People

Luciano Vella 高级律师

米兰

Luciano Vella has extensive experience in advising Italian and international clients on employment law and industrial relations, both in contentious and non-contentious matters.

He assists companies across a wide range of industries with the day-to-day management of employment relationships, providing strategic and operational advice on all aspects of HR management — from employment contracts and hiring practices to the termination of employment relationships. His practice includes advising on disciplinary procedures, the implementation of compensation and benefits policies, employee transfers and secondments, and the negotiation of various types of workplace agreements.

Luciano has gained significant experience in managing workforce restructuring processes and extraordinary corporate transactions, supporting clients in the design and implementation of individual and collective incentive plans, as well as in related disputes.

He has developed specific expertise in health and safety at work, both in terms of regulatory compliance and in managing employer liability and litigation, with a particular focus on the implementation of health and safety governance structures, delegation of functions, and their alignment with organizational models under Legislative Decree 231/2001, as well as in dealings with labor and safety authorities.

Luciano is the author of numerous articles on employment law, published in specialized journals and on industry platforms, and regularly speaks at conferences and webinars.

He graduated with top marks from the University of Pisa in 2015 and has been a member of the Milan Bar Association since 2018.

He is fluent in Italian and English.

Stephen Venuto 合伙人

硅谷; 旧金山

The Daily Journal has named Stephen one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California (chosen regardless of specialty). Stephen was Facebook’s first lawyer and has advised many other leading companies at critical stages of their lifecycles including Anthropic AI, Asana, Instagram, Pinterest, Warby Parker and WETA Digital.

Stephen cares about the teams he counsels and thrives on providing practical business advice. When The American Lawyer named Stephen “Dealmaker of the Year”, it recognized his corporate work and representation of Instagram in its sale to Facebook and quoted a prominent Instagram board member as saying that he “is an outstanding lawyer, but he’s also an outstanding business partner . . . someone who cares about everybody [who's] involved in a company.” In addition to naming Stephen to its list of Top 100 Lawyers in California, The Daily Journal has named him to its Top Emerging Companies Lawyers list, and Chambers and Partners has recognized and ranked Stephen in two separate categories for several consecutive years.

Numerous standout technology companies and their founders have turned to Stephen for corporate representation at all stages of their life-cycles. Most of his counseling is with technology disruptive clients in fast-growth fields such as artificial intelligence, information technology, metaverse, fin-tech, SaaS, gaming, media and entertainment. His recent prominent counseling includes companies in the artificial intelligence,  metaverse and gaming spaces. For example he recently advised WETA Digital in its metaverse and gaming related asset sale to Unity Software (for $1.6 billion)  and has advised Anthropic AI from formation through each of its financings.

Martha Verhaelen Career Associate

杜塞尔多夫

She advises start-ups from their incorporation through their first financing rounds into the growth phase, as well as on internationalization projects. Martha works with venture capital, as well as corporate venture capital investors on start-up financing projects.

Prior to joining Orrick, Martha worked as a trainee lawyer for another international law firm and United Nations Women in Bonn.

Bryan Victor 合伙人

沙加缅度

Bryan has experience with many structures used in public finance, including master trust indentures, fixed and variable rate bonds, direct purchases, delayed delivery bonds, insurance, letters of credit and other credit or liquidity agreements; commercial paper programs; conversions and reofferings. Bryan has extensive experience working with stand alone hospitals, health care clinics and large health systems. He provides annual and bi-annual federal securities law training for staff of the State of California Treasurer's Office, the State of California Department of Finance, the State Controller's Office, CalPERs and other state agencies and applies that securities law knowledge on health care transactions. Bryan is the lead partner for general public finance matters for the State of California as bond and disclosure counsel, including the issuance of general obligation commercial paper notes, general obligation bonds and revenue anticipation notes, negotiation and review of credit and liquidity agreements related to such obligations and disclosure related to same.

Michelle Visser 合伙人

旧金山

Michelle’s dedication to these cutting-edge areas of the law and technology over the past 20 years has earned her recognition from Chambers for Privacy & Data Security Litigation and as an up-and-coming lawyer in Privacy & Data generally – where she is described as “equally capable in both compliance and enforcement elements of privacy regulation.”

As a litigator, Michelle is adept at developing novel legal arguments to protect clients in a world where innovation is outpacing regulation. She brings deep experience representing companies in regulatory investigations, data breach and privacy litigation involving the increasing web of statutes that pose statutory damages exposure to companies, such as the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), and the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), and other complex commercial claims. As a crisis manager, she also represents companies in incident response and enjoys working with diverse groups of stakeholders to mitigate business and reputational risks and achieve positive outcomes.

Michelle resides in California with her three children.

Andrew Vogeler 主理律师

全球营运中心

Andrew concentrates his practice on matters pertaining to private equity and alternative investment funds, representing both investors and fund sponsors.

On the investor side, he primarily represents institutional investors, advising their participation in funds with a variety of focuses including venture capital, buy-out, real estate, and mezzanine opportunities. He works to ensure fund arrangements not only advance clients' economic objectives, but are responsive to the complex fiduciary and regulatory issues institutional investors must manage on behalf of their stakeholders.

On the sponsor side, Andrew handles various aspects of fund formation relating to the internal structuring of sponsor and management entities, drafting of fund documents, and negotiations with investors.

In addition, Andrew has experience handling a range of issues in M&A, real estate, oil & gas, and pipeline infrastructure transactions.

Tobias von Gostomski Counsel

慕尼黑

From bilateral loans up to complex, multi-jurisdictional financing transactions, Tobias provides his clients with innovative advice tailored to their most sophisticated needs, including those clients who have little or no experience in financing deals.

His clients include banks, sponsors, investment funds and corporates looking for fast, reliable and high-quality advice. 

Tobias also advises his clients on regulatory law, capital markets and money laundering issues.

He has over 20 years of experience and worked for various big law firms as well as for Commerzbank before joining Orrick.