Orrick Congratulates 19 New Partners

“We could not be more proud to welcome these talented lawyers to our partnership," said Orrick Chairman & CEO Mitch Zuklie. “This diverse team very clearly aligns with our commitment to excellence in the technology, energy & infrastructure, and finance sectors globally, and to our leadership in litigation and intellectual property.”

After growing the partner class size over the past three years, this is Orrick’s largest class since 2007. The team includes five new finance partners, four new members of the firm’s energy & infrastructure team, and three tech-focused corporate partners. It adds seven litigation partners, including two IP litigators, three employment litigators, and new members of the securities litigation and white collar and commercial litigation teams. The new partners are based in seven U.S. offices, as well as in London, Paris, Düsseldorf and Tokyo. Seven began their careers with Orrick as summer associates or after clerkships. In addition, for the first time in Orrick’s history, women (10) outnumber men.

Mitch added: “While much has changed in our profession, one principle remains constant: there’s nothing more vital to the future of our law firm than our ability to mentor the next generation of legal talent and inspire them to be leaders of our firm. Some have suggested this is less true today – I disagree. We are fortunate to have attracted this high quality team of lawyers, and we are especially excited to welcome a distinctively strong group of women to our partnership this year.”

Orrick’s new partners are:

• Christopher Gladbach, Washington, D.C.

• Rohit Sachdev, San Francisco

• Kristin Seeger, San Francisco

• Minako Wakabayashi, Tokyo

• Stephen Ashley, Capital Markets, New York

• Augie Rakow, Corporate, Silicon Valley

• Christian Schröder, Cybersecurity & Data Privacy, Düsseldorf

• Devin Brennan, Public Finance, San Francisco

• Dustin Calkins, Real Estate, San Francisco

• Andrew Denye, Real Estate, London

• Sarah Rackoff, Public Finance, New York

• Nicole Walsh, Real Estate, Los Angeles

 

• Lauri Damrell, Employment Litigation, Sacramento

• Renee Phillips, Employment Litigation, New York

• Julia Riechert, Employment Litigation, Silicon Valley

• Marine Lallemand, Commercial Litigation,  Paris

• Travis Jensen, IP, Silicon Valley

• Christina Von der Ahe Rayburn, IP, Orange County

• Lily Becker, Securities Litigation & White Collar, San Francisco

 

 

ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE

Christopher Gladbach is a member of the firm’s growing Energy & Infrastructure Group, based in Washington, D.C. His energy practice focuses on structuring complex equity and debt investments, including tax equity investments. He also works with private equity investors that are making investments in or buying or selling energy projects and companies. In addition, Chris collaborates with Orrick’s government contracts practice to represent clients on renewable energy projects serving the Department of Defense. Chris also works on cross-border investments in energy projects, including investments in Japan. Chris is an active member of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and its Defense Energy Initiative. He earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. in Philosophy, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Georgetown.

Rohit Sachdev is a member of the firm’s Energy & Infrastructure Group, based in San Francisco. Rohit focuses his practice on energy project development and M&A, particularly in the solar, wind, gas and energy storage sectors, among others. He is a member of the firm’s client teams for EDF Renewables, Recurrent Energy, SunEdison, Wellhead Electric and 8minutenergy. His pro bono work includes representing a startup that creates solar-powered products for emerging markets. Prior to law school, Rohit worked as an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse. He earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from Columbia University, where he was a Stone Scholar, and his B.A. from Brown University.

Kristin Seeger is a member of the Energy & Infrastructure Group in San Francisco. She focuses on the acquisition and sale of domestic and international renewable energy projects as well as project financing (including tax equity financing arrangements) in the renewable energy sector. She is a member of the teams advising clients such as TerraForm Power and Recurrent Energy, among others. Kristin earned her J.D., cum laude, from Duke Law School and her B.A., with honors, from Cornell University.

Minako Wakabayashi, based in Tokyo, is part of the Orrick Energy & Infrastructure Group pioneering the development of the renewables sector in Japan. She represents multinational developers and sponsors in the financing, development and construction of cross-border renewable energy projects. Minako acts for clients such as GE, Pattern Energy, SunEdison and Invenergy. In addition, she prepared the Japanese government’s model form for power purchase agreements under the Japanese Feed-in-Tariff system.A native of Japan and dual educated, she brings the perspective of a former public prosecutor to her compliance advice. She serves on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Supervising Committee for Public Bidding, which advocates the right to fairness in public bidding procedures, and lectures at Keio Law School. She earned her LL.M from University of Chicago Law School and her B.A. from Keio University.

TECHNOLOGY

Stephen Ashley is a member of the firm’s Technology Companies and Capital Markets Groups in New York. Stephen has extensive experience representing issuers and underwriters in IPOs and other equity and debt offerings, including investment-grade and high-yield bond offerings and private placements, with a focus on the technology and energy sectors. Recently he has represented the underwriters in connection with the IPOs of OnDeck Capital and Rapid7 and follow-on offerings of Benefitfocus, Intercept Pharmaceuticals and Paylocity. Stephen is also a member of the Orrick teams advising clients such as Aria Energy, NOVA Chemicals and Southern Star Central Corp., and helped arrange the financing for IFM Investors’ leveraged acquisition of the Indiana Toll Road (named M&A Deal of the Year by M&A Advisor). He has advised on numerous complex domestic and cross-border corporate transactions, including debt financings for some of Orrick’s Chinese corporate clients. Stephen earned his LL.B from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University and his B.Com from the University of British Columbia, both with honors.

Augie Rakow is a member of the Technology Companies Group in Silicon Valley. Leading Bay Area tech companies, entrepreneurs and investors turn to Augie to help them navigate venture capital financings and to serve as outside general counsel during growth stages and beyond. He is a member of the firm’s client teams representing Zenefits, Soylent, iCracked, Airware and Cruise Automation, among other leading disruptors, and venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Charles River Ventures. As a corporate lawyer, Augie draws on his past experience as an IP litigator and licensing advisor, as well as his work in Japan as a patent prosecution assistant and patents translator. Augie earned his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and his B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from U.C. Berkeley. In addition, he studied theology at Harvard Divinity School.

Christian Schröder is a member of the Technology Companies Group and the head of the IP/IT & Data Privacy Practice Group in Germany. Christian focuses on data privacy compliance and IT transactions and co-leads matters for technology startups and Fortune 500 companies in diverse industries. In addition, Christian advises companies on soft IP, e-commerce, unfair and deceptive trade practice issues, and litigates in the aforementioned areas. As part of his Ph.D. work on German and U.S. data privacy law, Christian interned with the Federal Data Protection Commissioner and with EPIC, the D.C.-based data privacy NGO, where he advised U.S. departments and EU delegates on EU data privacy issues. He has lectured on EU data privacy law at Georgetown University. Christian earned his Dr. jur., magna cum laude, from the University of Kiel, his J.D. from the University of Bonn (Germany) and also studied at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). He speaks English, German and French.

FINANCE

Devin Brennan is a member of the Public Finance Group in San Francisco. Devin represents issuer, underwriter and private sponsor clients in water, wastewater, transportation, public power, pollution control and other infrastructure financings. He also has experience with redevelopment and complex special purpose financings, negotiation of credit and liquidity facilities, private placements, commercial paper programs and swaps. Some of the clients with whom Devin works include the Bay Area Toll Authority, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California Pollution Control Financing Authority, Turlock Irrigation District, and the Transportation Commissions and Authorities of Alameda, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties. Devin, who started his legal career at Orrick, is a current member of the Audit Committee and a past pro bono chair of OneJustice, a leading programmatic legal services organization in California. He earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a Chayes International Public Service Fellow, a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.A. from the University of California, Riverside.

Dustin Calkins is a member of the Real Estate Group in San Francisco. He represents public and private institutions and funds in the acquisition, disposition, financing, development and leasing of commercial property, including portfolio acquisitions and dispositions of retail, office and multifamily developments, and the formation of joint venture vehicles. Dustin has taken a leading role in Orrick’s representation of USAA for its $1.1 billion joint venture acquisition of five regional shopping malls from Westfield; the master developer of the City of Sacramento’s new downtown entertainment and sports center; the real estate aspects of the City of Stockton’s high-profile bankruptcy; and numerous other complex transactions. He also regularly advises institutional investors such as Bentall Kennedy, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, GLL Real Estate Partners, Stockbridge Capital Group and Swift Real Estate Partners. Dustin received his J.D. and his B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Andrew Denye is a member of the Real Estate Group in London. He also works closely with the firm’s London and global Energy & Infrastructure team to represent funds in connection with the real estate aspects of their investments in renewable, solar and other projects. In addition, Andrew focuses on real estate matters for the retail, health care and hospitality sectors working alongside the firm’s London Corporate practice. Andrew is a member of the Orrick client teams for Intu Shopping Centres and NextEnergy Solar Fund, among others. He earned his LPC from the College of Law of England & Wales, York, and his LL.B., Law, from the University of Huddersfield.

Sarah Rackoff is a member of the Public Finance Group in New York. She has extensive experience in project bonds, public private partnerships, health care, public power, not-for-profits, housing and other matters as bond counsel, underwriters’ counsel, and borrowers’ counsel. Sarah, who began her legal career at Orrick, led the team that represented OCI N.V., a Dutch company that in 2013 sponsored the largest high-yield revenue bond transaction ever completed. Sarah was the lead public finance lawyer on the KentuckyWired project, an innovative initiative to deliver high-speed Internet statewide that was awarded Deal of the Year by The Bond Buyer. She is also a member of the Orrick teams handling matters for the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and New York State Housing Finance Agency. Sarah is a leader in Orrick’s Impact Finance & Social Enterprise Group, advising clients on pay-for-success social impact bond transactions, an innovative means for social service organizations to finance new programming. She earned her J.D. from the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, where she received the Shattuck Award, in part for her work as President of the Public Interest Law Foundation, and her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Nicole Walsh is a member of the Real Estate Group in Los Angeles. Nicole represents real estate investment funds, banks, developers and corporate clients in investment, financing, sales, leasing, construction and other corporate real estate activities. She is a member of the Orrick client teams for Colony Capital, Hackman Capital Partners and Walton Street Capital. Nicole, who began her legal career at Orrick, has an active pro bono practice, including previously helping an Iraqi woman seeking immigration assistance under the Violence Against Women Act. Nicole earned her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she was a Submissions Editor of the Entertainment Law Review, and her A.M. and A.B. from Stanford University.

LITIGATION

Employment Litigation

Lauri Damrell began her legal career at Orrick in the Employment Law Group in Sacramento. Lauri focuses her practice on complex litigation and counseling involving wage-and-hour issues as well as systemic discrimination, particularly gender discrimination. She has represented clients before the EEOC, OFCCP, U.S. Department of Labor, IRS and various state agencies. She is a governor-appointed Commissioner for the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and serves on the Board of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL). Lauri is deputy co-chair of the firm’s Women’s Initiative, and co-founder of the Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association of Sacramento (MAMAS). She has an extensive pro bono practice, including as part of an Orrick team counseling the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. A member of the ABA Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity Law, Lauri serves as the co-chair for the Compensation Chapter of its Employment Discrimination Law treatise. Lauri clerked for the Hon. Chief Judge David Levi of the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of California. She earned her J.D., Order of the Coif, from the University of California, Davis School of Law, and her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Renee Phillips, a member of the Employment Law Group in New York, is co-head of Orrick’s Whistleblower Task Force. She specializes in Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank whistleblower matters and internal investigations. She is a member of the Orrick teams for clients such as Tesoro Corporation and Broadcom. Renee, who began her career with Orrick after a clerkship, also handles complex discrimination and harassment cases. She writes and speaks frequently on whistleblower, internal investigations and other topics, and co-authors the PLI treatise, Corporate Whistleblowing in the Sarbanes-Oxley/Dodd-Frank Era. Renee clerked for the Hon. Robert Carter of the Southern District of New York. She earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial & Labor Relations.

Julia Riechert started at Orrick as a summer associate in the Employment Group in Silicon Valley. Julia defends companies in class action, multi-plaintiff and single plaintiff wage-and-hour, discrimination, harassment and retaliation lawsuits under California and federal law. She also advises clients on a wide variety of employment issues such as employee terminations, workplace investigations, wage-and-hour compliance and company policies. She earned her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and her B.A. from UCLA. Outside of work, Julia is passionate about animal rescue. She has fostered 100 homeless shelter dogs for the nonprofit Rocket Dog Rescue and has also helped many Orrick colleagues adopt rescue dogs. Julia also loves spending time with her baby Violet (born July 4, 2015), her husband and her two rescue dogs, as well as her sister Allison Riechert Giese (who is also an Orrick attorney in the Silicon Valley Employment Group).

Commercial Litigation

Marine Lallemand is a member of the Commercial Litigation Group in Paris. Marine assists French and international companies and top managers with complex commercial, financial and corporate disputes, including insolvency and distressed M&A matters. She has nearly 15 years of experience as a trial lawyer before French courts, regulators and arbitrators. She notably assists Total, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Marionnaud (Hutchison Wampoa). She earned a master’s degree and a post-master’s degree in Business and Private Law from the Universities of Paris II and Paris V, as well as a post-master’s degree in Law and International Management from Haute Etudes Commerciales (HEC). Marine is a member of the Paris Bar Association and the women’s association Grandes Ecoles au féminin, which brings together graduates of the top 10 French Academic Schools and promotes women’s leadership and careers.

Intellectual Property

Travis Jensen is a member of the Intellectual Property Group in Silicon Valley. He is a member of the Orrick teams that have represented Synopsys, AT&T and LG in high-stakes cases. A registered patent attorney with advanced degrees in electrical engineering, Travis litigates technically complex patent cases and has first-chaired a number of jury trials in state court. He is also leading the firm’s work in the burgeoning virtual reality space. Travis created and maintains www.localpatentrules.com and www.modeljuryinstructions.com to track patent law matters. He assists low-income pro bono clients in association with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. Prior to law school, Travis co-founded a fabless semiconductor design company. A former extern at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, Travis earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. He also holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from BYU.

Christina Von der Ahe Rayburn is a member of the IP Group in Orange County. Christy, who has a background in mechanical engineering, focuses her practice on IP litigation. She represents both plaintiffs and defendants in patent, copyright and trade secret litigation, including disputes concerning electronic devices and computer software for multiple industries. Christy is an officer and founding member of the Howard T. Markey Intellectual Property Inn of Court in Orange County and serves as an editor of Orrick’s Trade Secrets Watch blog. She clerked for the Hon. Andrew Guilford and externed for the Hon. A. Howard Matz, both of the Central District of California. Christy earned her J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor for both the Harvard International Law Journal and the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology. She earned her B.A.S., with distinction, from Stanford University. Christy lives in Laguna Beach with her husband and two sons.

Securities Litigation & White Collar

Lily Becker practices in the Securities Litigation and White Collar Groups in San Francisco. She focuses on high-profile securities litigation, shareholder disputes, internal investigations and regulatory enforcement actions. She has extensive experience evaluating corporate compliance programs and anti-bribery controls and has served on two DOJ and SEC FCPA corporate monitor teams. Lily has an active pro bono practice, focusing on the representation of inmates and programs such as the Innocence Project. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Ted Stevens Foundation, an Alaskan nonprofit organization, and is an active supporter of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area. She is also the proud mother of 2-year-old twin girls. Lily joined Orrick after clerking for the Hon. Loren Smith of the United States Court of Federal Claims. She also externed for the Hon. Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. She earned her J.D. from Berkeley Law, and both her M.A. in Chinese History and B.A., with honors, from Stanford University.