People

Blake Winburne Partner

Houston

Blake is recognized both nationally and globally by Chambers (Chambers USA and Chambers Global 2008-2024), including in Band 1 for Projects: Power & Renewables: Transactional, Projects. Chambers sources report that he has "strong commercial acumen, executive presence and excellent, long-standing stature." Blake is also recognized in the "Hall of Fame" for Energy Transactions: Electric Power by Legal 500 and has been named one of the "world’s leading energy and natural resources lawyers" by Euromoney (2009-2020).

Blake advises clients on energy sector mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, and joint ventures, and on the development, structuring, and financing of large-scale energy projects in the United States and internationally. He regularly represents multinational energy companies, large private equity funds, project developers and sponsors, borrowers and debt issuers, investment banks, and other capital providers and investors in the energy industry.

Blake has significant experience in the electric power sector, including fossil fuel-fired, simple and combined-cycle and co-generation facilities, as well as wind, solar (central station and distributed), landfill gas, biomass and other renewable energy projects. He also represents clients in transactions involving oil, natural-gas and refined-products pipelines, gathering and processing systems and storage facilities (tank farms and underground), exploration and production investment platforms and operations, electric power and natural gas transmission and local distribution systems and alternative fuels production and marketing arrangements. 

Justin Yi Partner

Santa Monica

Justin focuses his practice on complex business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, reorganizations, recapitalizations and minority investments, as well as general corporate and securities law matters. Justin represents corporations, private equity firms and investors across a wide range of industries, including technology, media, entertainment, healthcare, food and beverage and apparel.

Daniel Yost Partner

San Francisco; Silicon Valley

Highly regarded for his expertise, Chambers USA has ranked Daniel for his expertise in Technology Transactions and noted that “His work is solution-driven and his positive personality helps both sides of a negotiation work towards the outcome.” Legal 500 describes his practice as “exceptional” and recommends the practice for its “high client service ethic and great commercial awareness." He is known for his ability to handle complex transactions for science-based technology companies, with work ranging from intellectual property and licensing to distribution agreements and cross-border collaborations, counseling clients on commercial law, copyright, licensing, marketing, patent, privacy, strategic alliances, trademark and trade secrets matters.

Daniel has represented companies in various industries, including biotechnology, cleantech, energy, consumer electronics, entertainment, hardware, internet, media, semiconductor, services, software, telecommunications and wireless. His energy clients include clients in the solar, biofuels, waste to energy and geothermal sectors.

Daniel has acted as key legal counsel in:

• Manufacturing, distribution and sale arrangements for makers of software, chips, security devices, batteries and solar technologies, among others.
• Technology transactions with universities, governments and non-profit entities.
• Copyright, privacy and online pitfalls applicable to Internet companies.
• Domestic and international collaborations for developers of pharmaceutical products, medical devices, semiconductors and software, among others.
• Mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs and asset divestitures in a wide range of industries, including biotechnology, health databases, semiconductors medical software, entertainment, Internet browsers and e-commerce.
• Open software source policy development and compliance.
• IT and business process services agreements.
• Venture capital investments in technology-based enterprises.

The former co-chair of both the Technology Transactions and Technology Companies Practice Groups, Daniel is a thought leader on technology transactions issues and programs that focus on the protection and exploitation of intellectual property, having advised on clients such as Weta Digital, Fulcrum BioEnergy, CelLink Corporation, Telenor, Luminar, and Motorola Solutions. He is regularly called up to speak about intellectual property and technology matters and has done so at UC Berkeley, Stanford and other universities and conferences. His work on incentivizing innovation has been published in major papers, including Forbes, the Daily Journal San Francisco and the San Jose Mercury News.

Daniel’s current volunteer work includes serving on the Board of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, the Advisory Counsel for UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment and California Environmental Voters. Daniel also advises state and local elected officials on policies to encourage the development and deployment of zero emissions technologies. Daniel’s prior volunteer work includes serving as Mayor and Councilmember in Woodside, California and serving as a founding Board Member of Peninsula Clean Energy – the community choice energy provider serving San Mateo County.

Albert Yu Partner

London

Albert represents a wide range of clients, working with project sponsors, lenders, export credit agencies and funds on market-leading energy and infrastructure projects in Europe and Asia.

Prior to joining Orrick, Albert was a Managing Associate at a Magic Circle firm. Albert has also worked in-house for a large global mining company.

Elizabeth Zane Partner

Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth's experience includes work on internal investigations, voluntary disclosures, commodity jurisdiction requests and developing and implementing compliance programs. She also advises clients on government contracting matters.

Paul Zarnowiecki Partner

Washington, D.C.

Transactions on which Paul has advised include the development, financing, acquisition and divestiture of renewable and conventional power projects and other infrastructure assets in a broad range of commercial and corporate transactions. He has served as lead counsel on some of the most innovative and complex U.S. renewable energy transactions in recent years in both the wind and solar energy sectors.

He is recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global, where clients describe him as "highly committed to ensuring clients get excellent service" and "very commercially minded."

Jeff Zhang Partner

Beijing; New York

Being recognized by Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Jeff has received clients’ praises as “an experienced lawyer, who understands the client’s business, both internally and externally", and his "understanding of the client’s business model, industry, customers and strategic objectives enables him to advise and guide clients on highly complex and sensitive matters”. Other clients comment that Jeff “develops the best strategies and solutions for clients” and “works very hard and is recognised by clients for his ability.” In addition, he is “dedicated to serving his clients and is able to leverage off the firm’s global network to provide services in specialized areas.” (Legal 500 Asia-Pacific, 2019 - 2023)

Jeff’s practice focuses on China-related inbound and outbound mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. He has extensive experience with share and asset acquisitions, growth capital and buyout transactions as well as tender offers, privatizations, restructurings, spin-offs, strategic alliances and joint ventures.

In addition, Jeff advises multinationals, financial institutions and private equity funds on their general corporate, capital markets and regulatory compliance matters.

Prior to joining Orrick, Jeff was a partner at the New York office of an international law firm. Earlier in his career, Jeff practiced in New York, Hong Kong, and mainland China with two major international law firms, and also served as the Head of Legal and Compliance of the U.S. operations of a leading Chinese investment bank, where he gained tremendous experience in helping Chinese clients navigate regulatory and compliance issues in the U.S.

Jeff serves on the International Advisory Board of Duke Law School, where he was also appointed as a Senior Lecturing Fellow. In his leisure time, Jeff serves on a volunteer basis as the Chief Legal Officer of The Chinese Finance Association (TCFA), a non-profit professional organization headquartered in New York with more than 7,000 members globally.

Kyle Zhu Senior Associate

New York

Kyle represents public and private companies and private equity funds in various domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions on both the buy-side and sell-side. Kyle is also experienced in advising clients on representation and warranty insurance and venture financings. As part of Orrick’s fintech and artificial intelligence working group, Kyle analyzes and creates thought leadership on novel legal issues related to crypto, web 3.0 and artificial intelligence.

Kyle is passionate about Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. He serves as a leader on Orrick’s New York Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and Orrick’s Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Inclusion Network. He is also a Vice Chair of the Corporate Law Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York.

Eugenio Zupo Senior Associate

Milan

Eugenio has experience in a broad range of corporate law matters, including complex group reorganizations across multiple jurisdictions and joint ventures. Eugenio has advised on deals for strategic investors and private equity houses in a variety of sectors including, energy, oil& gas, industrials, automotive, composite materials, food and technology.