People

Keith A. Tidwell Of Counsel

San Francisco

His practice focuses on the representation of both public and private companies in connection with employee benefits and compensation-related aspects of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, and initial public offerings.

Keith also advises on the design, administration and implementation of executive compensation and equity compensation arrangements, including severance arrangements and executive employment agreements.

Prior to joining Orrick, Keith was an attorney-advisor to the Honorable Joseph R. Goeke on the United States Tax Court in Washington, D.C.

Ramin Tohidi Partner

Silicon Valley

Ramin helps clients maximize their intellectual property and technology portfolios in a variety of ways, including drafting, negotiating, and advising on development, production, supply, procurement, and other technology licensing arrangements. He represents both mature and emerging companies in a variety of industries, including in SaaS, software, AI, hardware, information technology, business process outsourcing, enterprise resource planning, and data intelligence.

Ramin also counsels companies in developing artificial intelligence (AI) policies and deploying AI tools, and he also advises clients on open-source licensing and intellectual property issues in connection with mergers, acquisitions, and financing transactions.

According to Chambers USA, Ramin is “an excellent, practical, client- and business-oriented tech transactions attorney”, and “someone clients can work with as a tech expert, a business confidant and, of course, a legal expert." Chambers USA ranked him as an Up and Coming Partner, and Legal 500 ranks him as a Rising Star in 2021 and 2022 for Technology: Transactions.

Julie Totten Partner

Sacramento; San Francisco

In doing so, Julie closely collaborates with each client, gathering an in-depth understanding of their specific tensions, challenges and objectives. Legal 500 noted she “truly understands corporate politics and works with in-house counsel to understand the intersections of legal advice and business objectives.” Julie then draws upon nearly three decades of experience to guide clients towards the best possible resolution. Her client-focused approach is one of many reasons she was selected to lead Orrick’s global employment practice, which Chambers ranks as one of the country’s foremost practices and describes Julie as “a big thinker and a thought leader.”

Julie has experience defending both class actions and individual plaintiff cases. She has successfully defended clients in trial and arbitration and helps clients with all types of employment matters, including complex wage-and-hour class, collective and representative actions; pay equity and promotion cases; whistleblower retaliation actions, discrimination, harassment and retaliation litigation and trade secret and non-compete matters. She also guides clients through systemic government investigations and audits. Julie is proactive in helping clients avoid litigation by assisting them with the development of policies and practices designed to minimize exposure, including advice and counselling work in the areas of AI and DEI in selection and recruiting.

Julie is honored to be a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment and a member of the American Employment Law Council. She also served as a Council Member of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.

Robert L. Uriarte Partner

Silicon Valley; Los Angeles

Robert is a technology litigator and trial lawyer focused on software, security technology, and emerging internet law and digital crimes issues.   Robert has helped establish landmark precedent under the Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,  California Penal Code 502, and Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and he has successfully tried multiple cases to verdict, including under the Patent Act.  In addition to litigation work, Robert also counsels companies ranging from market leaders to start-ups on issues related to intellectual property, security, and incident response.  Robert brings a creative, business-oriented approach to helping clients develop, acquire, and protect their most important assets. 

Robert is committed to improving diversity in the legal profession. He co-chaired Orrick's Silicon Valley Diversity Committee for many years and is one of the firm-wide facilitators for Orrick’s Latinx Inclusion Network.  Robert is also committed to pro bono work.  He received Orrick's Pro Bono Award in 2019 and the Legal Aid Association of California's 2015 Family Law Pro Bono Award.  Robert currently serves as a member the board of directors for the San Mateo County Legal Aid Society. 

Robert served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger in the Eastern District of California prior to commencing private practice.

Amy Van Zant Partner

Silicon Valley

For her litigation practice, Amy’s ability to distill the most complicated technology across an array of fields, including telecommunications, semiconductor manufacturing, renewable energy, cloud computing, and big data, into relatable, every day concepts that has made her successful in persuading judges and juries alike. She has led trial teams, litigated, and tried cases in state court in California, numerous District Courts, the International Trade Commission, and has briefed appeals before the 9th Circuit, the Federal Circuit, the Supreme Court of California, and the United States Supreme Court. 

Whether litigating patent, trade secret, or IP contract disputes, Amy strives to put herself in her client’s shoes to ensure personalized results tailored to each client’s business objectives. As SAP’s General Counsel Landon Edmond commented to Acritas, Amy “has acquired a great knowledge of our business, and therefore you know you can trust her in a wide variety of topics and to get the right colleagues within her firm involved across the globe.”

Amy also provides comprehensive IP counseling on issues including trade secrets protection, employee departure investigations, freedom to operate analysis, licensing strategies, data privacy protection, and regulatory compliance. She has also conducted comprehensive patent portfolio reviews and assisted with IP corporate transactions.

In addition to her IP work, Amy devotes significant time to her pro bono work. For more than a decade, she has assisted domestic violence victims, as well as led Orrick’s Bay Area summer program that enables law clerks to be certified to argue in Family Court to obtain Temporary Restraining Orders for domestic violence clients.

Albert Vanderlaan Partner

Boston

Albert is involved in a broad range of corporate legal engagements for high growth technology companies, including IPOs, follow-on public offerings, private and public company securities law compliance matters, public company disclosure obligations, venture financings, mergers and acquisitions,  de-SPAC transactions and SPAC IPOs. He also regularly advises public and private companies and their boards of directors on corporate governance issues.

Albert's clients include public and private companies in technology, energy, automotive, Internet related industries, real estate, finance and the life sciences (including, among others, immuno-oncology, gene therapy, restorative cell therapy and medical device companies). He also represents underwriters in initial public offerings, follow-on offerings and PIPE offerings and venture capital firms in a variety of investment transactions.

Albert was named to the Deal’s Top Rising Stars 2021 list, which recognizes top new partners at U.S. law firms who are “doing spectacular work in the field of deal-making and who have continued to progress in their career despite the obstacles put in front of them.”

Rebecca Vastola Managing Associate

San Francisco

Rebecca is an Associate in the San Francisco office of Orrick’s Technology Companies Group. She advises her clients on key legal issues and obstacles, including negotiating investment terms and structuring deals, maintaining good corporate governance practices, navigating employee and contractor equity, and preparing for exit.

Stephen Venuto Partner

Silicon Valley; San Francisco

The Daily Journal has named Stephen one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California (chosen regardless of specialty). Stephen was Facebook’s first lawyer and has advised many other leading companies at critical stages of their lifecycles including Anthropic AI, Asana, Instagram, Pinterest, Warby Parker and WETA Digital.

Stephen cares about the teams he counsels and thrives on providing practical business advice. When The American Lawyer named Stephen “Dealmaker of the Year”, it recognized his corporate work and representation of Instagram in its sale to Facebook and quoted a prominent Instagram board member as saying that he “is an outstanding lawyer, but he’s also an outstanding business partner . . . someone who cares about everybody [who's] involved in a company.” In addition to naming Stephen to its list of Top 100 Lawyers in California, The Daily Journal has named him to its Top Emerging Companies Lawyers list, and Chambers and Partners has recognized and ranked Stephen in two separate categories for several consecutive years.

Numerous standout technology companies and their founders have turned to Stephen for corporate representation at all stages of their life-cycles. Most of his counseling is with technology disruptive clients in fast-growth fields such as artificial intelligence, information technology, metaverse, fin-tech, SaaS, gaming, media and entertainment. His recent prominent counseling includes companies in the artificial intelligence,  metaverse and gaming spaces. For example he recently advised WETA Digital in its metaverse and gaming related asset sale to Unity Software (for $1.6 billion)  and has advised Anthropic AI from formation through each of its financings.

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.

Ashley Walter Partner & Chief Sustainability Officer

Seattle

As Orrick’s Chief Sustainability Officer, he also oversees Orrick's strategic sustainability initiatives. Ashley focuses on developing innovative methods of supporting clients in achieving ESG objectives, including designing novel systems to manage supply chain risk; forming and guiding management-level ESG Steering Committees; and helping clients address the ESG requirements of major customers by engaging with those customers on our clients’ behalf.

Ashley is a co-founder and past chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section, has co-chaired the Practising Law Institute's annual ESG program for the last four years, and is heavily involved in ESG initiatives at Stanford Law School, where has served as a moderator at the Stanford Directors' College, has lectured on ESG at business law courses, has taught the course “Corporate Social Responsibility,” and will be teaching the course “Law and Governance in ESG Strategy” in the spring of 2025. Prior to Orrick, Ashley founded the corporate social responsibility practice at a Silicon Valley-based law firm.

How I help clients:

• Customer ESG Engagement: Engaging with clients’ major customers in response to ESG inquiries or requirements
• Supply Chain Risk: Developing responsible sourcing systems for high-risk supply chains
• ESG Goal Management: Advice regarding retaining, modifying or withdrawing ESG goals
• ESG Steering Committees: Forming and guiding management-level ESG Steering Committees
• ESG Due Diligence: Conducting ESG due diligence with a focus on post-closing program building
• Quarterbacking Compliance: Creating and advancing a project plan for regulatory compliance, including working with third-party consultants

Xiang Wang Partner

Beijing; New York

Xiang is a Guiding Expert of the China Overseas IP Dispute Response & Guidance Center.

He also serves several consultancy roles for local regulatory authorities, including as IP Guiding Expert of Shenzhen IP Protection Center; IP Guiding Expert of Zhejiang Province IP Protection Center; IP Consultant of Technology Innovation Bureau of Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Management Committee (Jiangsu Province); Expert of IP Dispute Investigation and Appraisal of Foshan Market Supervision and Administration Bureau (Guangdong Province); and Expert for Overseas IP Protection and Assistance of Foshan Intellectual Property Bureau (Guangdong Province).

Dr. Wang is an arbitrator of Beijing Arbitration Commission and Beijing International Arbitration Center.

Xiang has extensive experience in assisting local and foreign-based multinational companies with all aspects of their IP rights in the U.S. and China, including IP litigation and arbitration, patent infringement, industrial espionage, trade secret misappropriation, copyright and trademark infringement, ITC Sec. 337 investigations, patent office proceedings including inter partes reviews (IPR), IP due diligence and portfolio counseling, technology export control, mass torts and product liability, securities litigation, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other investigations and compliance. These matters have implicated a vast array of technologies, from software and electronics to renewable energy and medical devices as well as agricultural and building materials, to name just a few.

Xiang also works extensively on cybersecurity investigations and data privacy compliance matters for both Chinese and international clients.

Xiang has been particularly active in Chinese state-owned enterprises related U.S. litigation. Clients turn to his strategic and innovative advice thanks to his in-depth understanding of their business needs and political risks. Clients appreciate that he “understood the environment in the China legal system and can give nuanced advice”.

Xiang has developed the region’s premier IP practice based on his reputation as one of the few IP lawyers who has a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering, a Juris Doctor, a Chinese Certificate of Laws, and admission to practice law in New York, Indiana and before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Due to its success in patent disputes in the United States and China, involving both foreign and Chinese companies, Orrick IP team was exclusively featured in a documentary film “Patent Wars” by the China Central Television (CCTV).

Xiang is highly regarded for his practical legal advice that results from more than ten years of experience at medical and electronic device businesses before becoming a lawyer. He also has received four U.S. medical-technology patents in his name.

Montana Ware Senior Associate

Austin

Montana primarily represents emerging growth companies, venture capital funds and other strategic investors in a wide array of corporate matters, including early and late-stage venture funding rounds, formation and corporate governance, securities issuances and mergers and acquisitions.

Select engagements Montana has advised on include:

• Represented Stripe in its $6.5 billion Series I round
• Represented Solugen in its $350 million Series C and $200 million Series D financings
• Represented Merama in its $225 million Series B and $80 million Series B follow-on financings
• Represented Next Insurance in its $250 million Series C financing, $250 million Series D financing and $250 million Series E financing
• Represented Coatue Management in its investment in the $100 million Series B financing of Mercury Technologies
• Represented D1 Capital Partners in its investment in the $450 million Series D financing of Andruil
• Represented Inspire Semiconductor in its $2.5 million Series A financing and acquisition of Greenfield Acquisition (TSX:GAC.P), a publicly-traded SPAC, by way of a reverse merger
• Represented Codecademy in its $525 million acquisition by SkillSoft (NYS: SKIL), a New Hampshire based provider of educational software
• Represented Envisics in its $50 million Series C financing
• Represented Supabase in its $30 million Series A and $80 million Series B financings
• Represented Coatue Management in its $17 million investment in LiveControl
• Represented a Brazilian digital entrepreneurship platform in its Series A financing
• Represented a cloud software company in its Series C investment in an enterprise blockchain company
• Represented a talent management software provider in multiple financings
• Represented a cloud software company in its $30 million Series B investment in an open source SQL database
• Represented the investment arm of a global financial services company in its Series A investment in an intelligence platform using AI and predictive modeling
• Represented the venture financing division of a large insurance company in its participation in the $29 million Series E financing of an insurance claims technology provider
• Represented a voice-controlled mobile platform in its $20 million Series C financing
• Represented the venture financing division of a large technology company in its Series C investment in an application traffic manager
• Represented Calibrate Ventures in its investment in the $20 million Series A financing of GrayMatter
• Represented Coatue Management in its investment in the $35 million Series B financing of Crivello Technologies
• Represented Fintual, a Chile based company that provides savings and investment options through an online platform, in its $39 million Series B financing
• Represented Flex Capital in its investment in the $23 million Series A financing of GoFreight Inc.
• Represented InsideSherpa in its $25 million Series B financing
• Represented Gym Class in its $8 million Series Seed financing
• Represented Keen Technologies, an AI startup, in its financing
• Represented Radiant in its $12.6 million Series A financing
• Represented Red Sea Ventures in its investment in the $25 million Series A financing of Accrue Savings, Inc.

*Please note: Montana’s experience includes that prior to joining Orrick.