People

Bradford Breen Senior Counsel

New York

Brad also advises professional services and financial services entities and technology companies regarding U.S. and international trademark and branding matters. He also has considerable experience in business method, electronic, semiconductor and computer patent counseling.

Alexandra Bursak Senior Associate

New York

Alex's litigation work spans a range of subject areas, from copyright and patent law to questions of statutory interpretation and constitutional law. She has been the lead drafter of briefs and motions in federal and state courts of appeals and contributed to teams working in the U.S. Supreme Court and state and federal courts of all levels.

Alex maintains an active pro bono practice. Her scholarship has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. Before joining Orrick, she served as a law clerk to Judge Anthony Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Cornelia Pillard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She received her law degree from New York University School of Law.

Ian Busche Managing Associate

New York

Ian represents governmental issuers, banking institutions, and non-profit organizations across a wide range of public finance sectors.  He has served as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, disclosure counsel or borrower’s counsel for financings on behalf of colleges and universities, public power agencies, and housing and infrastructure projects, all benefiting communities across the State of New York and around the country.

Prior to joining Orrick, Ian practiced at another nationally recognized public finance firm handling financings for single-family and multifamily housing, as well as tobacco revenue securitization.

Darrell Cafasso Partner

New York

Prior to joining Orrick, Darrell served as the Global Head of Litigation and Regulatory Proceedings at Goldman Sachs, where he served as a key advisor to the firm and oversaw litigation, arbitration, and other disputes, as well as regulatory, criminal, and investigative proceedings, affecting Goldman Sachs, its world-wide affiliates, or their employees. In this role, Darrell managed a large international team of lawyers that determined legal strategy for threatened or actual litigations, regulatory and criminal matters and other contentious proceedings, oversaw internal investigations, and advised legal and business constituencies on legal, reputational and regulatory risks and issues involving all businesses of Goldman Sachs including investment banking, global markets, merchant banking, research, trading, lending, M&A, asset and wealth management, and consumer lending. Darrell was responsible for the firm’s most critical litigation and regulatory matters and successfully resolved a number of important matters on behalf of the firm.

Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2018, Darrell was a litigation partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Over the years, Darrell has litigated a broad range of commercial cases, including in the areas of securities, banking, financial services, antitrust, consumer financial products, products liability, business torts, bankruptcy litigation, ERISA and other complex corporate litigation. For example, Darrell has represented several financial institutions and public companies, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Moody’s, Banco Popular, and Fiat Chrysler, in numerous securities class actions, shareholder litigations and other disputes. Darrell also has guided corporate and individual clients across the globe through multi-billion-dollar investigations, enforcement proceedings, and significant compliance matters including a wide range of matters before the DOJ, the SEC, the CFTC, FINRA, the Federal Reserve Bank, the New York Department of Financial Services and various state attorneys general, and foreign bank regulators. For example, Darrell advised Goldman Sachs in reaching coordinated resolutions in multiple criminal and regulatory investigations in jurisdictions around the world relating to an alleged multi-billion-dollar money laundering and corruption scheme involving the Malaysian sovereign development company, 1MDB, and senior public officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Darrell also served as lead counsel to one of the preeminent automobile manufacturers in multiyear criminal and regulatory investigations relating to diesel emissions, sales reporting and bribery issues.

Max Cantor Partner

New York

Max has extensive experience in a broad range of domestic and cross-border corporate and transactional matters, including venture capital and growth equity financings, mergers & acquisitions, fund formation and SPAC transactions. He has represented both early and growth stage companies in hundreds of venture capital financings, growth equity investments and M&A transactions, and he regularly advises leading venture capital and private equity funds on their investments across the innovation ecosystem.

Max is also known for working closely with clients to provide strategic business insights and outside general counsel services, advising clients on corporate governance and boardroom matters, product development and design, fundraising strategy and general commercial matters.

In addition to representing US companies on domestic transactions, Max has substantial experience representing clients outside the US, including emerging companies and venture funds operating in Canada, Europe, Latin America, India, Japan, Singapore, China, Australia, Israel, the Cayman Islands and various other jurisdictions.

Christopher J. Cariello Partner

New York

Chris has represented major ISPs in high-stakes copyright litigation, tech titans pushing the cutting edge, national retailers with key trademarks on the line, and global manufacturers facing class action risk. He has authored dozens of appellate briefs, winning results in federal and state courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. And he is a consummate team player when partnering with trial teams to craft winning legal strategies and themes, brief dispositive motions, win key legal and evidentiary rulings at trial, and construct a record with an eye towards appeal.

Chris is most passionate about the novel issues that arise at the intersection of tech and commerce, implicating the balance between creation, innovation, and competition. Whether it's the DMCA and copyright's intermediary liability doctrines, generative AI, data scraping, or trade secrets, he relishes litigating in the gray areas, presenting what the law ought to be as plain common sense. Chris also has a wealth of experience in class action defense in both trial and appellate courts, including several appellate victories defending the denial of class certification. And his broader experience includes bankruptcy, telecommunications, constitutional law, and various issues confronting Fintech companies.

Chris maintains an active pro bono practice. He led a team that prevailed in both federal district court and in the Second Circuit in one of the nation's most closely watched police transparency cases. The year before, he argued and won a precedent-setting parole appeal in New York’s Appellate Division on behalf of a former juvenile offender. And he has won victories for clients in immigration cases and cases presenting novel legal issues under freedom of information laws.

Prior to joining Orrick, Chris was a law clerk to Judge Robert D. Sack of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Chief Judge Carol B. Amon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Connor J. Carroll Senior Associate

New York

Rebecca Caspar-Vazzoler Career Associate

New York

She supports clients in the energy and infrastructure spaces through development, financing, construction and operation of their projects, often working to develop novel and bespoke legal solutions. 

Tony Chan Partner

Washington, D.C.; Boston; New York

Tony regularly advises clients on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, growth equity, and venture capital transactions, as well as on corporate governance, joint ventures and corporate finance.

His clients include global strategic buyers and sellers, as well as financial sponsors and their portfolio companies in the life science, healthcare, investment management, technology and video game industries.

Tony has been recognized for his life sciences and M&A work by a number of notable publications, including The Legal 500 US, Law360, IFLR1000 and Legal Media Group. In particular, Law360 highlighted his work in navigating the complex life sciences industry and key partnership negotiations between biotechnology and drug companies.

In addition, Tony sustains an active pro bono practice, serving as counsel to nonprofit organizations such as Aequitas, APAI Vote, Chefs Stopping Asian American Hate, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Film Society, and the Harvard Asian Alumni Alliance. Tony also serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School where he has taught Takeovers, Mergers and Acquisitions since 2015.

Travis Cherry Senior Associate

New York

Travis advises companies and underwriters on a broad range of capital markets transactions, including offerings of equity and debt securities, de-SPAC transactions, securities law compliance and corporate governance issues.

Richard Chirls Partner

New York

With more than 30 years of experience, Richard is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities, having broad experience with tax exempt financings and related transactions involving governmental and not-for-profit entities.  His skill and stature in the public finance community was recognized by the National Association of Bond Lawyers’ highest award for his career of distinguished service in public finance. 

Richard focuses on new products, including the development of new and creative financing techniques for governments, non-profits and investment bankers. He regularly works on transactions throughout the country.  However, in his home office in New York City, he leads the relationship with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, serving as counsel on well over 100 transactions over a period of more than 20 years and has headed the tax work in connection with every financing of a cultural facility relating to museums and performing arts in New York City over this same period.  Richard has worked on the tax aspects of several of the largest and most complex public private partnership (P3) transactions in recent years.  He frequently acts as special tax counsel to issuers and underwriters of municipal finance issues.

Valerie Clark Counsel

New York

Valerie's practice has a focus on warehouse lending, secured credit facilities, and publicly registered and privately placed asset securitization transactions. Her experience extends to various asset classes, encompassing marketplace consumer loans, solar loans, residential mortgages, single family rental assets, student loans, small business loans, credit card receivables, auto loans, and aircraft loans and leases.

Before joining Orrick, Valerie was counsel in Chapman and Cutler LLP's Asset Securitization Department. She began her career at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP as a corporate associate.