People

David Y. Lin Partner

San Francisco; Los Angeles

David assists major financial institutions and alternative lenders in effectively assessing legal risks in complex secured and unsecured commercial finance transactions. He advises on bilateral, club and syndicated financings for acquisitions, dividend recapitalizations, construction and refinancings. He has extensive experience in financings in the casino gaming (commercial and tribal) and technology sectors.

Trudie Makens Managing Associate

Austin

Trudie focuses her practice on project financing, joint ventures and project development in the renewable energy sector. Trudie represents clients in a wide variety of transactions, including debt and tax equity financing, joint ventures, project development matters, and project acquisitions and sales.

Nikiforos Mathews Partner

New York

His practice focuses on representing financial institutions, governmental and regulated entities, hedge funds and corporate end-users in developing, structuring and negotiating a broad range of fixed income, foreign exchange, commodity, energy and credit derivative products. Among other things, he has successfully negotiated numerous domestic and cross-border lien-secured hedging transactions relating to leveraged loans and infrastructure transactions, as well as deal-contingent hedges. In addition, Nik has significant experience in foreign exchange and fixed income prime brokerage issues, as well as various structured products. He also regularly advises clients in connection with derivatives regulation, including the application of the Dodd-Frank legislation and related regulations. Also, Nik provides counsel on close-out netting matters and UCC issues relating account control arrangements for collateral. Nik regularly advises on the structuring and negotiation of energy and commodity hedging transactions, as well as swap regulatory matters relating to VPPAs. Moreover, on a regular basis, Nik represents market participants on the termination and close-out of derivatives and other products, including providing advice on related bankruptcy matters.

Nik is lead editor of Orrick’s publication, Derivatives in Review, which periodically highlights important legal, regulatory and other newsworthy developments in the area of derivatives. He has also published articles in several journals, including on rating agency hedge criteria in connection with structured finance transactions.

Before joining Orrick, Nik was vice president and assistant general counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and director and counsel at UBS AG. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Nicholas Tsoucalas of the United States Court of International Trade.

From 1999 to 2007, Nik held a commission as a Captain in the United States Army Reserve, where he was qualified to practice as a Judge Advocate. A veteran of both Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, he served as an Operational and Administrative Law attorney in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Daniel Mathews Partner

New York

Dan advises on projects spanning the energy and infrastructure sector, including toll roads, rail, airports, ports, thermal and renewable energy generation, transmission infrastructure, telecommunications infrastructure, and water and waste facilities.

His key clients include major strategic and financial sponsors who have been involved in many of the largest and highest profile PPP and project development transactions over the past 30 years. Dan advises clients on Public-Private Partnerships, large-scale, complex project financings, and acquisitions and divestitures of projects and project portfolios, leading teams that have the depth and breadth to deliver excellence in every phase of a project, including development, construction, financing and operations, as well as providing leading M&A, restructuring and tax advice.

Dan has long been recognized as a leading practitioner in publications such as Chambers (every year since 2005), The Legal 500 and others. Clients describe him in Chambers as a “dean in the PPP space,” the “best in the business” and one client added that “he has an encyclopedic memory about all the deals in the market and a negotiating style that solves problems rather than creating them.”

Andrew Mattei Senior Counsel

New York

Andrew has extensive experience in cross-border multi-currency, multi-borrower financings and has been the lead attorney in acquisition leveraged buy-outs, tender offer financings, tax free spin-off financings and M&A related work.

Before joining Orrick, Andrew was a partner in the Finance Group at Allen & Overy LLP. Prior to that, he was a partner at Mayer Brown, LLP.

Ross McKinnon Counsel

New York

Ross has been advising governments, sponsors and lenders on P3s and alternative delivery models for over 20 years in the USA, Australia, and the UK. He has been lead counsel on numerous first-of-their kind P3s in each of these jurisdictions and advised on a wide variety of infrastructure assets including, airports, rail and rolling stock, roads, flood control, hospitals, schools, housing, and waste management. He brings the breadth of his US and international experience, a deep understanding of these types of transactions and the needs of each stakeholder group, as well as an ability to think creatively and bring innovation, to work with his clients for the successful structuring, procurement, and delivery of projects so that his clients may achieve their goals.

Key highlights of Ross' experience include advising:

• Metro Flood Diversion Authority on the  procurement and close of the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Area Flood Diversion Project in the US; the first flood diversion project in North America to be delivered using a P3, the first P3 for the US Army Corp of Engineers, and the first P3 for the Authority and other governmental stakeholders.
• Port Authority of New York & New Jersey on the procurement and close of redevelopment of Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport in the US, involving the first time the Port Authority delivered a major asset through a design-build delivery model.
• Sponsors on their successful bid and closing for the North West Rail Link in Australia; the first line to be delivered for the new rapid transit Sydney Metro.
• Cornwall County Council on an integrated waste management project in the UK (including delivery of an EfW plant and a network of recycling and other waste management assets); which was a designated "path-finder" project for the waste sector under the PFI.

King Milling Partner

New York

King is a partner in the New York office and a member of the Global Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Group. His practice focuses on domestic and cross-border M&A, joint venture, private equity and venture capital transactions, including negotiated mergers, auction bid processes, distressed asset sales, leveraged buyouts and the acquisition and divestiture of divisions and subsidiaries.

King is experienced in all aspects of Delaware and New York corporate, partnership and limited liability company law. He regularly counsels boards of directors on corporate governance, compliance, fiduciary duty and executive compensation matters.

King represents U.S. and non-U.S. clients in a wide range of industries, including life sciences, technology, energy, consumer products, industrials and manufacturing and financial services.

Matthew Neuringer Partner

New York

Matthew is recognized nationally and globally by Chambers USA, where clients describe him as “smart, organized and responsive and offers really good insight on key issues” and “he is an encyclopedia of PPP and he does an excellent job of leading tricky conversations and getting to a point where all parties agree.”

Prior to practicing law, Matthew worked as a hedge fund analyst and chief of staff in New York State government. Matthew's prior experience in finance and government enhances his ability to deliver legal advice through a commercial lens for private and public sector clients. Matthew has advised clients across a full spectrum of energy and infrastructure assets, including telecoms, rail, highways, airport, intermodal transit, combined heat and power, social infrastructure, and waste to energy. In Matthew's capacity as outside counsel to the Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure (AIAI) Matthew has also provided input on various key pieces of federal, state and local governments on the sufficiency of their laws to produce P3 projects in their jurisdictions.

Seth Norris Managing Associate

Washington, D.C.

Prior to Orrick, Seth worked as a legal intern for the Beijing office of the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he conducted research on international environmental permitting standards, and as a consultant for a Boston-based energy & infrastructure holding company, where he advised on globalization and work force optimization strategies for a wind turbine services business.

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.

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. 

Marissa Prieto Senior Associate

Seattle

Her experience includes representing borrowers, sponsors, investors and lenders in a variety of financing and equity arrangements, including project and portfolio M&A, development financing, equity investments and joint ventures with wind, solar and other alternative energy projects.