WGCN Conference

Conference | October.16.2023 - October.18.2023

Aria Resort

Orrick is proud to be the premier sponsor for the WGCN’s inaugural conference at the Aria Las Vegas on October 16-18.

Orrick's Annette Hurst and Sarah Schaedler will host the headliner plenary program, Just Say Yes! How GCs can lead their organization to harness the promise and avoid the perils of AI, from 9-10 am on Tuesday, October 17. They will be joined by Casetext's Laura Safdie, TED Conference's Nishat Ruiter, Mainsail Partner's Erin Sedloff, and Holly Grochmal. We will also host an Orrick Cafe for WGCN attendees all day on Tuesday, featuring a room full of coffee and connections.

Our People

Annette Hurst Partner, Intellectual Property, Trademark, Copyright & Media

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 4585
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector
Intellectual Property
Trademark, Copyright & Media
Artificial Intelligence (AI)

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Annette Hurst Partner

San Francisco

Annette is an experienced trial lawyer who has tried copyright, trade secret, trademark, patent and business tort claims. As a risk analyst and problem solver with deep proficiency in the software industry, Annette is a go-to counselor and speaker regarding the legal issues surrounding access and use of datasets in the development of machine learning algorithms. She was named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer for her work as co-lead counsel on the Mattel/MGA case. Chambers USA ranks her in Band 1 for Trademark, Copyright & Trade Secrets, with clients reporting that she is “smart, creative and terrific at oral argument” and “a very well-known authority in copyright law, a great advocate and a great trial lawyer.” Chambers reports: “Clients agree that Annette Hurst is ‘a very powerful and experienced trial lawyer for copyright cases, and a good team leader who is reliable before judges,” and “Peers consider Annette Hurst a ‘remarkably intuitive’ lawyer who ‘brings unique perspectives to soft IP cases.” Since 2018, The Legal 500 has recognized Annette as a “Leading Lawyer” in copyright law, and she was named “Female Litigator of the Year West” by Benchmark Litigation in 2013. Annette has been repeatedly named one of the top 75 IP litigators in California by The Daily Journal.

Annette’s community and professional activities include past service on the Northern District of California Patent Local Rules Committee, President of the Lafayette Elementary School PTA, and past membership on the Board of Directors of the Volunteer Legal Services Program and Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco for which she was chair of the Finance and Investments Committee. She also is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco and the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Northern California Chapter, as well as a past president of the Barristers Club.

Sarah Schaedler Partner, Technology & Innovation, Technology Transactions

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 5474
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector
Technology & Innovation
Technology Transactions
Intellectual Property
Strategic Advisory & Government Enforcement (SAGE)

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Sarah Schaedler Partner

San Francisco

Sarah’s practice focuses on structuring and negotiating the intellectual property aspects of complex corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, business divestitures and commercial transactions where software and technology are the principal assets. Sarah also advises on intellectual property and technology contracts related questions in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Sarah routinely advises on carve-outs and business separation transactions and helps clients with structuring and implementing their intellectual property and technology separation roadmap.

Sarah has counseled several companies in their preparation for a divestiture and understands the issues a buyer is focused on in the context of intellectual property matters. She regularly helps companies implement remediation steps around their intellectual property assets to help them to a successful closing.

She has significant experience advising private equity funds on investments involving companies that are driven by technology & innovation, as well as intellectual property reliant consumer product companies and companies that are stepping into digitalization.

Sarah is also a member of Orrick’s AI leadership group and involved in thought leadership projects related to AI matters on corporate transactions.

Educated and trained in Germany, France and the United States, Sarah’s international experience provides her with additional knowledge on cross-border transactions and international matters.

Laura Rose (Bloxham) Barr Partner, Technology Companies Group, Fintech

Seattle

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D:+1 206 839 4322
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Finance Sector
Technology & Innovation Sector
Technology Companies Group
Fintech
Corporate Governance
Automotive Technology & Mobility

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Laura Rose (Bloxham) Barr Partner

Seattle

Laura is a founding member of Orrick’s technology companies practice in the Pacific Northwest. She is passionate about working with women founders, other underrepresented entrepreneurs, and double bottom line companies. People who think differently, and set out to create impact, inspire her.

She represents companies and their investors in a variety of verticals, including AI & Machine Learning (Anthropic), consumer applications (AppSheet, Life360, Mylio), education technology (Go1), financial technology (SoFi), information security (Stairwell) and life sciences (Cortexyme, Inmedix), among others.

Prior to joining Orrick, Laura worked in New York as a leveraged finance attorney at Milbank, and in-house at Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange. In addition to start-up representation, she regularly provides pro bono legal advice to charitable organizations regarding non-profit incorporation and tax exemption applications.

Laura Lariu Partner, Technology Companies Group

Santa Monica

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D:+1 310 633 2847
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology Companies Group

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Laura Lariu Partner

Santa Monica

She is primarily focused on venture capital financings, corporate governance, equity incentive plans, M&A, formations, secondary transactions, listings and outside general counsel guidance.

Laura was a corporate attorney with Gunderson Dettmer in New York. Before joining Orrick, she led companies through transformational growth as general counsel. She was most recently General Counsel of Relativity Space, an orbital launch company that automates rocket manufacturing using 3D printing, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence. At Relativity Space, she helped scale the company from 60 to 1,000+ employees and the legal team from 1 to 11, helped raise $1.3 billion in funding, worked with the operations teams to secure millions of square feet of physical infrastructure (including a former Boeing C-17 factory), negotiated launch contracts with major satellite companies and helped the company prepare for its first launch of its rocket to space. Prior to that, she was a general counsel in the transportation and logistics space.

She is a founding member of TechGC, a community platform for General Counsels of leading venture capital funds and high-growth technology companies and served on its Steering Committee and Executive Board.

Laura speaks five languages and when she isn’t pursuing her passion of advising companies that seek to improve the lives of future generations, she’s spending time outdoors with her husband and kids, painting, having laughs with friends or doing yoga.

Jessica Perry Partner, Employment Law & Litigation, Wage and Hour

Silicon Valley

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D:+1 650 614 7350
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector
Employment Law & Litigation
Wage and Hour
Class Action Defense
Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation
Pay Equity

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Jessica Perry Partner

Silicon Valley

Jessica defends employers from discrimination and harassment claims on the basis of gender, race, religion, disability, age and other protected categories. She recently defeated class certification in cases alleging discrimination against women in technical roles for Microsoft and Twitter, earning her The American Lawyer’s "Litigator of the Week” award. She also won a complete defense verdict for Kleiner Perkins in the highly publicized gender discrimination and retaliation case Pao v. Kleiner Perkins, which the Daily Journal named the year’s ‘Top Verdict.’ Her trial victories also include winning defense judgments in cases involving claims of religious discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. Jessica also specializes in pay equity matters, including in designing analyses and advising on compliance and risk mitigation. Clients interviewed by Chambers note, “She's very thorough and knows the details and procedure, without allowing anything to fall through the cracks."

Jessica has a winning record in beating back class certification in high stakes wage-and-hour actions in federal and state court, including those brought under the Private Attorney General Act. Having led over 150 high-stakes wage-and-hour class action matters, Jessica has broad experience on virtually every theory of relief. She also offers strategic guidance to help businesses avoid wage-and-hour litigation, particularly companies in the gig economy industry which can be significantly impacted by such matters.

In addition to litigation and counseling, Jessica has successfully guided clients through investigations and audits by the Department of Labor, California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and California Employment Development Department, and helped develop compensation policies and measures to reduce potential exposure.

Jessica is also an authority in generational workplace issues and frequently speaks on employment engagement in a multi-generational workforce.

Leah Recht Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Governance

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 5651
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Technology & Innovation Sector
Mergers & Acquisitions
Corporate Governance
Technology Companies Group

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Leah Recht Partner

San Francisco

Leah’s representation includes structuring and negotiating various strategic and leveraged acquisitions of public and private targets, divestitures, carveouts, mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, minority and growth investments, restructurings, employment and executive compensation matters, corporate governance and other general corporate counseling matters.

Leah advises clients across a wide range of industries, including tech, software, fintech, food and drug, life sciences, consulting services, retail, education, manufacturing, insurance, printing and transportation.

Leah was recognized by Super Lawyers in 2018 and 2019 as a “Rising Star” for business and corporate law.

Leah is a member of Law360's 2022 Mergers & Acquisitions Editorial Advisory Board. She also serves on the Board of Directors for National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS), a leader in brain tumor patient advocacy, research, information, and support.

Julia C. Riechert Partner, Employment Law & Litigation, Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation

Silicon Valley

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D:+1 650 614 7482
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Employment Law & Litigation
Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation
Wage and Hour

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Julia C. Riechert Partner

Silicon Valley

Julia is an employment law authority and trial lawyer. She helps companies navigate and resolve challenging workplace issues and has extensive experience in:

Litigating and defeating harassment, discrimination, equal pay, disability and retaliation claims, including #MeToo and whistleblower allegations.
Successfully resolving pre-litigation disputes and employment claims.
The gig economy, independent contractor classification and agency temps, including the ABC test and California's Prop 22.
Wage & hour class and PAGA actions, including defeating class certification for technology and retail companies.
Arbitration agreements, employment policies, anti-harassment training and workplace compliance best practices.
Defending companies against government charges and audits, including unemployment insurance matters.
Employee complaints, workplace investigations, layoffs and employment terminations.
Providing advice and counsel on a wide variety of employment issues for small, medium and large companies.

Julia's clients include Lyft, PayPal, Instacart, Splunk, TaskRabbit, Beyond Meat, Unity Technologies, Williams-Sonoma, Inc., Dropbox and Airbnb. Julia and her Orrick partner Lynne Hermle won the 2017 California Lawyer of the Year award in Labor and Employment from California Lawyer for their defense verdict for SpaceX in a high profile sex harassment, discrimination, retaliation and disability case. The Daily Journal also named their two jury trial wins for SpaceX as top verdicts in 2016 and 2017, both affirmed on appeal. Orrick was named Employment Group of the Year in 2018, 2019 and 2020 by Law360 and The Recorder has named Orrick the "Litigation Department of the Year: Labor and Employment" in California four times.

Side note: Julia also loves animal rescue and drinks lots of coffee.