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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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