People

William S. Haft Partner

New York

Bill regularly advises clients on cross-border matters, including transactions in the maritime, energy and infrastructure and technology sectors. He has particular experience in the maritime sector, having guided various market participants on numerous complex international shipping and offshore corporate and capital markets deals and restructurings.

Reflecting feedback from his clients, Bill was named a BTI “Client Service All-Star” and is described by an IFLR1000 client commentator as “extremely responsive” with a “deep spectrum of knowledge,” in Banking and Finance.

Before joining Orrick in 2002, Bill practiced with two other international law firms in New York and Paris.

Jackson Hagen Managing Associate

Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining Orrick, Jackson was an associate at Buckley LLP.

Christian Hakim Project Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Christian works with litigation attorneys and third party vendors to manage the review and production of documents relevant to investigations and litigation. This work includes using early case assessment technology to analyze, categorize, and cull data. He also manages teams of skilled professionals performing document review, redaction, analysis, production and drafting privilege logs. Christian assists litigation teams to prepare for trial, including drafting deposition summaries, factual memoranda, and exhibit charts. He also works with practice office attorneys on transactional tasks, including contract review and due diligence.

Kevin Hale Of Counsel

Los Angeles

Kevin has also served as bond counsel in conduit financings by the California Educational Facilities Authority (CEFA), the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank), the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) and several local agency issuers for the benefit of educational and cultural facilities throughout California.

Kevin also has extensive experience working as counsel to underwriters and placement agents and is routinely engaged and consulted on disclosure and structuring issues by national and regional investment banks working with public sector clients.

Prior to joining the firm, he was an associate with Wehner & Perlman where he had significant responsibility in the litigation of actions for fraud and securities fraud under California and federal securities laws, both civil and criminal.

Melissa Hall Project Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Melissa works with the firms various practice groups to increase efficiency and reduce costs for client services. Her work is primarily transactional, concentrating predominantly on financing matters. Her project portfolio encompasses a spectrum of tasks, including M&A due diligence reviews, capitalization table audits, corporate audits, and various projects associated with disclosure obligations.

Prior to joining Orrick, Melissa dedicated her practice to real estate and the intricacies of oil and gas law, specifically within the Appalachian Basin.

Melanie Hallums Senior Career Associate

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Before joining Orrick, Melanie served as a law clerk and judicial assistant to the Honorable Thomas M. Hardiman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and as a law clerk to the Honorable Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  She was previously an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and a litigation associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York.

Melanie received her law degree from Vanderbilt Law School, where she was an Articles Editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.  She graduated from Vanderbilt University.

David Halperin Senior Advisor

Before attending law school, David served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1966-1970, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (U.S.N.R.) and serving from 1969-70 as a Special Assistant to Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, Commander of Naval Forces, Vietnam and later Chief of Naval Operations. From 1970-1971, he served as Personal Assistant to Dr. Henry Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. After law school, David joined Davis Polk & Wardell in New York from 1974-1976 before moving to the Hong Kong office of Coudert Brothers in 1976. He became a partner of Coudert Brothers in 1983 and joined the Hong Kong office of Orrick in 2005. 

Ashley Halvorsen Senior Associate

Los Angeles

Ashley represents issuers, underwriters, servicers, lenders, and other market participants in connection with securitizations, asset financings and sales, and negotiation of lending facilities. Ashley's practice encompasses a variety of asset-backed securities, including residential mortgage-backed securities and credit and charge card receivables.

David Hamala Associate

Düsseldorf

He advises technology companies from their incorporation through their first financing rounds into the growth phase, as well as on internationalization projects. David also has special experience in university spin-offs, restructurings, and employee ownership programs (ESOPs, VSOPs, hurdle shares and profit participation right programs).

In addition, he advises companies on venture capital transactions and international (corporate) venture capital investors on their investments in German start-ups and scale-ups.

Prior to joining Orrick, David worked as a trainee lawyer in the Cologne and Berlin offices of a law firm that is one of the leading firms for venture capital in Germany and as a research assistant in the Düsseldorf office of a Magic Circle law firm.

Amari L. Hammonds Senior Associate

Los Angeles

Before joining Orrick, Amari was the 2019-2021 Earl Warren Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the California Department of Justice. There, she co-authored the Department’s briefs defending the Affordable Care Act in California v. Texas, which won the National Association of Attorneys General’s Supreme Court Best Brief Awards in both 2020 and 2021. Amari also received two Attorney General’s team awards for her work on that case and in another case challenging the Trump administration’s border wall. Amari authored or co-authored several other briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court, and argued before the Ninth Circuit.

Amari served as a law clerk to the Honorable Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar of the California Supreme Court.

Prior to law school, Amari worked for the Mayor of New York City, Obama for America, the Democratic National Convention Committee, and two public relations firms in New York City.

Loren Hampton Associate

Washington, D.C.

Loren's practice spans diverse employment related issues and other complex business litigation. Loren received her J.D. from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). While in law school, she served as the Co-President for the Black Law Students Association and a tutor for the Legal Education Opportunity Program.

Siobhan Handley Chief Talent Officer

New York

In collaboration with the firm’s leadership team, she focuses on designing and implementing programs to recruit, inspire and advance the best legal and staff talent.

Siobhan previously served as Orrick’s Managing Director for Resources. In that role, she spearheaded the development of the firm’s innovative talent model—the first of its kind in a major law firm—which replaces the traditional associate lockstep advancement system with merit-based advancement. As chair of the firm’s Talent Committee, she oversees Orrick’s lawyer training and performance feedback program – which is one of the most rigorous in the market. She also has led the creation of a range of new lawyer and professional staff roles.

Siobhan brings to this role extensive experience on the front line of client service, having been a partner in the firm’s product liability litigation and mass tort defense group. For more than a decade, she was a member of the Orrick team that acted as National Counsel to Union Carbide Corporation in connection with asbestos-related personal injury lawsuits and served as lead trial counsel in cases across the country. Siobhan was one of the key trial counsel in the highly-publicized landmark trial in Texas State Court, Brazoria County, where Kelly-Moore Paint Company sued Union Carbide for $1.4 billion in compensatory damages and $4.2 billion in punitive damages that resulted in a complete defense verdict. In addition, she served as trial counsel for significant product liability cases for other clients including Wyeth and Flexible Products.