2025 Global Corporate Venturing and Innovation Summit

Samir R. Bakhru Partner

New York

Samir has represented early and late stage companies in over $7 billion worth of venture financings and has advised clients in over $5 billion worth of M&A transactions.  He has experience in advising founders on structuring their companies to maintain control and frequently counsels executive teams in maintaining and managing a successful board of directors.  

Samir’s notable company-side representations include K Health, Dataiku, Beacon Platform, Betterment, Chime, Vise Technologies, Warby Parker, Codecademy, Merama, Genius, ResearchGate, Spell, Frontier Car Group (until sold), Insomnia Cookies (until sold), Sailthru (until sold), Teachable (until sold), and Upworthy (until sold), among others.

In addition to his company-side representations, Samir has represented leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures, Coatue Management, Heavybit Industries, TPG Growth, Vista Equity Partners, Walden Venture Capital, Warburg Pincus, and Y Combinator Continuity Fund.

Before joining Orrick, Samir was an Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in the General Corporate and M&A group.

Ellen Ehrenpreis Partner

Silicon Valley

On the company side, Ellen’s clients range from early startups to mature private companies. She advises companies and founders on formation, venture financings, governance, M&A transactions, corporate and securities matters, commercial transactions and litigation strategy. Ellen’s approach is holistic and pragmatic. Her unique skill set and business-driven approach derive from her decades-long career as a Silicon Valley lawyer and her broad experiences earlier in her career as both a successful litigator and business owner. Over her career, Ellen has represented both private and public companies and has worked with both small startups and large multinational enterprises, as well as the executives, investors and advisors involved in those businesses. As a result, Ellen draws upon a deep knowledge base and set of experiences and insights that allow her to offer practical and seasoned advice to her clients. Ellen also works closely with some of the leading venture capital and growth equity firms, whose principals she advises in connection with financings, equity structuring and corporate governance. Ellen’s company clients have represented a broad swath of the technology ecosystem, including both hardware and software, and, as a result, her industry experience is wide-ranging. Her clients have included companies in the semiconductor, SAAS, renewables, fintech, aerospace, digital retail, online sharing, biotech/biopharma, media, design and data analytics fields, among others. Ellen has a passion for working with companies making an impact in the world.

Gregory Heibel Partner

Silicon Valley

Greg's practice focuses on the formation, financing and strategic guidance of rapidly growing technology companies, the representation of venture capital firms and other investors in private and public offerings, as well as other complex transactions related to high growth companies.

Greg has completed many hundreds of financings, mergers, acquisitions and intellectual property transactions for young companies in the networking, wireless, Internet, software, life sciences and consumer sectors. He regularly advises some of the largest technology companies in the world, including a Fortune 10 technology leader, in their global strategic investments into innovative startups. Additionally, Greg has represented numerous publicly traded companies in their public offering, mergers and acquisitions and ongoing corporate governance needs, including Life360 (ASX:360), Foundry Networks, Virage Networks, Adeza, Laserscope, Intellisync and Preview Systems.

Greg also was an Assistant Investment Manager for Genevest, a venture capital firm based in Geneva, Switzerland, where he participated in the first organizational meeting of the European Union World Wide Web Consortium. Prior to practicing law, Greg worked with a number of venture capital backed technology companies in operational and advisory roles, including Intellimeter, eT Communications and Metering Technology Corporation. 

Zac Padgett Partner

Austin

Zac advises clients on:

• growth equity transactions
• buyout acquisitions and mergers
• venture capital investments
• exit transactions
• take-private deals
• management buyouts
• joint ventures
• private placements
• debt-like preferred equity and project finance investments

As co-lead of the firm’s Energy Tech Team, Zac focuses on supporting companies and investors developing technologies like hyperscale data centers, alternative fuels, carbon capture, eVTOL aircraft, agtech and digital infrastructure. Zac is a key member of Orrick's energy transition practice, which was recognized as Band 1 in Energy Transition by Chambers USA (2023).

Zac is passionate about legal tech and implementing AI tools to enhance legal services. He helps lead the firm’s MAPE 2.0 project team, a platform that transforms M&A execution, which won the Financial Times' Reinventing the Legal Practice category.

Yael Perl Partner

Silicon Valley

Yael has extensive experience with advising founders, investors and boards of tech and life sciences companies at all stages and advises on cutting edge deals and complex transactions, with a focus on venture capital financings, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. She practices across a variety of industries, including software and technology, energy, gaming, healthcare and life sciences. Yael’s practice also includes advising venture capital firms and strategic corporate investors in their investments into technology and life sciences companies.

Yael’s broad-based domestic and international experience also includes advising Israeli venture capital funds, high-tech firms and startups while practicing at some of the top-rated firms in Tel Aviv.

Kristin Seeger Partner

San Francisco

Her experience spans projects across the United States and Canada and includes award-winning transactions. She is recognized nationally as Chambers USA Band 2 for Projects: Power & Renewables: Transactional (2024) and as a Leading Lawyer: Energy-Renewable/Alternative Power by Legal 500.  Clients describe her as "very knowledgeable" with a "great sense of being practical and understanding what the drivers are on either side of the table." Kristin is a key member of Orrick's energy transition practice, which was recognized as Band 1 in Energy Transition by Chambers USA (2024).

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. 

Shannon Yavorsky Partner

San Francisco; London

She advises public and private companies across several sectors, including life sciences and health technology, financial services, private equity, insurance, social media and technology on a range of EU and U.S. federal and state privacy laws. Shannon’s strategic counseling advice includes, but is not limited to:

• Advertising and payment card processing self-regulatory frameworks
• Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM)
• Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
• EU AI Act
• EU e-Privacy Directive (EPD)
• EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework (AIRMF)
• Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
• U.S. state breach notification laws
• U.S. state privacy laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Virginia and other states
  

Shannon also helps clients undertake comprehensive privacy, cybersecurity and AI risk assessments, evaluates privacy, security and AI risks in corporate transactions and drafts and negotiates data-related contracts. She advises clients on cross-border data transfers, data breaches and developing global privacy and AI compliance programs.