People

Alejandra Garcia Earley Partner

Chicago

Alejandra advises sponsors, lenders and agents on all aspects of a project, from drafting, negotiation and review of traditional project documents, including EPCs, O&Ms and MSAs through procuring construction financing and term loans for the operation and maintenance of the asset. Her tax equity practice includes drafting and negotiating the traditional tax equity partnerships (for PFlip and TFlip structures) documentation, tax credit transfer agreements and advising construction and back leverage lenders in connection with tax equity portfolios.

Alejandra’s experience spans a range of power generating technologies and projects, from solar, wind and hydro to biofuel, carbon capture, oil and gas and LNG projects. She has also led financings for major international infrastructure projects such as airports, water treatment, power generation and toll roads.

A native Spanish speaker, Alejandra has worked extensively across Latin America, including Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic and Colombia.

Russell Hoffman Senior Associate

Chicago

Russell represents private credit funds, asset managers, banks, sponsors, borrowers and other investors in financings for a wide range of energy and infrastructure asset classes, including solar, wind, battery storage, conventional power and other infrastructure projects. With extensive private credit experience, Russell is skilled at structuring and documenting complex financing structures such as senior secured project-level financings, back-leveraged financings, term loan A, term loan B and asset-backed loans.

Thomas James Senior Associate

Chicago

Thomas's patent litigation practice is an outgrowth of his deep interest in technology and love of client service. Thomas has assisted clients, large and small, plaintiff and defendant, in obtaining outcomes that serve their unique business goals. Thomas is well-versed in a variety of technologies including semiconductor devices, telecommunications, and other electrical and mechanical disciplines. Prior to entering private practice Thomas served as a patent examiner with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for many years.

Sarafina Joseph Associate

Chicago

Her practice focuses on complex commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and project finance for both debt and tax equity financing. 

Amanda Lack Managing Associate

Chicago

Amanda’s practice centers on all types of intellectual property matters including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret litigation. Amanda also handles other civil litigation matters including commercial and contract-based disputes.

Amanda clerked for Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for Judge Arenda Wright Allen of the Eastern District of Virginia. During her tenure on the fast-paced “rocket docket,” Amanda assisted Judge Allen in all aspects of presiding over several jury trials and in managing her weighty civil docket. While clerking on the Ninth Circuit, Amanda was intimately involved in oral argument preparation, case strategy, and opinion drafting for both en banc and three-judge panel proceedings. Both clerkships give Amanda invaluable “behind the scenes” experience and an understanding of persuasive writing and argument techniques as well as the mechanics of judicial decision making. Amanda uses these insights and her ability to quickly identify the tipping point of complex cases to clearly and concisely draft the most compelling argument on behalf of her clients.

Prior to clerking, Amanda was previously an associate at another national law firm, where she handled commercial, appellate, and intellectual property matters. She also served as a PILI Fellow at the National Immigrant Justice Center while studying for the bar examination.

During law school, Amanda served as the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Law and Policy and her student note—(Il)Legal Violence at the Border: A Comparative Analysis of LGBTQ+ Asylum Claims in the United States and Europe—was published in the same. She also earned a Certificate in Public Interest Law and authored the top-ranked Respondent’s brief in the Wiley Rutledge Moot Court Competition.

Amanda is deeply committed to pro bono work. She has successfully represented several asylum seekers from around the world as well as incarcerated individuals alleging civil rights violations.

Fredrick Levin Partner

Santa Monica; Chicago; San Francisco

In addition, Fredrick has represented corporate and individual clients in a wide array of national and transnational commercial disputes involving contract enforcement, corporate governance, debt collection, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and securities. He also has an active appellate practice and has briefed and argued numerous cases in federal and state courts throughout the U.S.

Fredrick is a frequent author and lecturer on litigation and compliance issues regarding the consumer financial services industry, including on topics such as federal preemption under the Dodd-Frank Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) mortgage servicing rules, the CFPB’s proposed arbitration rule, residential mortgage backed securities litigation, management of multi-jurisdictional litigation, enforcement of jury trial waivers and the use of American discovery in support of foreign litigation and damages measurement.

Prior to joining Orrick, Fredrick was a partner at Buckley LLP. He is co-located in the firm’s Chicago office and practices regularly in Illinois and Michigan.

Yufeng (Ethan) Ma Partner

Beijing; Chicago

In addition to specializing in complex IP litigation relating to patent infringement, ITC 337 investigations, trade secrets misappropriation and unfair competition, Ethan has extensive experience advising clients on IP administrative disputes and reexamination, IP strategies, IP due diligence, and IP aspects of strategic transactions, including licensing or transfer, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and collaborations. His clients cover a wide range of industries, including medical devices, hardwares, softwares, internet, semiconductors, electronics, telecommunications, AI, automobile, chemical, materials, energy, etc. His recent clients include Baidu, Tencent, SMIC, JD.com, Micro-Tech, Vivo, Coolpad, Anker, OnePlus, Govee, LANHE, Lovense, Zhejiang Rongpeng, Sansi Electronic Engineering, Yaham Optoelectronics, CreateLED Electronics, Howshow Technology, Huayi Mechanical and Electrical, INFiLED Electronics, Applied Materials, Synopsys, Coilcaft, Hecate, etc.

Over the years, Ethan has represented dozens of Chinese companies in resolving their IP disputes in the U.S. Ethan and his litigation teams won a number of high-profile ITC investigations involving Chinese companies and earned clients’ long-term trust. In one investigation (337-TA-623), his clients are four subsidiaries of a large state-owned company in China, who were sued for patent infringement. The Commission reversed the late Chief Administrative Law Judge’s unfavorable decision and found that Ethan’s clients were not infringing and did not violate Section 337. In another investigation (337-TA-655), he represented the complainant and its subsidiaries in China suing a group of Chinese respondents for trade secret misappropriation. The ITC issued a 10-year exclusion order against these respondents. This landmark decision represents a new development of trade secret law and ITC jurisdiction in the U.S., and was upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Since then, Ethan has won case after case on behalf of his clients. He is also committed to resolving disputes in the most cost-effective and timely way. “Ethan always tries to resolve matters for clients at the lowest cost possible,” said a client who won a case as he recommended Ethan to his peers.

For instance, in 2017, Ethan successfully defended Shenzhen Howshow Technology against Kent Displays, Inc. in an ITC 337 investigation (337-TA-1035) involving alleged infringement of patents relating to liquid crystal e-writers and components. Orrick secured a complete victory for the client by forcing the complainant to unconditionally withdraw after four months of active litigation. The case was named “Deal of the Year 2017 – Disputes and Investigations” by China Business Law Journal.

In another case, Ethan successfully defended Sansi Electronic Engineering, CreateLED Electronics, Yaham Optoelectronics. and other Chinese respondents against Ultravision Technologies in an ITC Section 337 investigation (337-TA-1114) filed on 27 March 2018 involving alleged infringement of patents relating to certain modular LED display panels and components. The complainant was forced to withdraw the complaint unconditionally during the expert discovery period in November 2018, which led to a final termination by the ITC on 21 February 2019.

Prior to joining Orrick, Ethan served as Director of IP, Asia of a world leader in specialty glass and ceramics, where he was in charge of the company’s daily IP matters in China and throughout Asia. Before that, he was a partner and member of the Board at McAndrews, Held & Malloy in Chicago, Illinois. Ethan was the first non-US born lawyer of that firm.

In the past 20 years, Ethan has been committed to building bridges and facilitating understanding between China and the US on IP protection and exchange. In addition to being a frequent speaker at various seminars and conferences in China and the US, Ethan regularly publishes articles and has been interviewed by numerous media. He served as a committee member of the Asian Legal Committee of Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) for many years.

Ethan is also actively involved in the “One Belt One Road” and “Going Out” initiatives led by the PRC government and non-profit organizations. He participated in Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce’s “Going Overseas Service Portal” project, and acts as an expert of Shenzhen Overseas IP Protection and Assistance Expert Pool, a special advisor to Wisdom IP - Overseas Intellectual Property Alliance (WIPA), Nanjing, Jiangsu, an expert in Nanjing Overseas IP Think Tank, Zehjiang Dongyang IP Think Tank, Shanghai International Economic and Trade IP Protection Overseas Expert Pool, and one of the first batch experts in Shanghai Overseas IP Disputes Resolution Expert Pool.