Dr. Odey Hardan Associate

Düsseldorf

Prior to joining Orrick, Odey served as a research assistant to a distinguished chair focusing on European law, where he authored several academic papers. Throughout his doctoral studies, he delved deeply into the intricate realms of European, international, and data protection law.

Additionally, Odey contributed to significant legal opinions and gained practical experience by supporting the representation of the German Federal Government in pivotal cases before the Federal Constitutional Court, including the proceedings on the European Patent Convention, CETA and the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

Before starting his legal practice, he also worked as a research assistant for an international UK-headquartered law firm.

Rebecca James Managing Associate

London

Rebecca has worked with regulated companies and financial institutions on, among other things, authorisation, outsourcing, systems and controls, payment services, e-money, consumer credit and anti-money laundering regulations. Her clients include retail and wholesale businesses across the financial services sector.

Rebecca has a passion for Fintech and has experience working with clients in the Fintech space. In particular, she has provided advice on crypto assets to e-money platforms, exchanges and firms looking to launch token offerings, including initial coin offerings, security token offerings, initial exchange offerings and NFTs.

Andrew Cook Partner

Washington, D.C.; Seattle

Andy combines his legal expertise in numerous areas of law covered by state Attorneys General, an understanding of how state AG offices operate, and vast knowledge of legal and regulatory issues facing his clients. This substantive and comprehensive legal approach is crucial to effectively representing clients before state Attorneys General.  Andy also has substantial experience drafting and enacting complex civil liability reforms before state legislatures to successfully address client goals.

Andy’s main practice focuses on advising Fortune 500 companies before state Attorneys General in the areas of antitrust, consumer protection, False Claims Act, environmental law, and cybersecurity and data privacy. Andy, in collaboration with a team of attorneys, successfully navigated a client through antitrust regulatory review by state Attorneys General in one of the nation’s largest mergers of two major telecommunication companies. Andy also worked with a team of lawyers representing a large corporation involving the multistate opioids litigation brought by state Attorneys General.

Andy gained valuable experience serving as Deputy Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin where he was the second in command of the 700-plus state agency. In his role as Chief Deputy Attorney General, Andy oversaw the day-to-day operations at the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ); directed the State’s litigation strategy; negotiated, reviewed, and approved all settlements; drafted and reviewed attorney general opinions; managed the agency’s budget; oversaw civil and criminal investigations handled by DOJ; and managed DOJ’s legislative agenda.

Andy played college hockey and remains active by running, cross country skiing, and playing golf. On the weekends, Andy and his wife enjoy watching their kids’ sporting events, including soccer, baseball, gymnastics, and track. In his rare spare time, Andy reads history books.

Lorraine McGowen Partner

New York

Lorraine brings 30+ years of legal experience in bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, sovereign debt restructurings and creditors' rights controversies. She interfaces with auditors, government regulators, investment bankers and others, and develops and implements mediation and litigation strategies, and negotiates reorganization plans and complex corporate and finance documents. She also regularly provides commercial law and bankruptcy advice in connection with securitization, M&A, energy & infrastructure and general corporate transactions.

Lorraine has represented various stakeholders in bankruptcies, workouts, distressed debt transactions, sovereign debt restructurings, bankruptcy litigation, derivatives, and distressed acquisition matters such as Suriname, Belize, Puerto Rico, Takata Corporation, Windstream, GTT, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Lehman, MF Global, Indiana Toll Road, Chemtura Corporation, Tronox Incorporated, South Bay Expressway, American Dream School, Detroit, General Motors, and Stone & Webster.

Lorraine is a member of Orrick's Management Committee and is Partner in Charge of its global Inclusion & Belonging Initiatives. She previously served two terms on the firm’s 11-member Board of Directors and also previously chaired its Restructuring Group.

As a leading Inclusion & Belonging advocate, Lorraine creates programs for the legal profession and the community. She was selected as a 2019 Rainmaker by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and as one of Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers for 2022, 2018 and 2015 and received Legal Outreach’s Pipeline to Diversity 2017 Champion Award and the New York City Bar Association Diversity and Inclusion 2012 Champion Award. IFLR1000 Rankings named Lorraine a leading lawyer in the U.S. She was selected by Direct Women to be a 2016 Board Institute member. She is a frequent speaker and author on bankruptcy and insolvency and diversity and inclusion.

Among her community involvement, she is a former Vice President and Board Member of the New York City Bar Association and currently co-chairs the City Bar's Digital Assets Task Force. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession and the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, where she is chair of the board, and on the Advisory Committees for Legal Outreach and the Vance Center for International Justice of the City Bar, where she serves as co-chair of the Advisory Committee of the Vance Center.

Matthew D. LaBrie Partner

Boston; San Francisco

In his commercial litigation practice, Matthew represents clients in federal and state court at the trial and appellate levels.  While Matthew routinely assists clients at all stages of the litigation process, through motions practice, discovery, witness preparation, and trial, he has a particular focus on class action defense.  Matthew's litigation experience is broad, including data security litigation, commercial and contractual disputes in all industries, shareholder derivative litigation, and class action defense, as well as commercial arbitration.  His current engagements include representation of clients facing consumer class actions arising out of a data breach of the MOVEit file transfer software; a social media company facing consumer class actions arising out of a data breach; the University of Washington in a pandemic-related class action seeking refunds of tuition and fees on behalf of students; and a series of litigations over the ownership and control of a social media company.  

In his cybersecurity practice, Matthew counsels clients across the globe through all stages of a privacy or data security incident, navigating the relevant legal regimes, managing the response to and investigation of an incident, and handling any litigation or regulatory investigation resulting from the incident.  Matthew spent a year based in Orrick's London office developing and coordinating Orrick's worldwide data breach incident response and litigation capabilities.

Matthew maintains an active pro bono practice. He has assisted individual clients with family law matters, advocated on behalf of veterans' and immigrants' rights, and represented human trafficking survivors in a series of federal cases.

Haley Flora Managing Associate

Silicon Valley

Haley Flora's practice is focused on her client's transactional technology and intellectual property needs. Haley represents clients at all stages of their life cycles and in a variety of technology and science-driven industries, including cleantech, SaaS, gaming, energy, hardware, entertainment, Internet, media, semiconductor and media. Haley has experience drafting and negotiating commercial, licensing and other intellectual property and technology agreements. She also assists clients with intellectual property issues in connection with a range of large commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments.

Haley grew up in Portland, Oregon and is passionate about zero emissions technologies. Prior to joining Orrick, Haley was an associate in the IP and Technology Transactions Group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

Alexis Marraud des Grottes Partner

Paris

Recommended by Legal 500 EMEA in Mergers & Acquisitions, Alexis is key counsel to French and international listed and non-listed companies, private equity and hedge funds, managers, boards and families.

He advises on investments and divestments, securities issues, cross-border and complex transactions, strategic negotiations and sensitive litigation. He is "one of the best players in the market" (Legal 500) and is an authority on issues related to governance, restructuring, as well as on shareholder activism.

Alexis has advised many world leading companies, including:  Herige in the sale of its trading branch (materials, public works and natural stones) to Samse, BAE Systems in the acquisition of Eurostep, Alcentra and Fidera in their investment in Pierre & Vacances, Air France-KLM in its relations with KLM and the Dutch State, Veolia on the acquisition of Suez, LVMH in the acquisition of Tiffany, Euro Disney regarding the tender offer of The Walt Disney Company, L’Oréal on a share buyback from Swiss-based Nestlé and a sale to Nestlé of its stake in Galderma, and Club Med on the tender offer by Chinese conglomerate Fosun. He has also advised Oeneo in connection with the tender offer of its controlling shareholder, Naturex in connection with a takeover bid by Givaudan, the board of directors of Zodiac in relation to its merger with Safran, and Metrovacesa sale of its stake in Gecina. He additionally deals with issues related to token and crypto-currency and crypto-assets issues, including structuring and setting up issuing entities and related services.

Alexis regularly publishes and intervenes in conferences and provides training on capital market, governance and M&A and he regularly lectures at the business school EM Lyon and Paris Dauphine University. He has been a member of several working groups, including the working group on public offers of the Legal High Committee for Financial Markets of Paris. The French Financial Market Authority (Autorité des marches financiers - AMF) has invited Alexis to join its consultative Commission on Disclosures and Corporate Finance as a capital markets law specialist.

Dr. Christian Schröder Partner

Düsseldorf

Christian helps clients consider the privacy and artificial intelligence implications of new technology, supports their compliance programs, and helps them stay ahead of enforcement trends. One particular focus of his work deals with internal data transfer agreements, external data transfers with external providers, and product launches that comply with international data protection standards, as well as privacy requirements for connected cars. Furthermore, Christian provides guidance on privacy and data protection considerations for developing, acquiring, using, licensing and selling technology, data and intellectual property, including M&A transactions and IP focused joint ventures. He supports companies on the set-up of webshops, outsourcings, license agreements, in cases of trademark or unfair and deceptive trade practice issues, as well as on hard and software license and information technology (IT) project agreements.

Christian maintains strong working relationships with German data protection authorities and EU regulatory authorities with jurisdiction over privacy and data security matters. He effectively defends companies in cybersecurity and privacy-related investigations initiated by EU regulatory authorities. He also engages with authorities on behalf of clients and helps clients avoid proceedings and possible litigation. When litigation can't be avoided, Christian vigorously defends his clients.

For companies facing global cybersecurity incidents, Christian helps with crisis mitigation, including counseling on notification requirements, coordinating media strategies, and representing clients before data protection authorities in related regulatory investigations.

Christian regularly contributes practical thought leadership to global privacy industry publications and German privacy books and journals. Christian authors the Chapter V (international data transfers) of Germany’s leading GDPR commentary Kühling/Buchner (4th ed.) and is co-author to the Corporate Privacy Handbook (Betrieblicher Datenschutz). As an active member of the Sedona Conference, Christian drives the development and understanding of cross border privacy. He also participates in, hosts and moderates speaking programs with fellow private practitioners, EU data protection authorities, and academics focused on privacy and data security. Legal 500 Germany named Christian one of the top 15 practitioners in 2023 and noted that he is "a pioneer in the legal field, a data protection guru." They also recognized Christian and Orrick as "truly global" and how that it is "vital as they require the various leaders of each region to participate and bring issues to the table as a forum".

Prior to working in private practice, Christian interned with the German Federal Data Protection Commissioner and www.epic.org.

Taylor Ranfos Associate

Boston

Taylor represents clients at all stages of their life cycles and in a variety of technology and science-driven industries, including cleantech, SaaS, gaming, energy, hardware, entertainment, Internet, media, semiconductor and media.

Taylor has experience drafting commercial, licensing and other intellectual property and technology agreements. She also assists clients with intellectual property issues in connection with a range of large commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments

Vanessa Liborio Partner

Geneva

Vanessa is “a leading arbitration practitioner…well known for her consistently excellent dispute resolution work” (Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration), and acts as counsel in international arbitration proceedings before the ICC, LCIA, the Swiss Arbitration Centre and other international fora and subject to a variety of procedural and substantive laws (including English, French, Italian, Qatari, New York, Mexican, Swiss and Tunisian law). Vanessa's experience spans a variety of industries including construction, life sciences, food and beverages, financial services, insurance and aviation. Most recently, Vanessa has conducted an arbitration on behalf of a sub-contractor involved in the construction of part of an international airport and was successful in representing a Swiss not-for-profit foundation supporting advanced clinical research in rare pediatric diseases. 

Described by clients as an "excellent" lawyer who delivers "very high-quality legal services" (Legal 500), Vanessa has also represented parties in setting aside proceedings before the Swiss Supreme Court and regularly acts as party-appointed arbitrator, sole arbitrator of chair in arbitrations worldwide.

Vanessa serves as a member of the ICC's Commission on Arbitration & ADR and in addition to her activities in the field of arbitration, Vanessa advises on export control regulations and economic sanctions administered by the U.S., the European Union and Switzerland, including matters relating to customs regulations, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, anti-money laundering rules and anti-boycott requirements and regularly provides advice to clients on Swiss substantive law, particularly in contract law.

Prior to joining Orrick, Vanessa practiced for Swiss and international firms based in Geneva and Miami.

Craig Bruce Senior Associate

London

Craig has a wide range of experience advising developers, funders and contractors on the construction and operation aspects of domestic and international energy projects including wind (offshore and onshore), solar, battery storage, energy from waste, anaerobic digestion and nuclear.

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