NEW YORK, February 9, 2006— LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced the admission of 11 lawyers to the partnership, effective immediately. A group of associates are admitted to the partnership each January, and are selected based on professional excellence, leadership and commitment to client service. Orrick currently has 305 partners, including the partners announced today.
“We are proud of this year’s incoming partner class, which represents a wide variety of practice areas and offices throughout the firm,” said Orrick Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Baxter. “Each of our new partners has demonstrated the highest levels of professional achievement and has strong leadership abilities.”
The new partners, elevated from the ranks of Orrick’s associates, represent many of the firm’s practice groups, including securities litigation, structured finance, the Orrick Emerging Companies Group, real estate, employment, public finance, European finance and corporate.
The firm’s new partners include:
Reagan Beck. Beck is a member of the firm’s structured finance group and is based in Washington, D.C. She focuses her practice on representing issuers, underwriters and other market participants in asset-backed transactions. She also represents clients in principal finance transactions. Beck earned a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law and a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University.
Penelope A. Graboys Blair. Blair is a member of the firm’s securities litigation group and is based in San Francisco. She focuses on securities and commercial litigation, defending issuers, officers, directors, underwriters and venture capital firms in shareholder class actions and derivative litigation. She counsels audit committees and represents clients in investigations and proceedings with regulatory and governmental agencies. She earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Cornell University.
Christine Marie Chavez. Chavez is a member of the firm’s real estate group and is based in San Francisco, where she has a general real estate and real estate finance practice, including real estate secured lending and the acquisition, disposition, development and leasing of commercial property. From 1999 to 2002, she practiced in Orrick’s Tokyo office, focusing on secured lending origination, securitization and servicing transactions, distressed loan portfolio acquisitions and financing and structuring joint ventures. She earned a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law and a B.A., summa cum laude, in English from the University of New Mexico.
Jim Courtney. Courtney is a member of the firm’s structured finance group and is based in Los Angeles. He focuses his practice on transactions involving Mortgage Backed Securities, Collateralized Loan Obligations and Collateralized Debt Obligations. He earned a J.D., cum laude, from Loyola Law School, where he was elected Order of the Coif and named the Lloyd Tevis Commercial Law Student of the Year. While at Loyola, Courtney was an intern for the Western Law Center for Disability Rights. He earned a B.A. in History, from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Aimee B. Florin. Florin is a member of the employment law group and is based in New York. She represents a broad range of major corporations in all facets of employment law, with particular expertise and experience in the financial services industry, and has worked on a number of nationwide sex discrimination actions. Florin is a frequent speaker and author on a variety of employment law issues, including gender-based class actions, employee accommodation issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act, managing employee absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act and preventing and responding to employee trade secret theft. She earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A., magna cum laude, in Economics from Boston University.
Saam Golshani. Golshani is a member of the firm’s corporate department and is based in Paris. A French-qualified lawyer, he has considerable experience in French and cross-border corporate transactions for both private equity funds and industrial operators, with an emphasis on the telecommunications, IT, pharmaceuticals and bio-tech industries. He has experience in the M&A, litigation, bankruptcy, restructuring and regulatory fields. He earned an M.A. in Business Law from the University of Aix en Provence, where he also earned a B.A. degree, and is fluent in French, English and Farsi.
Michael McElroy. McElroy is a member of the firm’s structured finance group and is based in Washington, D.C. He focuses his practice on credit card and mortgage-backed securitizations, including registered and private offerings, derivatives, and commercial paper transactions. McElroy earned a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center, an M.A. in Government from the University of Virginia, and a B.A., magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Political Science and Economics from Kenyon College.
Alison J. Radecki. Radecki is a member of the firm’s public finance group and is based in New York. She has broad experience in tax-exempt finance, having served as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, borrower’s counsel and credit enhancer’s counsel. Radecki has worked on a variety of financings including, revenue bonds, special tax bonds, and general obligation bonds for healthcare institutions, educational institutions, public power agencies, cultural institutions and industrial development facilities. She earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and a B.A. from Smith College.
George Rigo. Rigo is a member of the firm’s European finance group and is based in Paris. He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and securities law. He earned an LL.M. from Fordham Law School and a Maitrise en Droit from the University of Paris I – Pantheon Sorbonne.
Louis D. Soto. Soto is a member of Orrick’s Emerging Companies Group and is based in Silicon Valley. His practice focuses on representing private and public emerging companies, venture capital firms and investment banks. Soto advises clients on a full range of corporate matters, including venture capital and other private financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, licensing arrangements and strategic partnerships, corporate governance matters and public company counseling and compliance. He earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Rutgers University.
Daniel Yost. Yost is a member of the firm’s corporate group and is based in Silicon Valley. His practice focuses on technology transactions and includes negotiating complex commercial agreements and intellectual property counseling. He has counseled clients on commercial law, copyright, licensing, marketing, patent, privacy, strategic alliances, trademark and trade secret matters. He earned a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall, attended Oxford University as a Fulbright Scholar, and earned a B.A., highest honors in Economics, honors in American Studies, from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
About Orrick
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is an international law firm with more than 850 lawyers in North America, Europe, and Asia. The firm focuses on litigation, complex and novel finance, and innovative corporate transactions. Orrick clients include Fortune 100 companies, major industrial and financial corporations, commercial and investment banks, high-growth companies, governmental entities, start-ups, and individuals. The firm’s 16 offices are located in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange County, Pacific Northwest, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Taipei and Tokyo.
