People

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.

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.

Gerard Walsh Partner

Los Angeles

Jerry is particularly recognized for his work in connection with the acquisition, restructuring and realization of distressed debt in the real estate and hospitality markets. Clients seek him out for the most complex distressed debt transactions, including securitized and mezzanine debt intercreditor workouts and the establishment of mezzanine debt lending platforms. Jerry led a multidisciplinary Orrick team in one of the most sophisticated real estate debt transactions that was restructured in 2013, involving a series of complex transactions and multi-state litigation. Recognized as a key lawyer in the 2022 Real Estate category, a client told The Legal 500 US that Jerry is “smart, responsive and extraordinarily helpful and collaborative.”

In addition, Jerry leads Orrick’s hospitality practice and advises global opportunity, hotel and pension funds and advisors in connection with the acquisition, repositioning and disposing of hotel portfolios throughout the United States. He advises on acquisitions, joint ventures, financing, rebranding, disposition and negotiation of hotel management agreements, shared services and amenities agreements, and franchise agreements, including termination of hotel management and franchise agreements involving brands such as Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, St. Regis, Renaissance, Luxury Collection, Westin, Kimpton and other Sheraton/Starwood brands.

Jerry's representative clients include Cisco Systems, Inc., Cornerstone Advisers LLC, JMA Ventures, LACERA, The Newhall Land and Farming Company, Walton Street Capital, and Westbrook Partners.

Before joining Orrick, Jerry was a partner with a magic circle firm and chairman of the real estate group of a prominent national law firm.

Nicole Walsh Partner

Los Angeles

Nicole guides real estate investment funds, banks, developers and corporate clients through their most intricate real estate deals. With a strong background in corporate finance, she can bridge relevant viewpoints and offer distinct context across a wide range of real estate transactions, such as restructurings, workouts, foreclosures, mortgage and mezzanine financings, construction contracts, joint ventures, acquisitions and dispositions.

She serves as the relationship co-lead for one of our largest real estate clients, Hackman Capital Partners. Nicole also works closely with Sagehall Partners, Westbrook Partners, Local Bounti and Walton Street Capital, and has deep relationships with CoreVest.

Amy Walsh Partner

New York

Amy represents individuals and institutions in government investigations, enforcement actions and prosecutions conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Internal Revenue Service. She negotiates resolutions with government officials, but also tries cases against the government. She is a fierce advocate for her clients, and her work often results in the government declining to bring charges.

Amy was an Assistant United States Attorney for 12 years in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she led dozens of investigations and cases on behalf of the U.S. government and supervised several sections within the Office.

Amy has also served as a court-appointed monitor for a global financial institution.

Ashley Walter Partner & Chief Sustainability Officer

Seattle

As Orrick’s Chief Sustainability Officer, he also oversees Orrick's strategic sustainability initiatives. Ashley focuses on developing innovative methods of supporting clients in achieving ESG objectives, including designing novel systems to manage supply chain risk; forming and guiding management-level ESG Steering Committees; and helping clients address the ESG requirements of major customers by engaging with those customers on our clients’ behalf.

Ashley is a co-founder and past chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section, has co-chaired the Practising Law Institute's annual ESG program for the last four years, and is heavily involved in ESG initiatives at Stanford Law School, where has served as a moderator at the Stanford Directors' College, has lectured on ESG at business law courses, has taught the course “Corporate Social Responsibility,” and will be teaching the course “Law and Governance in ESG Strategy” in the spring of 2025. Prior to Orrick, Ashley founded the corporate social responsibility practice at a Silicon Valley-based law firm.

How I help clients:

• Customer ESG Engagement: Engaging with clients’ major customers in response to ESG inquiries or requirements
• Supply Chain Risk: Developing responsible sourcing systems for high-risk supply chains
• ESG Goal Management: Advice regarding retaining, modifying or withdrawing ESG goals
• ESG Steering Committees: Forming and guiding management-level ESG Steering Committees
• ESG Due Diligence: Conducting ESG due diligence with a focus on post-closing program building
• Quarterbacking Compliance: Creating and advancing a project plan for regulatory compliance, including working with third-party consultants

John Wang Partner

San Francisco

John advises issuers, borrowers and underwriters on financings for higher education, solid waste disposal (including waste-to-energy facilities), and utilities (including water, wastewater and energy facilities).  He actively advises clients in such financings on a national basis, including in California, Hawaii, Guam, Nevada and Texas.

John has been recognized as a leading lawyer by multiple organizations, including as a Chambers USA, Band 2 attorney for California Public Finance, and as one of California's top 50 development lawyers by The Daily Journal.

Lu (Echo) Wang Senior Associate

Beijing

Her practice focuses on advising clients on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, capital markets and SEC compliance matters.

Martha Wang Managing Associate

Beijing

Martha regularly represents Chinese and international clients in cross-border M&A, private equity investments and financings, joint ventures, foreign direct investments and other compliance matters.

She has represented clients from a broad range of industries, including TMT, financial services, healthcare, consumer products, energy, manufacturing, etc.

In addition, she has experience in handling initial public offerings, debt and equity securities offerings, pre-IPO investments, as well as advising on restructuring, employment, antitrust, and general corporate matters.

Jonas Wang Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

Jonas has represented clients in the technology sector in federal and state courts across the country, with argument experience in the federal courts of appeals.

Before joining Orrick, Jonas served as a law clerk to Judge Beverly B. Martin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  A graduate of Yale Law School, Jonas was an Articles and Essays Editor for the Yale Law Journal and a member of the Veterans Legal Services Clinic.

Jonas previously served as a staff attorney at a leading nonprofit and litigated in federal district and appellate courts challenging adverse effects from criminal fines and fees.