People

Laurent Olléon Partner

Paris

Laurent intervenes alongside his clients with legal and financial issues, both in terms of advice and litigation situations perspective.

Laurent deals with numerous issues in various fields: the tax consolidation system and, more generally, intra-group relations, the handling of bilateral tax treaties, the taxation of financial transactions, property taxation and local taxation, etc.

His recognized experience in the avoidance of abuse of rights enables corporate tax directors, financial investors and individuals to better secure their investment choices and structuring their transactions. In addition, his intimate knowledge of tax litigation is a major asset for clients.

Laurent has advised many ministries and public institutions on legislative and regulatory developments and their implementation, which gives him an extensive practical vision of both public and private law. His past experience has allowed him to manage and draft legislative bills, which makes him an authority on administrative and parliamentary machinery.

Before joining Orrick, Laurent was a judge of the Conseil d’État and assessor at the Court’s ninth Chamber of the litigation section of the Conseil d’État, worked as deputy Chief of staff of Marylise Lebranchu, the French Minister for the Civil Service, State Reform and Decentralisation and Chief of staff of Anne-Marie Escoffier, Deputy Minister of Decentralisation.

Edwin Oswald Partner

Washington, D.C.

His practice also includes advising on post-issuance tax compliance matters including working with non-profit borrowers of tax-exempt bonds on new IRS Schedule K annual reporting matters.

He served in the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel at U.S .Treasury Department, where he developed policy, legislative initiatives and regulations affecting public finance and structured finance.

Ed Oswald is the author of "From Ronald to Donald: How the Myth of Reagan Became the Cult of Trump." In this book, he explores the tax policy behind “supply side economics” and the transformation of conservative politics from Ronald Reagan’s presidency to Donald Trump’s rise. Ed is frequently sought after for his expertise and is quoted by top publications, including Newsweek and The Bond Buyer.

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.

Wolfram Pohl Partner

San Francisco

Wolf represents many of the country’s most prominent developers and financing parties in structuring transactions to take advantage of tax credits, Treasury cash grants, depreciation benefits, and other available tax benefits. He has represented developers and tax equity investors in financings of both wind and solar projects, as well as on tax planning for energy storage, carbon capture, and carbon sequestration projects. 

Braxton Roam Of Counsel

Washington, D.C.

Braxton advises major financial institutions (tax equity investors and infrastructure funds), lenders, developers, and sponsors in the renewable energy sector—particularly those in the wind, solar, battery storage, biomass and energy tech space—to structure financings for their projects to take advantage of federal tax incentives like the Section 45 production tax credit (PTC), Section 48 energy investment tax credit (ITC), and accelerated depreciation (MACRS and “bonus”) using partnership flips, sale-leasebacks, public/private partnerships, and other structuring options. He has been particularly focused on providing clients with the latest guidance and opportunities relating to the Inflation Reduction Act including with respect to Section 6418 tax credit transfers, Section 6417 direct pay opportunities, domestic content, energy communities, and the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.

Jonathan Rosen Partner

London

Jonathan leads the London Tax team, and his practice is both transactional and advisory. He has extensive experience of UK, cross-border and international tax matters across a variety of business sectors, with a particular focus on Technology & Innovation, Energy & Infrastructure, and Finance.

Jonathan is qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

Aviva M. Roth Senior Career Associate

Washington, D.C.

Aviva has experience in governmental and exempt facility bonds, including general governmental facilities, 501(c)(3) bonds, tobacco asset securitizations, capital funds financing, arbitrage and post-issuance compliance relating to private use issues.

Prior to joining Orrick, she was a docket attorney at the Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel where she drafted regulations, notices and private letter rulings.

Jake Routhier Corporate Innovation Attorney

San Francisco

Jake also represents high growth technology companies in several areas, including corporate and securities law, formation, and venture capital financings.
Jake received his JD/MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton School of Business in 2018, where he received the Academic Excellence Fellowship. He is also a 2010 graduate of Dartmouth College and prior to attending law school worked at education startups in New York.

Dr. Stefan Schultes-Schnitzlein Partner

Düsseldorf

His focus is on corporate transactions and their financing, financial restructurings, as well as tax audits and tax litigation. The tax support of growth companies at all stages has become an increasingly larger part of his work in recent years. U.S. flips, management incentivization, financing rounds, and exits are just some of the areas in which Stefan has been active in the growth sector.

Stefan leads the German Orrick offices together with Christoph Brenner.

Larry Sobel Partner

Los Angeles; Houston

As both bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel, he has been responsible for structuring and analyzing the tax aspects of many tax-exempt financings throughout the country.

Larry has extensive experience in handling IRS audits of bond transactions. He has represented issuers in dozens of audits all of which have ended favorably either with the IRS issuing a “no change” letter or by negotiating a reasonable settlement when needed. Larry also has handled a number of submissions under the IRS’ Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (or VCAP). The two most recent VCAP submissions represented cases of first impression for the IRS; one involving an issue of qualified energy conservation bonds relating to determining the amount of those bonds eligible for the federal subsidy; the other involved the plan to convert a “new money” bond issue into an advance refunding (which did not meet all of the requirements for a tax-exempt advance refunding). Both cases ultimately were resolved on the original terms proposed to the IRS.

Larry has also been instrumental in developing new financing techniques and structures. He first devised the tax structure and analysis for, and has served as tax counsel on, Orrick’s tax exempt tobacco revenue securitizations. He has developed the tax structure on numerous tax-exempt prepayments for natural gas for municipal utilities both within and outside of California.

John Stanley Partner

San Francisco

In his municipal finance practice, John has served as bond counsel, special tax counsel and underwriter’s counsel for a variety of transactions, including particularly governmental, airport, and public power financings. John has represented issuers and borrowers before the Internal Revenue Service in connection with audits, private letter rulings, and requests pursuant to the voluntary closing agreement program (VCAP). 

John has worked with issuers to establish post-issuance compliance programs tailored to their specific financings, and also has significant experience with tax-exempt commercial paper programs for both governmental and exempt facilities.  John is a regular speaker at various conferences focused on public finance and tax, including conferences organized by the National Association of Bond Lawyers, the American Bar Association Tax Section, and the California Bond Buyer Conference.  John is serving as Chair of the National Association of Bond Lawyers' "The Institute" conference in 2024.  

Winnie Tsien Of Counsel

Los Angeles

Winnie has addressed the Bond Attorneys' Workshop for the National Association of Bond Lawyers relating to various topics, including arbitrage and rebate, refundings, working capital financings, and 501c3 financings. Winnie earned a J.D. in 1994 from the University of California, Davis School of the Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and was a member of Law Review. She received her B.A. from Pitzer College.