People

Rebecca Harlow Partner

San Francisco

Rebecca’s practice includes all aspects of class action and other civil litigation in areas including privacy and data security breach litigation and arbitration and insurance litigation. She has represented multiple companies in class action litigation involving claims by consumers, employees, and institutions relating to security, privacy, and other issues. She also advises clients facing insurance coverage disputes and arbitration of contractual disputes. She has defended litigation arising out of data breaches involving claims by consumers and financial institutions and class actions bringing wiretapping and other claims against companies relating to the use of online technologies and tools like cookies, pixels, and session replay software.

Rebecca has assisted multiple clients across several industries in seeking, obtaining, and disputing the denial of insurance coverage. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she has advised clients on insurance, contracting, and other unique issues that have arisen. Recently, Rebecca served as the senior associate in a fraud trial that was tried in-person during the height of the Omicron variant and settled after a week of trial. Rebecca’s pro bono practice focuses on immigration and civil rights issues.

Prior to joining Orrick, Rebecca was a litigation associate in the San Francisco office of another international law firm. She previously served as a pro bono fellow at Greater Boston Legal Services representing low-income clients in disputes over state cash and food assistance benefits.

James N. Kramer Partner

San Francisco; Silicon Valley

Recognized as a leader in Securities Litigation by Chambers USA, clients praise Jim as, “a spectacular relationship manager” and tell the publication, “Jim is one of the first people I will call to think through an issue. I would use him for any securities matters.” Jim is also regularly featured among Benchmark Litigation’s list of the nation’s Leading Litigators.

Jim is a frequent lecturer on securities and class action litigation and an editor for the Securities Reform Act Litigation Reporter. Jim is past chair of the Embarcadero YMCA Board of Managers and remains active in YMCA philanthropy. In his spare time, he enjoys time with his family and is a recreational long course triathlete.

David Rhinesmith Partner

Washington, D.C.

David represents clients in matters involving the False Claims Act (FCA), the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), federal securities laws, and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, among others. He has particular experience handling government investigations and complex civil litigation arising under state and federal false claims acts, including whistleblower-initiated FCA suits. His litigation experience includes oral argument before the First Circuit and state appellate courts, leading briefing in federal and state trial and appellate courts, and deposing senior government officials.  

David routinely leads internal investigations relating to a range of ethics, fraud and corruption issues, including bribery, corruption, accounting fraud, revenue recognition, embezzlement, and other misconduct. David also has extensive compliance experience. He served as Global Investigations & Compliance Counsel at a leading medical device company, and served as Counsel with the Legal Compliance & Investigations team at one of the world's largest technology companies (both client secondments). He played a key role in multiple DOJ- and SEC-appointed corporate compliance monitorships, as both counsel to the Monitor and helping clients successfully navigate monitorships. He routinely works with clients to develop and enhance their compliance programs.

David previously worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, serving as lead counsel in more than a dozen criminal and civil matters at all levels of federal and state court.  

David is the hiring partner for the Washington, D.C. office and partner in charge of Orrick's D.C. summer program. He serves as firm-wide staffing partner for his practice group and is a member of the practice's professional development committee. He is deeply committed to associate development and mentoring.

In 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 David was selected to the Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers Rising Stars list.

Amy Ross Chief Practice Officer Litigation and Litigation Counsel

San Francisco

As Chief Practice Officer of the Strategic Advisory & Government Enforcement Business Unit, which encompasses attorneys with litigation, regulatory, transactional and legislative policy backgrounds in 18 Orrick global markets, Amy advises on the strategic planning, operation and management of the Unit. Her responsibilities include oversight of the Unit's financial performance, advancement of the Unit’s strategic initiatives, business planning and execution.

Amy's practice focuses on the representation of public companies, directors and officers in securities class actions, SEC and DOJ investigations and enforcement actions and shareholder derivative actions. She has extensive experience in litigation involving compliance breaches of fiduciary duty and securities law violations, and she has conducted dozens of corporate investigations of all types all over the world. 

Amy has represented the following companies and/or individuals associated with the following companies: McKesson Corporation, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. and Olympus Corporation.

Michelle Visser Partner

San Francisco

Michelle’s dedication to these cutting-edge areas of the law and technology over the past 20 years has earned her recognition from Chambers for Privacy & Data Security Litigation and as an up-and-coming lawyer in Privacy & Data generally – where she is described as “equally capable in both compliance and enforcement elements of privacy regulation.”

As a litigator, Michelle is adept at developing novel legal arguments to protect clients in a world where innovation is outpacing regulation. She brings deep experience representing companies in regulatory investigations, data breach and privacy litigation involving the increasing web of statutes that pose statutory damages exposure to companies, such as the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), and the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), and other complex commercial claims. As a crisis manager, she also represents companies in incident response and enjoys working with diverse groups of stakeholders to mitigate business and reputational risks and achieve positive outcomes.

Michelle resides in California with her three children.

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.