Alessandro Vittoria Partner

Milan

His activity is mainly focused on advising startups, scale-ups and late-stage companies, funds and investors in a wide range of venture capital transactions, as well as in M&A and private equity transactions, across multiple industries including tech and deep tech, agri-tech and food, fintech, life sciences and digital health. At Orrick, Alessandro has been involved in several landmark transactions, including the first Euro 100 million investment round in Italy in Prima Assicurazioni, a USD 100 million Series C round in Everli and a Euro 320 million Series D Round in Satispay.

During his career, Alessandro has developed a very deep experience in public and private domestic and cross-border M&A and private equity transactions, joint ventures, sale of businesses and corporate reorganization in a broad range of industries. He has also developed significant skills in corporate advisory, also related to listed companies, and in commercial and real estate contracts (including construction contracts). He has also occasionally assisted SGRs in the formation of investment funds and the regulation of relationships among partners.

Alessandro joined Orrick in 2018. Previously he had worked with BonelliErede, in their Milan office. In 2006-2007, Alessandro had been a visiting lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, in New York .

Miranda Rowley Managing Associate

San Francisco

Miranda has experience defending clients in all stages of litigation on a broad range of employment law issues. She has significant experience regarding independent contractor misclassification matters, including both single plaintiff and class action litigation involving wage and hour claims, and representative actions under California's Private Attorneys General Act. Miranda also has particular expertise in defending clients in whistleblower retaliation cases.

In addition to her litigation practice, Miranda also counsels clients on California's complex employment laws.

Nikita Shah Partner

Austin; San Francisco

Niki advises entrepreneurs, senior in-house leadership, and investors of technology companies at all stages and across a broad range of industries, including consumer internet, enterprise software, AI, fintech, edtech, delivery, healthcare, retail, digital media and sharing economy.

Leveraging a unique professional background, Niki is a trusted advisor to founders and provides strategic insights as outside general counsel to startups, from pre-seed to exit.

Niki has advised companies and venture capital firms on over 150 transactions, including venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and secondary offerings, with an aggregate transaction value in excess of $20 billion.

Niki’s prior company-side representations include Yelp, DocuSign (IPO team), Blue Nile, Origin Materials, Orbus Therapeutics, Singularity Education Group, SmartRecruiters, and TravelBank, among others.

Niki has also represented leading venture capital firms and strategic investors, including a16z, Battery Ventures, General Catalyst, Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital, SVB Capital, Temasek and Founders Fund, among others.

Before joining Orrick, Niki served as the Associate General Counsel at MasterClass, where she provided legal and strategic counsel on corporate and equity matters, BD and strategic partnerships, product development, content and production, marketing, IP, and data privacy. Niki started her emerging companies and venture practice at Cooley LLP and advised startup companies in-house at Techstars.

David M. Ruff Partner

New York

David advises private equity funds, their portfolio companies and a broad range of public and private technology, energy and life sciences companies in domestic and cross-border M&A, minority and majority investments, joint ventures and other complex transactions.

Zachary Hennessee Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

Before joining the firm, Zachary served as a law clerk to Judge Cornelia Pillard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Zachary graduated first in his class from Duke University School of Law, where he served as a Notes Editor of the Duke Law Journal and an Executive Editor of the Environmental Law & Policy Forum. He also participated in the school’s Environmental Law & Policy Clinic and published two student notes. Zachary was a consultant for the Environmental Protection Agency before law school.

David Halperin Senior Advisor

Before attending law school, David served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1966-1970, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (U.S.N.R.) and serving from 1969-70 as a Special Assistant to Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, Commander of Naval Forces, Vietnam and later Chief of Naval Operations. From 1970-1971, he served as Personal Assistant to Dr. Henry Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. After law school, David joined Davis Polk & Wardell in New York from 1974-1976 before moving to the Hong Kong office of Coudert Brothers in 1976. He became a partner of Coudert Brothers in 1983 and joined the Hong Kong office of Orrick in 2005. 

Julia Wilson Associate

London

Julia often works on cases with a multijurisdictional focus and has represented clients from the UK, Italy, Canada and Mexico in disputes seated around the world. She has worked on arbitrations overseen by most of the major arbitral forums including ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL and governed by the laws of numerous countries, including England and Wales, US (New York) and Mozambique. She also acts for sovereign states in actions brought against them by private investors. Her practice represents clients in all stages of disputes – from pleadings to trial including advising in relation to alternative dispute resolution methods.

Julia has published articles on arbitration matters, including the upcoming reform to the English Arbitration Act 1996.

Jamie Evans Partner

Seattle

Jamie has comprehensive experience in capital markets transactions where he has represented issuers, underwriters and other parties in a variety of public and private offerings in the areas of equity and debt securities. He is particularly skilled at advising technology companies on their initial public offerings. Jamie has been part of some of the most well-known technology public offerings and has led or co-led offerings that have raised more than $40 billion of aggregate proceeds. In addition to his capital markets experience, Jamie advises on mergers and acquisitions, and related securities law issues. He also advises public and private companies in areas including, but not limited to compliance, SEC reporting and governance matters.

Chambers USA has ranked Jamie for his expertise in Capital Markets and noted that "He is a talented attorney. He is a technical lawyer and a go-to for big deals."

Jake Routhier Corporate Innovation Attorney

San Francisco

Jake also represents high growth technology companies in several areas, including corporate and securities law, formation, and venture capital financings.
Jake received his JD/MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton School of Business in 2018, where he received the Academic Excellence Fellowship. He is also a 2010 graduate of Dartmouth College and prior to attending law school worked at education startups in New York.

Andrew W. Miller Senior Associate

San Francisco

As a Senior Associate in Orrick’s Technology Companies Group, Andrew leverages his experience as a general counsel, operator and investor to guide clients through all stages from startup to exit. He is a trusted advisor on board governance, venture capital transactions, general employment and commercial matters, conflict resolution, mergers & acquisitions and public offerings. Andrew also counsels venture funds in structuring deals and assists them in identifying and managing the various risks associated with their investments.

 
Prior to re-joining Orrick in 2022, Andrew was employee number 2 at a venture-backed food technology/CPG startup where, in addition to acting as General Counsel, he established the finance, accounting, HR and operations management functions of the company and served on the executive management team responsible for defining and executing the company’s strategic initiatives.

Andrew began his legal career as an associate with Orrick’s Technology Companies Group in 2016 and is the recipient of the Firm’s 2019 Alan Talkington Mentorship Award. He also has experience working for venture funds and technology startups and is an active angel investor.

 
Andrew lives in Colorado with his wife, daughter and labradoodle. In his spare time, you can often find him hiking, fly fishing and skiing.

Brandon Batzel Senior Associate

New York

Based in New York, Brandon's practice focuses primarily on bankruptcy and financial restructuring matters, including representation of debtors, creditors, purchasers, and other interested parties in chapter 11 proceedings, out-of-court workouts, and related transactions. In addition, Brandon's work involves the coordination of multi-jurisdictional restructurings across the globe and high-profile litigation in the United States and abroad, with a particular focus on cross-border restructuring and Latin American insolvencies, and a developed expertise in chapter 15 proceedings.

Hiroki Sugita Partner

Tokyo

He also has extensive experience in fund formation, real estate and various types of finance transactions.

Hiroki has a deep understanding of clients’ needs from his secondment experience with a U.S. investment bank in 2005 and a Japanese major trading house from 2012 to 2014.

Prior to joining Orrick, Hiroki worked at O’Melveny’s Tokyo office as a counsel where he mainly worked on cross border M&A.