Angeles

She drafts and negotiates documents for a range of commercial real estate matters, including acquisitions and dispositions, joint venture structuring, financing and development projects.

Charnay is also active in pro bono matters and spent a year as a Pro Bono Fellow with the global nonprofit Accion International, where she provided in-house counsel support and advised teams across the organization in a variety of legal matters.

Larry Sobel Partner

Los Angeles; Houston

As both bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel, he has been responsible for structuring and analyzing the tax aspects of many tax-exempt financings throughout the country.

Larry has extensive experience in handling IRS audits of bond transactions. He has represented issuers in dozens of audits all of which have ended favorably either with the IRS issuing a “no change” letter or by negotiating a reasonable settlement when needed. Larry also has handled a number of submissions under the IRS’ Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (or VCAP). The two most recent VCAP submissions represented cases of first impression for the IRS; one involving an issue of qualified energy conservation bonds relating to determining the amount of those bonds eligible for the federal subsidy; the other involved the plan to convert a “new money” bond issue into an advance refunding (which did not meet all of the requirements for a tax-exempt advance refunding). Both cases ultimately were resolved on the original terms proposed to the IRS.

Larry has also been instrumental in developing new financing techniques and structures. He first devised the tax structure and analysis for, and has served as tax counsel on, Orrick’s tax exempt tobacco revenue securitizations. He has developed the tax structure on numerous tax-exempt prepayments for natural gas for municipal utilities both within and outside of California.

Renee Phillips Partner

New York

Renee has successfully defended employers in federal and state court litigations as well as administrative proceedings and arbitrations involving claims of discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, whistleblowing, trade secret misappropriation and other employment-related claims. She regularly counsels employers on a variety of employment-related issues and assists clients in creating and implementing human resources policies, whistleblower policies, negotiating and drafting executive contracts, restrictive covenants and other employment agreements, and conducting internal investigations.

Renee is the co-author of the PLI treatise, Corporate Whistleblowing in the Sarbanes-Oxley/Dodd-Frank Era. She regularly writes and speaks on whistleblower and other employment topics.

Richard Coup Cyber & Privacy Career Assoc

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Richard works with cyber and data privacy attorneys and third party vendors to manage the review of documents and identification of notifiable individuals stemming from cyber incidents. This work includes using early case assessment technology to analyze, categorize and cull data. He also manages teams of skilled professionals performing document review, analysis and creation of breach notification deliverables. Richard develops and implements custom processes, procedures and technologies to better assist clients who are victims of cyber attacks and creates response plans to efficiently execute notification to individuals and regulators within demanding timeframes.

Richard has dedicated significant time to pro bono matters, including assisting trial counsel representing abused and neglected children.

Louise Gibbons Partner

San Francisco

From the latest tax credit transfer and hybrid structures to the full suite of debt and tax equity financings, preferred equity financings, selldowns and investments, she takes a collaborative and relatable approach to close the deal. She advises a range of renewables and energy transition industry participants, from project developers, sponsors, borrowers, lenders, investment banks, private equity funds and other capital providers and investors.  She works with a range of asset classes, including among others, wind, solar, battery storage, hydrogen and renewable natural gas.

Louise was recognized by Chambers USA Nationwide Projects: Power & Renewables: Transactional in 2024, where clients describe her as "excellent," "very thorough," "detailed" and "pragmatic." She was named by Legal 500 as a Next Generation Partner in Energy Transactions: Electric Power in 2024 and noted for her “work in project finance and M&A work on transformative, first-in-kind renewable energy projects.”

As an All-American College sailor, Louise has pursued her interest in law of the sea and international laws throughout her career. She is translating this experience into differentiated advice for clients in the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind market. 

Esther Lander Partner

Washington, D.C.

Esther also regularly advises on diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as pay equity studies, intentional recruiting and lawful affirmative action plans and goals.

In addition to her litigation practice, she counsels clients on all areas of federal, state and local employment law, including executive terminations; severance agreements; workforce reductions; and compliance with federal and state obligations such as the WARN Act and the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act.

She also provides advice regarding the proper validation of employment selection procedures to ensure compliance with Title VII and other applicable employment laws. Esther has specific expertise in testing validation and she routinely reviews validation and adverse impact studies to provide clients with strategic advice regarding the defensibility of selection devices, including algorithmic decision-making tools used to assess applicants and employees.

She previously served as the principal deputy chief of the Employment Litigation Section within the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.

Winnie Tsien Of Counsel

Los Angeles

Winnie has addressed the Bond Attorneys' Workshop for the National Association of Bond Lawyers relating to various topics, including arbitrage and rebate, refundings, working capital financings, and 501c3 financings. Winnie earned a J.D. in 1994 from the University of California, Davis School of the Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and was a member of Law Review. She received her B.A. from Pitzer College.