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.

Nicholas Gonzalez Managing Associate

Los Angeles

At Orrick, Nick's practice focuses on tackling novel legal issues affecting leading technology companies and financial institutions—whether by offering pre-litigation counsel, or by developing winning arguments in trial and appellate courts nationwide.

Before joining Orrick, Nick clerked for the Honorable Michelle T. Friedland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Jon S. Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. During law school, Nick was a member of the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, where he co-drafted merits-stage briefs in Holguin-Hernandez v. United States (2020) and Seila v. CFPB (2020), and co-drafted the successful certiorari petition in Lange v. California (2021).

Baptiste Tanchoux Associate

Paris

From Orrick Paris Tech Studio, Baptiste blends a strategic legal mindset with deep enthusiasm for technology, empowering startups and investors to navigate complex legal landscapes.

Baptiste advises founders, tech companies and venture capital investors on various aspects of their growth journey, including fundraisings, corporate governance matters, employee incentive plans and M&A transactions.

Mark Franke Of Counsel

New York; Boston

Recognized as a rising star by Super Lawyers and the Legal 500, the market has increasingly turned to Mark for advice on matters across a variety of industries, including aviation, shipping, oil & gas, chemicals, renewable energy, digital assets, agriculture & farming, construction & engineering, telecommunications, sports, commercial real estate, entertainment and leisure, and digital and traditional media.

Mark is highly practical, placing emphasis on commercial solutions to disputes while also at home in contentious litigation and contested motion practice. He thrives in contexts that require engineering creative approaches to problems involving multiple players with competing interests. In all things, he prioritizes relational and intellectual integrity with his colleagues and adversaries.

Gil Shefer Senior Associate

San Francisco

He advises developers and sponsors operating in the energy sector on a wide variety of matters, including tax equity financings, energy storage acquisitions, power purchase and sale agreements, and EPC and supply agreements. Prior to joining Orrick, Gil worked as an economic consultant for the World Bank in their Kigali, Rwanda, office.

Diana M. Rutowski Partner

Silicon Valley

As a seasoned IP litigator and counselor, Diana’s practice has run the gamut from high stakes trials, to take-down and anti-counterfeiting campaigns, to employee departure and trade secret investigations. She represents clients in District and state courts and before administrative bodies including the ITC and the USPTO. For example, Diana tried and won a complex case in which the other side sought to extend the monopoly of an expired utility patent by claiming trade dress rights in a technical product feature. Drawing upon experience handling both complex patent and trademark matters, her team successfully argued that the intersection of patent and trademark policy prevented the other side from continuing its monopoly, clearing the way for her client to enter the market. With Diana at their side, companies can rest assured that their essential assets are protected, from their core technologies, to assets including their company name, logo, and website.

While at Orrick, Diana was seconded to the City and County of San Francisco, where she had the privilege to serve as an Assistant District Attorney, and first-chair several trials. She was also seconded to Salesforce, where she learned first-hand that the law comprises just one component of a company’s overall business strategy.

Diana is also passionate about her pro bono work. For example, she represented two detainees in Guantanamo in connection with their petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, and she is currently working with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining the firm, Diana worked for the Legal Aid of Cambodia where she assisted with the prosecution of former Khmer Rouge officials and represented individuals who sought to reclaim land rights.

Diana is a member of the International Trademark Association, of ChIPs: Advancing Women in IP and of the Harvard Club of San Francisco.

Alyssa Barnard-Yanni Senior Associate

New York

Her litigation work spans a wide range of subject areas, from complex commercial litigation to white collar criminal defense.  

At the trial level, Alyssa has drafted innumerable dispositive and evidentiary motions, served on criminal defense teams representing individual defendants from indictment through sentencing, and argued in both state and federal trial court.  At the appellate level, Alyssa has drafted filings of every stripe--writs of mandamus, petitions for discretionary review, amicus briefs, and of course merits appeals--and presented argument in state and federal courts of appeals.  Alyssa also advises clients on thorny issues outside of litigation, ranging from drafting white papers advocating against criminal charges to brainstorming ways to terminate a licensing agreement, and more.

Alyssa maintains an active pro bono practice focusing primarily on criminal law matters.  She recently secured reversal of an attempted robbery conviction based on insufficient evidence in the New York Appellate Division.  She has represented defendants in state-court appeals and petitioners for habeas relief in federal court; drafted cert- and merits-stage amicus briefs in the Supreme Court case Quarles v. United States; and co-drafted an amicus brief to the Second Circuit urging that failure to advise naturalized citizens of the denaturalization risks of a plea violates the Sixth Amendment.

Alyssa served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the October 2019 Term. Before that, she clerked for Judge Alison J. Nathan on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Robert A. Katzmann on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Audrey Schricker Senior Associate

Seattle

Audrey advises a broad range of companies and investors on: buyout mergers and acquisitions, growth equity investments, reorganizations, joint ventures, and governance matters. Audrey’s practice focuses on advising clients in the energy, technology, and healthcare sectors. Audrey brings client-focused innovation and creativity to M&A transactions, developing tailored solutions to clients operating within the transforming energy and healthcare ecosystem and emerging climate tech industry.

Orion Mountainspring Partner

New York

Orion’s practice has a special focus on representing warehouse lenders and borrowers, forward flow and static pool loan purchasers, as well as issuers, underwriters, and investors in designing bespoke financial transactions in the capital markets.

He covers public and private conduit and term transactions backed by structured asset classes. These encompass a diverse array of financial instruments, ranging from consumer loans and residential mortgages to commercial mortgages, student loans, solar loans, marketplace lending, auto loans, credit cards, shipping, and municipal bonds.

Notably, Orion has structured creative solar securitization programs, underscoring his commitment to innovative solutions within the industry.

Before joining Orrick, Orion was a partner in Chapman and Cutler's Asset Securitization Department. Earlier in his career, he spent time at a major investment bank and was an analyst at one of the top three rating agencies.

Isaac Sawlih Behnawa Managing Associate

Los Angeles

Isaac draws upon his technical background in contextualizing complex issues into the elements of legal claims. He has represented some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies in cases involving technologies including video-on-demand, tax depreciation and deferred tax software, and gaming systems. He also has assisted in prosecuting several patents, has advised on AI-related business strategy, and has worked on cases involving patented designs, false advertising, unfair competition, computer hacking, and securities fraud.

Prior to joining Orrick, Isaac served in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army National Guard.

Isaac is also an enthusiastic participant in Orrick's pro bono efforts. He has drafted international law memoranda, assisted in various civil rights litigation efforts for large pro-bono clients, analyzed noteworthy qualified immunity decisions to determine whether an appeal is necessary, and helped refugees with immigration paperwork.

Delia Bennett Associate

New York

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.