People

Olivier Vuillod Partner

Paris; Paris Tech Studio

Olivier advises startups and high growth technology companies throughout their lifecycle, from formation to financings, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as venture and growth capital investors. He has significant cross-border and U.S. transaction experience in venture capital markets. Olivier also advises on complex cross-border M&A transactions in the tech sector. Outside his practice, he lectures on venture capital at the EDHEC Business School. Olivier has worked in Orrick’s Paris, San Francisco and Menlo Park offices.

Olivier’s company-side representations include Aledia, Alice & Bob, Another Brain, Bellman, Dataiku, Finary, Ganymed Robotics, Gatewatcher, Highlife, Murfy, Myr.ai, Payfit, SESAMm, SiPearl, Tehtris, Upowa, Volta Medical, Xelan, XXII, Yescapa.

In addition to his company-side representations, Olivier has represented leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors, including Airbus Ventures, Alven, Astanor, Bpifrance, ETF Partners, Felix Capital, NGP Capital, One Peak, Princeville Capital, Raise Capital, Seedcamp.

Before joining Orrick, Olivier worked in the Corporate department of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Paris.

Minako Wakabayashi Partner

Tokyo

Minako has significant experience advising international and domestic sponsors and developers on complex and innovative projects. She was called upon by the Japanese government in structuring the renewable Feed-in-Tariff scheme in Japan and prepared the government’s model contracts for specific contracts (power purchase contract/interconnection contract), which are a key component of the Feed-in-Tariff scheme in Japan. Recently, she has also been handling numerous corporate PPA projects.

She was appointed as Auditor of the Japan Wind Power Association (JWPA) in May 2022.

Minako practiced at Orrick’s New York office in 2004-2005. She also worked as a public prosecutor in Japan for four years and served as a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Supervising Committee for Public Bidding (Tokyo-to Nyusatsu Kanshi Iinkai) for eight years. She is serving as Audit of Veritas In Silico Inc since March 2022.

Christopher Walczyszyn Managing Associate

New York

Chris advises banks, non-banks, and other financial industry clients on a wide range of regulatory compliance and licensing issues, with an emphasis on the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), the Truth in Savings Act (TISA), the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), and laws prohibiting unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices. He also assists financial services providers with examinations and represents clients before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other federal and state regulators. 

Joseph Walker Partner

Washington, D.C.

In private practice, Joe represents companies and executives in FCPA internal investigations, enforcement actions, compliance and defense matters before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and similar authorities. While at DOJ, Joe was a member of several task forces, including the Securities Fraud Task Force and DOJ’s Task Force into corruption allegations relating to the award of the Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City. Joe also acted as lead prosecutor on several high-profile matters, such as the first-ever joint FCPA enforcement action between the SEC and the DOJ against KPMG and Baker Hughes (which is now the template for FCPA enforcement); an insider trading matter against the former CFO of a waste removal company; and a tax fraud prosecution involving an executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Joe provided counsel in high-profile matters, including leading the internal investigation for HealthSouth (relating to the first criminal indictment under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act); representing an executive for Credit Suisse under indictment for allegations related to tax evasion by U.S. citizens; working on notable FCPA investigations and representing financial institutions in enforcement matters with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Joe was appointed by the DOJ and the SEC to be the FCPA Compliance Monitor of Weatherford International Ltd., a large multinational corporation in the oil and gas industry, to monitor its FCPA Compliance Program in connection with a deferred prosecution agreement and settlement with those agencies. Joe has acted as Counsel to the monitor for FCA US LLC in the first-ever appointment of a monitorship by the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Joe also represents boards of directors, audit committees, officers, senior management and employees of global corporations in enforcement and criminal matters around the world and he frequently conducts internal investigations and due diligence for global clients. Such matters have included allegations of FCPA violations, healthcare fraud, qui tam and False Claims Act actions, insider trading and similar matters. These matters have included such locations as Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkestan, Turkmenistan, the UK, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

Eric Wall Partner

San Francisco

Eric counsels private and public companies, including private equity funds, on the tax aspects of their most important business transactions, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, and restructurings. In particular, Eric has significant experience with the tax matters most critical to clients in the technology and life science sectors. Eric also has significant experience advising clients on equity and other compensation tax matters, real estate tax matters and tax controversy matters.

Eric began his career at the firm as a summer associate in 2001.

Mary Wallace Of Counsel

Washington, D.C.

Mary represents financial institutions and other entities in connection with private debt financings (secured and unsecured), co-investment transactions, private equity financings and restructurings involving privately held companies. She regularly negotiates and drafts complex legal documents to implement these transactions.