People

Damon Pace Senior Counsel

New York

He has practiced in the area of public finance for more than 15 years, serving as bond counsel, underwriters’ counsel and borrower counsel in various revenue bond financings, including those related to public power, sewer and storm water, tobacco, higher education, student loans, hospitals and multi-family and single-family housing. He is also bond counsel to various issuers relating to their commercial paper programs. 

Noel Pacheco Consultant

San Francisco

He practices general corporate law and advises both public and private companies in commercial finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law and corporate governance matters.

Amy Padgett Partner

Washington, D.C.

She represents leading sponsors, developers, investors and electric utilities in cash equity and tax equity financings, joint ventures, M&A, private placements and a broad range of corporate matters for renewables projects across the United States and Canada.

Zac Padgett Partner

Austin

Zac advises clients on:

• growth equity transactions
• buyout acquisitions and mergers
• venture capital investments
• exit transactions
• take-private deals
• management buyouts
• joint ventures
• private placements
• debt-like preferred equity and project finance investments

As co-lead of the firm’s Energy Tech Team, Zac focuses on supporting companies and investors developing technologies like hyperscale data centers, alternative fuels, carbon capture, eVTOL aircraft, agtech and digital infrastructure. Zac is a key member of Orrick's energy transition practice, which was recognized as Band 1 in Energy Transition by Chambers USA (2023).

Zac is passionate about legal tech and implementing AI tools to enhance legal services. He helps lead the firm’s MAPE 2.0 project team, a platform that transforms M&A execution, which won the Financial Times' Reinventing the Legal Practice category.

Joanna Pak Senior Associate

New York

Joanna advises public and private companies in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to joining Orrick, Joanna was a corporate associate in the New York office of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP.

Bryn R Pallesen Senior Associate

Seattle

As an antitrust litigator, Bryn has successfully defended clients in monopolization and restraint of trade cases, including cases advancing novel “product hopping” and “reverse payment” theories of liability; guided clients through government investigations, including DOJ leniency proceedings; and helped clients negotiate and respond to third party subpoenas.

In addition to her antitrust work, Bryn maintains an active complex litigation practice. She has litigated derivative shareholder, private right of action, consumer protection, insurance, breach of contract, and fiduciary duty claims, as well as state and federal constitutional claims. Bryn has considerable appellate experience, including administrative appeals, and she regularly serves as local counsel in cases pending in Washington federal and state courts.

Prior to joining Orrick, Bryn was a litigation associate in the New York office of an international law firm and, more recently, at a Seattle trial boutique. She also served as a law clerk to two federal district court judges.

John Palmer Partner

San Francisco

His practice includes serving as bond and disclosure counsel on revenue and tax-supported bond transactions in a variety of financing structures, including fixed rate bonds, variable rate bonds, synthetic fixed rate bonds and conduit issues.

Avani Panchal Climate Advisor

New York

As a Climate Advisor at Orrick, Avani is a key member of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Group. She provides non-legal advice to clients on their climate-related governance, strategy, risk management, and relevant targets and metrics, as well as the identification of relevant ESG issues for a range of companies, the collection and analysis of key climate- and ESG- performance metrics, the preparation of climate- and ESG-related disclosures, and research and writing on emerging climate and ESG trends. She also advises and assists clients in conducting greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) inventories, including identifying emissions boundaries and material categories of Scope 3 GHG emissions.

Prior to joining Orrick, Avani worked as a Corporate Sustainability and Climate Change (CS&CC) Manager at ERM (2021-2023) and as an Air Quality/Sustainability Senior Consultant at Ramboll U.S. Corporation (2012-2021). At both these consulting firms she worked on a variety of air quality and GHG compliance, permitting, and reporting projects, along with ESG due diligence using International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards and Equator Principles. Avani has developed GHG inventories and evaluation of GHG mitigation strategies for a variety of sectors, including city/county municipalities, corporations, airports and seaports, logistical warehouses, and oil and gas facilities.

She has managed and developed Climate Change and Sustainability Reports and Plans, Energy Conservation Plans, and Corporate Social Responsibility Reports, using reporting frameworks such as GHG Protocol, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), CDP, and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Avani has robust expertise with GHG analysis and reporting, strategy development, policy and regulatory review, and peer benchmarking, for projects located both within the United States and internationally.

Avani has a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago (2011) and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, India (2007).

Tom Panighetti Senior Litigation Attorney

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

Tom has worked on a broad range of commercial and civil litigation matters, including healthcare, commercial contract, antitrust, copyright, trademark, credit reporting, employment, and financial industry litigation, as well as criminal and civil government investigations.  Additionally, Tom has assisted consumer brands in protecting their brand image and intellectual property rights in the United States and internationally.

Tom has also assisted minors seeking immigration relief as a part of his pro bono work.  He helped one detained minor receive withholding of removal, which enabled the minor to be reunited with his family. 

Prior to joining Orrick, Tom worked as an attorney in Pittsburgh, PA in the Technology and Intellectual Property group at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP and in the Business and Tort Litigation group at Jones Day.

SeoJung Park Partner

Silicon Valley

SeoJung brings experience advising U.S. and International private equity funds in all phases of their operations, including formation, acquisition, financing, restructuring and exiting portfolio investments. She also counsels private and public companies, banks, and financial institutions on the U.S. tax aspects of various financings, capital markets and other transactions.

Mark Parris Partner

Seattle

"An outstanding trial lawyer, very strategic, very responsive and very creative," according to Chambers USA's Guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business.

His experience includes representing Fortune 500 and other clients from various industries (e.g. technology, financial services, chemical/manufacturing, energy, retail). The litigation has involved IP, Securities, Insurance, Employment, Products Liability, Class Actions and significant contract disputes in Federal and State courts and before arbitration panels throughout the United States. He has been a speaker nationally at various seminars on litigation, arbitration, mediation and trial techniques. Mark has tried dozens of cases – both jury and non-jury trials – and mediated and arbitrated 75-plus cases. He has argued numerous appeals in Federal Circuits across the country and has served as an expert witness on multiple occasions. Mark has also served as National Counsel to a number of clients involved in multi-state litigation. He has been recognized as one of America’s Top 100 Bet-The-Company Litigators, is one of two IP litigators in Washington selected as an Amazing Attorney by Washington CEO magazine and was recently recognized as one of the top 30 Trial Lawyers in Washington.

In addition, Mark is a member of the firm’s Insurance Recovery Group. He has been named as the leading policy-holder side attorney in Washington State. He has represented several Fortune 500 companies as well as the State of Washington, the Washington Association of Municipal Attorneys and several cities, counties and port authorities in insurance coverage disputes.

Prior to joining Orrick, Mark was a partner at Heller Ehrman.

Amy Pasacreta Of Counsel

New York

She advises investment banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds and other financial institutions on legal issues related to the purchase and sale of domestic and international par and distressed assets, including bilateral and syndicated loans, loan participations and derivative structured products. Amy also works with clients to structure deals involving preference, administrative and unsecured trade claims and assists clients in enforcing their rights in the bankruptcy case after the claims are purchased. She represents buy side and sell side clients in connection with private transfers of debt and equity securities, special situations investments, and transactional matters relative to in-court and out-of-court restructurings. Amy also has experience representing lenders on secured and unsecured financing transactions across a wide array of industries, including shipping, airline, energy and infrastructure.

Amy is a consensus builder with industry knowledge and working relationships with all major market players. She has extensive experience in the preparation and negotiation of bespoke documents under the LSTA and LMA regimes, and is routinely involved with cross-border transactions throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. A seasoned practitioner, she coordinates efforts and resources across the firm to ensure transactions are handled efficiently.

Amy is an active member of the industry’s loan associations and provides training for in house counsel and operations teams at financial institutions.