People

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.

Jonas Banse Associate

Düsseldorf

Prior to joining Orrick, Jonas had already been involved in employment law matters for several years in the course of his study-related work. During his legal clerkship, he worked, inter alia, in the policy department for collective employment law of a German multinational law firm.

Emily Sabo Senior Associate

New York

She represents a variety of market participants, including sponsors, issuers and underwriters, in public and private offerings of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

Formerly, an associate at Thacher Proffitt and Wood, LLP in New York City (also in the Structured Finance group), Emily left Manhattan in 2008 and founded and operated her law firm in the U.S. Virgin Islands, providing a wide variety of legal services, spanning from general civil litigation and bankruptcy litigation, to estate planning, probate, commercial contracts, and general business and transactional law. She also acted as a legislative consultant to a USVI Senator working to craft legislation in various fields, including without limitation, renewable energy law. As part of her diverse practice, and before she engaged in consulting work for the Senator, Emily gained invaluable experience in the field of renewable energy (including related policies and legislation) when she was hired by an off-island private power company to act as legal counsel for all transactional, regulatory and litigation work necessary to complete a ground breaking renewable energy project on the island of St. Thomas.

At Thacher Proffitt & Wood, LLP, Emily represented issuers, underwriters, sellers and servicers in mortgage-backed securities transactions (including public and private offerings of residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities); she also represented banks and other financial institutions in their capacities as lenders, borrowers, issuers and purchasers in structured finance transactions and in connection with asset-based and other secured lending transactions and warehouse facilities with collateral spanning various asset classes.   Prior to her structured finance experience, Emily worked in Merrill Lynch’s State Regulation, Legislation and Government Affairs Department researching, state securities laws, drafting responses for securities litigation and compliance matters and participating in industry committee conferences regarding pending state legislation of industry-wide concern.

Geoffrey Shaw Senior Associate

Los Angeles

Geoff's experience litigating and advising clients covers a range of substantive areas. He especially focuses on complex issues of constitutional law and civil procedure.  He is passionate about partnering with public defenders and using his appellate experience to help death sentenced prisoners. 

Geoff received his law degree from Yale Law School. Before joining Orrick, he clerked for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Geoff previously graduated from Yale College and earned a doctoral degree from Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. 

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.

Sarah Meehan Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

Sarah has an active pro bono practice that includes assisting federal inmates with post-conviction relief and parole, as well as assisting residents with housing-related eviction matters in housing court.

Sarah received her J.D. from the University of Richmond (summa cum laude, Order of the Coif) in 2018. During law school she served as the Manuscripts Editor for the University of Richmond Law Review and was awarded the J. Westwood Smithers Award and the Phillip Cudlipp Medal. She received her B.A. from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2015.

Prior to joining Orrick, Sarah was an associate at Buckley LLP. Prior to joining Buckley, Ms. Meehan clerked for the Honorable Judge Roderick C. Young (then-Magistrate Judge) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Sarah Stockley Partner

London

Sarah resolves disputes for clients in a variety of forums including international arbitration (both commercial under ICC, LCIA, SIAC and HKIAC Rules etc. seated in various jurisdictions and investor state, under ICSID, and UNCITRAL Rules and ad hoc proceedings) and sits as arbitrator. Sarah appears before the English High Court and the DIFC Court, is adept at supervising and managing cross-border litigations in many other jurisdictions, including the Middle East, West Africa (Nigeria, Ivory Coast) India, Asia and South America and works under both common and civil law regimes.

In addition to acting in traditional onshore and offshore energy disputes both upstream and downstream, Sarah has a keen interest in the renewables and alternatives sectors, combining her experience of infrastructure disputes, including those relating to power and energy transmission, with the changing environments in which our clients operate during the Energy Transition. Sarah has conducted cases in the renewables sector, and also frequently represents clients in mediation and uses ADR techniques to achieve favourable settlements.

Sarah is recognised for International Arbitration by Legal 500 UK, as well as being noted as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers.

Sarah Koch Of Counsel

Washington, D.C.

Sarah serves as the head of policy matters for a coalition of major online gaming operators supporting gaming legislation across the country. She also helps clients structure products and business operations to comply with evolving gaming laws and regulations. She provides advocacy support for clients’ regulatory proposals and enforcement actions and develops responses to operational issues and incidents.

Before joining Orrick, Sarah led DraftKings’ legal regulatory team responsible for gaming regulatory matters and legal analysis of gaming products in development. She worked across business units to structure products and operations in compliance with gaming laws and regulations and to respond to regulatory inquiries and operational incidents.

Sarah also worked on the government affairs team at DraftKings, advocating for reasonable legal frameworks to govern sports betting, fantasy sports and igaming at a time of unprecedented industry change and growth. She drafted proposed laws, testified to legislators and met with regulators and policymakers as they considered and implemented these frameworks.

Sarah also has private practice experience advising online gaming and e-commerce clients in regulatory, transactional and litigation matters.

Sarah Duncan Associate

Washington, D.C.

Sarah’s practice focuses on representing corporations and individuals in a variety of industries in complex business litigation and disputes. Sarah represents financial institutions, technology corporations, and other entities in a wide range of civil disputes.

Sarah has experience representing corporations in all stages of litigation, including pre-suit demands, motions to dismiss, fact and expert discovery and depositions, trial preparation, and trial.

Sean Yates Senior Associate

San Francisco; Sacramento

Sean serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, and underwriter's counsel on a variety of public finance transactions, including general obligation and revenue bond financings.  Sean's experience includes counseling large public transportation agencies, and assisting in the financing of affordable housing, charter schools and higher education institutions throughout California.

Sean earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis in 2018, and his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2013. 

Sara Gates Corporate Innovation Attorney

Silicon Valley

Sara advises on a variety of corporate matters, including both domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions on the buy- and sell-side, corporate governance issues, venture capital financings and other strategic transactions. Sara works with a wide range of companies, including public companies, tech startups, private equity portfolio companies and unicorn companies. 

Prior to law school, Sara worked in operations for a tech startup in North Carolina.

Sara Forden Managing Associate

New York

Her practice focuses on project development, acquisitions, and financing, including debt and tax equity financing, in the renewable energy and infrastructure sectors.