People

Michelle (McGann) MacGregor Senior Strategist

Washington, D.C.

Before joining Orrick, Michelle gained broad experience working with elected leadership at the federal and state government levels. Most recently as Executive Director of the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee, Michelle was responsible for advancing the Committee’s objectives of providing financial support, leadership development, and strategic assistance to lawmakers nationwide. In her previous leadership positions at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, Michelle reported directly to Senate and House leadership and was tasked with advancing their objectives by evaluating and managing the nexus of policy initiatives and political impact.

Michelle is a graduate of Amherst College, where she received a B.A. in Political Science.

Ali Abugheida Partner

San Francisco

Prior to joining Orrick, Ali was a partner at Buckley LLP. He began his career at WilmerHale, where his practice included litigation and government enforcement matters.

Charles Adams Partner

Geneva

Charles’s experience spans four decades at the highest levels of international dispute-resolution; he has acted in more than 300 arbitral proceedings under various governing laws and under the rules of almost all arbitral institutions in fora all over the world, most frequently as lead counsel, but also on occasion as chairman or co-arbitrator on tribunals in high-stakes cases.

His experience includes disputes in engineering and construction, energy and infrastructure, mining, transportation, telecommunications, life sciences and biotech, intellectual property and franchising and distribution, among many other fields of commercial or industrial endeavor. He has conducted commercial and investor-state arbitrations under the auspices of ICSID, the ICC, ICDR/AAA, LCIA, DIAC, SCC, SAC and SIAC. Charles also advises on export control regulations and economic sanctions administered by the U.S. and the European Union, including matters relating to customs regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, anti-money laundering rules and anti-boycott requirements.

For more than 10 years Charles was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), and he has served on the Board of Advisors of the NGO End Human Trafficking Now and as a guest lecturer at the UN’s International Development Law Organization. Charles frequently appears on Francophone television channels (TF1, LCI, TV5 Monde, Télévision Suisse Romande), as a commentator on political, economic and cultural matters.

Neetu Ahlawat Associate

London

Neetu’s practice encompasses merger control and foreign direct investment, having represented clients in several big-ticket cases requiring complex remedies. She provides guidance on compliance and conducts a range of behavioural investigations for clients across multiple sectors.

Before joining Orrick, Neetu was part of the top-tier competition practice at one of India's largest law firms.

Vedika Ahlgren Director of Orrick Labs

Boston

Vedika has devoted her career to improving the delivery of legal services. She leads Orrick Labs, the firm's skunkworks, where custom legal solutions are designed and developed for clients and lawyers of the firm. She is trained and skilled in legal operations and technology and frequently applies Six Sigma principles to projects.

Using her background as an attorney and experience in managing high-impact projects across a variety of legal operational challenges, Vedika is a trusted advisor to our clients and regularly consults on solutions for contract lifecycle management, document and workflow automation, process improvement, knowledge management, data analysis, AI, and other issues that are top of mind for the industry.

Vedika also supports practice innovation efforts across the firm, including strategy and implementation of legal technologies for lawyers, re-engineering practice groups, and driving and influencing change in how firmwide resources execute on service delivery. Her efforts ensure that a commitment to creative problem-solving and human-centered design are leveraged across internal and external solutions alike, positioning the firm’s clients to excel at supporting their businesses, and the firm to remain on the leading-edge of innovation.

In 2020, Vedika was listed to the Changing Lawyer Awards, and in 2023 she was awarded the Graduate of the Last Decade award by her alma mater, Suffolk University Law School.

Natasha Ahmed Partner

London

Before moving into private practice, Natasha spent five years in the in-house legal team of a global brand management company. Since moving into private practice, she has spent time as deputy general counsel on secondment to a global data and insights company.

Marvin Noussayaba Ambi Aideyan Associate

Munich

His practice focuses on providing ongoing advice to national and international clients in connection with corporate governance and stock corporation law, liability, and structural measures as well as complex (cross-border) transactions.

In addition, Marvin Aideyan assists his clients with sustainability reporting and ESG issues, including European CSRD.

Prior to joining Orrick, he worked as a research assistant and trainee lawyer for a leading German law firm and a leading global chemical company.

Helen Aki Senior Associate

San Francisco

She advises sponsors, investors and buyers in the renewable energy sector on all stages of a project, from drafting and negotiating offtake, procurement and construction contracts to coordinating debt, tax equity and preferred equity financing, as well as facilitating tax credit transfer structures, joint venture arrangements, and project acquisitions and sales.

Helen takes a collaborative approach to help clients build consensus and manage stakeholders across an increasingly complicated capital stack to close the deal. She understands both the legal and business challenges of the energy transition from a variety of perspectives, including through direct experience on secondment to the project finance group of a major U.S. renewable energy developer. 

As a law student, Helen worked as a summer legal intern in the Administrative Law Judge Division of the California Public Utilities Commission, as a senior business analyst with Pacific Gas and Electric Company and as a legal trainee at Positive Planet UK.

Before practicing law, she led programs with state and local governments and ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs to advance the adoption of clean technologies, including battery storage, virtual power plants, commercial and industrial lighting and advanced building control systems.

Ali Al-Khasawneh Of Counsel

Geneva; London

Ali has acted as counsel in arbitration proceedings under the ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA, Swiss, ICSID and DIAC rules in arbitrations seated in London, Paris, The Hague, Dubai, Madrid, Geneva, Zurich and Muscat, and governed by English, UAE, German, New York, Omani, Swiss, Saudi and Libyan laws. 

Ali serves as a member of the ICC's Commission on Arbitration & ADR and acts as arbitrator. Ali has also acted as tribunal secretary in arbitral proceedings under the ICC rules and Permanent Court of Arbitration administered arbitrations under the UNCITRAL rules.

Prior to joining Orrick, Ali was previously legal counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Ali also worked at an investment treaty arbitration specialist law firm in Paris and at the Dubai office of a leading international law firm.

Walter Alarkon Senior Associate

New York

He advises sponsors, debt providers and equity investors in financings and acquisitions of renewable power, conventional power, telecom and other infrastructure assets.  

As a 2021 Orrick Racial Justice Fellow, he served as in-house financing counsel for non-profit Common Future, helping structure the non-profit's novel Character-Based Lending Fund to provide capital to entrepreneurs in diverse communities. He has also counseled on a pro-bono basis social impact startups focused on healthcare and energy efficiency.

Prior to joining Orrick, Walter was a reporter for the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire and The Hill in Washington, D.C., and an editorial page contributor for The Boston Globe. He collaborated with authors on two books, “The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era,” by Michael Grunwald (Simon & Schuster, 2012), a New York Times bestseller and an Economist book of the year, and “Long Mile Home: Boston Under Attack, the City’s Courageous Recovery, and the Epic Hunt for Justice,” by Scott Helman and Jenna Russell (Penguin, 2014).

Jesse Paul Albani Senior Associate

San Francisco

Jesse regularly serves as bond counsel for multifamily housing, student housing and waste-to-energy facility financings. His recent experience includes the development and implementation of a successful tax-exempt financing program for the creation and preservation of affordable housing for middle-income families and individuals across California. In addition, Jesse frequently assists issuers, underwriters and developers with the structuring and financing of nonprofit and general governmental transactions throughout the United States.

Jesse also serves on the Board of Governors for The University of San Francisco School of Law.

William Alderman Senior Counsel

San Francisco

Bill is additionally recognized for the results he has obtained in insurance coverage, employee benefits, and federal and state antitrust disputes. He commits a substantial part of his time to pro bono representation and to representation of the firm.

Representing clients in class and derivative actions, Bill's approach is to minimize his clients’ overall cost through careful strategic planning, dispositive motions and aggressive negotiation. Only three of the many securities class actions he has defended have resulted in any settlement payment by his client or its carrier. Of his nearly 100 motions to dismiss securities class, mass or derivative actions since 1996, more than 90 percent were granted in their entirety (most with prejudice), while others were granted in part or led to a successful motion for summary judgment.