For more than a decade, Nick has guided high-growth companies from inception to exit, advising on formation, financings, mergers and acquisitions, and IPOs while serving as outside general counsel on day-to-day legal matters as they scale.
Leveraging Orrick’s sector-focused approach and legal innovation tools, Nick works with companies across a range of industries, with a focus on disruptive technologies—including fintech, Web3 and blockchain, artificial intelligence, healthcare and biotech, digital media, and consumer products. He also represents top venture capital firms investing in these sectors across equity, debt, and token financings.
Prior to joining Orrick, Nick was a senior counsel at Gunderson Dettmer.
Nick earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review and received the Otto Kaus Award for Excellence in Legal Scholarship.
Before law school, he built a career as a journalist, photographer, and publicist covering music, food, and the arts. A proud Husky, he earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington.
He is also a member of Orrick's Leasing Practice Group, Assessment/Mello-Roos Practice Group, and Revenue Practice Group. Don has extensive experience, as bond counsel, disclosure counsel
and underwriter's counsel, in the financing techniques used by school and
community college districts, cities and counties
in California. His practice focuses on local governmental infrastructure
financing, including general obligation bond financing, municipal lease
financing, and land-secured financing, as well as tax
and revenue anticipation note (TRAN), pension obligation and other post-employment
benefit (OPEB) obligation financings. Don serves as the lead lawyer for
the California School Boards Association's annual tax and revenue anticipation
note pool.
In trial, litigation, arbitration or mediation, David delivers efficient and favorable results aligned with clients’ business objectives. From health and safety mass tort litigation for the NCAA, to complex, multimillion-dollar international breach of contract claims and countersuits for a global television manufacturer, to high-stakes, precedent-setting employment victories for Oracle, David handles a range of commercial disputes. David was named a “Litigator of the Week” by American Lawyer for achieving a complete defense verdict in a precedent-setting jury trial, and has been named a “Litigator of the Week” Runner-Up twice for securing defense verdicts, including in a $100 million negligence action. In addition to these recognitions from American Lawyer, David was also named to The Recorder's list of Lawyers on the Fast Track in California.
Not all disputes end up in court. David leverages his extensive courtroom and alternative dispute resolution knowledge to provide invaluable risk mitigation counseling to both established and emerging companies. David serves as a business partner and trusted advisor to ambitious start-ups and high-growth companies—helping these innovative clients see around corners to avoid or reduce potential exposures.
In addition to his legal practice, David is committed to challenging inequities through his pro bono work. For Equal Justice Under Law, he helped secure a favorable judgment in a federal civil rights class action, barring indigent criminal defendants unable to pay court-imposed fines and fees from being jailed in a system that was described as a “modern-day debtors’ prison.”
While attending law school, David served as an extern for two Los Angeles Superior Court judges and was a member of the Loyola Entertainment Law Review.
Ramon has a wide range of experience in financings involving Native American tribes and tribal entities, including financings for new casino construction projects and casino expansions, and serving as lead counsel for some of the largest tribal financings on the West Coast.
David has achieved extraordinary trial outcomes for both plaintiffs and defendants, including a $302 million verdict for breach of a research and license agreement covering foundational biotechnology, as well as defeating a $217 million damages claim in a patent dispute where liability had already been established in an earlier trial handled by a different law firm. David also negotiates complex intellectual property license agreements involving cutting-edge technologies and creative financial structures, frequently working on behalf of leading academic institutions.
Please do not include any confidential, secret or otherwise sensitive information concerning any potential or actual legal matter in this e-mail message. Unsolicited e-mails do not create an attorney-client relationship and confidential or secret information included in such e-mails cannot be protected from disclosure. Orrick does not have a duty or a legal obligation to keep confidential any information that you provide to us. Also, please note that our attorneys do not seek to practice law in any jurisdiction in which they are not properly authorized to do so.
By clicking "OK" below, you understand and agree that Orrick will have no duty to keep confidential any information you provide.