People

Max Cantor 合伙人

New York

Max has extensive experience in a broad range of domestic and cross-border corporate and transactional matters, including venture capital and growth equity financings, mergers & acquisitions, fund formation and SPAC transactions. He has represented both early and growth stage companies in hundreds of venture capital financings, growth equity investments and M&A transactions, and he regularly advises leading venture capital and private equity funds on their investments across the innovation ecosystem.

Max is also known for working closely with clients to provide strategic business insights and outside general counsel services, advising clients on corporate governance and boardroom matters, product development and design, fundraising strategy and general commercial matters.

In addition to representing US companies on domestic transactions, Max has substantial experience representing clients outside the US, including emerging companies and venture funds operating in Canada, Europe, Latin America, India, Japan, Singapore, China, Australia, Israel, the Cayman Islands and various other jurisdictions.

Christopher J. Cariello 合伙人

New York

Chris has represented major ISPs in high-stakes copyright litigation, tech titans pushing the cutting edge, national retailers with key trademarks on the line, and global manufacturers facing class action risk. He has authored dozens of appellate briefs, winning results in federal and state courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. And he is a consummate team player when partnering with trial teams to craft winning legal strategies and themes, brief dispositive motions, win key legal and evidentiary rulings at trial, and construct a record with an eye towards appeal.

Chris is most passionate about the novel issues that arise at the intersection of tech and commerce, implicating the balance between creation, innovation, and competition. Whether it's the DMCA and copyright's intermediary liability doctrines, generative AI, data scraping, or trade secrets, he relishes litigating in the gray areas, presenting what the law ought to be as plain common sense. Chris also has a wealth of experience in class action defense in both trial and appellate courts, including several appellate victories defending the denial of class certification. And his broader experience includes bankruptcy, telecommunications, constitutional law, and various issues confronting Fintech companies.

Chris maintains an active pro bono practice. He led a team that prevailed in both federal district court and in the Second Circuit in one of the nation's most closely watched police transparency cases. The year before, he argued and won a precedent-setting parole appeal in New York’s Appellate Division on behalf of a former juvenile offender. And he has won victories for clients in immigration cases and cases presenting novel legal issues under freedom of information laws.

Prior to joining Orrick, Chris was a law clerk to Judge Robert D. Sack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Chief Judge Carol B. Amon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Benjamin Cichostepski-Lesage 合伙人

巴黎; Paris Tech Studio

Ben is the founding partner of Orrick's French Tech Companies Group. For more than 15 years, he has been advising high-potential innovative companies as well as venture and tech growth investors on all their corporate private equity and M&A transactions in France and globally.

As such, he is involved in every stage of their development, from incubation and fundraising to external growth and industrial exits as well as public offerings (IPO, secondary).

Ben has significant experience advising French companies expanding into the United States, and assists them over the full lifecycle of their overseas growth. He also counts a number of American investors and buyers among his clients.

From his first venture deal in 2006, where he represented Lightspeed Venture Partners in Wikio’s Series A, which became Teads, a company he then accompanied for 11 years until its sale to Altice, Ben has led more than 330 corporate tech transactions. He has been involved in the main exit transactions in recent years, particularly those with a franco-american element such as Neolane/Adobe, La Fourchette/TripAdvisor, Stupeflix/GoPro, eNovance/Red Hat, Regaind/Apple, Zenly/Snap, Teads/Altice, Getaround/Drivy, Glose/Medium, Sqreen/Datadog, Lalilo/Renaissance Learning, Tempow/Google, Context/Integral Ad Science, Monk/ACV Auctions, Cajoo/Flink, Shipfix/Veson Nautical, Bereal/Voodoo.

Ben's leadership has contributed to placing Orrick as the #1 Venture Capital and Tech Growth practice in France (ranked #1 by Pitchbook in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 - CF News in 2024, 2023, 2022). 

Recognized as a key lawyer in the market in venture capital and tech growth, Ben was ranked No. 1 in the "Top 10 Influential French Venture Capital Lawyers in Private Equity 2023" by Business Today. He was named "Lawyer of the Year" in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers France in the Venture Capital category. He is also ranked as a Leading Individual by The Legal 500 EMEA in Private Equity - Venture Capital/Growth Capital since 2020 and was voted as the most active tech lawyer in France in 2019 by transaction volume in CF News’ ranking.

Ben is the founder of Orrick Paris Tech Studio, a one of a kind office and working space created in June 2022 and located in the heart of the Paris Tech scene, which is the headquarters of Orrick's French Tech practice.

Harry Clark 合伙人

Washington, D.C.

Harry is experienced in areas such as CFIUS/Exon-Florio examinations of foreign investment, military and “dual use” export control regulations (ITAR/EAR), economic sanctions administered by the U.S. Treasury Department (OFAC), customs regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, anti-money laundering rules, anti-boycott requirements and defense industrial security requirements. He executes internal corporate investigations regarding trade and investment rules and advises on such rules in the context of corporate transactions.

Additionally, Harry has extensive experience with government contracting matters. His government contracting work has included, for example, design and implementation of U.S. Defense Department renewable energy projects. He also represents broad industry coalitions on major trade litigations and international negotiations. His experience in these areas includes a leading role in what is often considered the largest-ever international trade dispute: the controversy regarding unfair softwood lumber imports from Canada. It has involved myriad administrative proceedings before federal agencies, NAFTA panel appeals, WTO dispute proceedings, judicial proceedings and international settlement agreements.

Harry has represented a coalition of major U.S. oil companies in antidumping and countervailing duty litigation. As a related matter, he pursues policy issues with congressional and executive branch officials and advises on international trade rules (e.g., GATT, WTO agreements and NAFTA).

Chambers 2022 recognizes Harry as a leader in the field of export controls and economic sanctions (Chambers Global and Chambers USA), as well as CFIUS (Chambers USA). Previous editions have also recognized Harry’s achievements regarding his work related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Clients note that Harry provides “accurate, straightforward guidance incredibly efficiently” and “he has an ability to translate complex legal requirements and rules into business-friendly jargon.”

Spencer Cohen 合伙人

New York

Spencer represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies, as well as private and public companies in all aspects of their business.

Spencer regularly advises clients on a variety of strategic transitions, including domestic and cross-border M&A, debt and equity investments and joint ventures. He also counsels boards, investors and other key stakeholders on financing transactions and general corporate matters.

He works across a wide range of geographies and industries, including a primary focus in the tech, finance, life sciences, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Maria Theresa Coladonato 律师

全球营运中心

She advises high-growth technology companies on general incorporation matters, venture capital financings and everyday corporate governance. Maria also represents venture capital firms in connection with their investments in private companies.