People

Eugene Clark-Herrera Partner

San Francisco

In addition to traditional project finance, revenue, general obligation and other tax supported municipal bonds, Eugene has experience with a variety of financing structures and characteristics, including private activity bonds, structured products, securitizations, pension obligation bonds, swaps and synthetic fixed rate bonds, and various reinvestment vehicles. Early in his career, he pioneered capital markets access for California public charter schools and advised governmental issuers, foundations, advocacy groups and policy makers in the development and expansion of public charter school access to tax-advantaged financing.  He has also structured innovative philanthropic investments designed to lower facilities financing costs for public charter schools across the country, 

Eugene serves on nonprofit organization boards, including: the Mural Music & Arts Project, an arts-based youth development organization he founded in East Palo Alto, California, to educate, inspire and empower teens through the arts; California Lawyers for the Arts, serving the creative arts community statewide; and the Flywheel Fund, an income sharing-based law school tuition assistance program.  He also serves on the steering committee for the Just the Beginning Foundation's San Francisco Bay Area youth education and pre-law programs.

Prior to joining Orrick, Eugene was a public school teacher and science curriculum developer in the South Bronx and Washington Heights neighborhoods of New York City from 1993 to 1998. He is an alumni of the Teach for America Corps.

Olivia Clements Senior Litigation Attorney

New York

Olivia represents companies and individuals in high-stakes litigation in federal and state courts nationwide. She has served a pivotal role in multiple successful jury trials, including arguing motions and formulating effective direct and cross examination strategies for both fact and expert witnesses. Olivia has extensive experience in all phases of litigation from drafting and responding to complaints to managing fact and expert discovery to drafting briefs to working on creative settlement solutions in alignment with clients' overall business and organizational goals. Her engagements have involved mass torts and product liability, multi-million dollar contract disputes, joint venture and partnership disputes, trade secret misappropriation, and defamation and trade libel. She also has experience with FCPA compliance and investigations.

Olivia maintains an active pro bono practice and serves as a member of the Pro Bono Advocates Council for Volunteers of Legal Service.

Emajae' Clements Associate

Houston

Emajae's practice includes a diverse range of complex litigation and employment litgation matters from across the country. She effectively drafts briefs, works with experts, and provides developed insights to advance her team's trial strategies.

Emajae' received her J.D. from the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. While in law school, Emajae' served as the Captain of the Huver I. Brown Trial Advocacy team becoming the Texas Young Lawyers Association's National Trial Competition Regional Champion and National Semi-Finalist. Emajae' was also a student attorney in the Movement Lawyering Clinic.

Spencer Cohen Partner

New York

Spencer represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies, as well as private and public companies in all aspects of their business.

Spencer regularly advises clients on a variety of strategic transitions, including domestic and cross-border M&A, debt and equity investments and joint ventures. He also counsels boards, investors and other key stakeholders on financing transactions and general corporate matters.

He works across a wide range of geographies and industries, including a primary focus in the tech, finance, life sciences, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Simon Cohen Associate

San Francisco

Simon has experience representing clients in a broad range of commercial litigation disputes. He has assisted in defense of contract, trade secret, business torts, and WARN Act employment claims in mediation, arbitration, and in state and federal courts.

Prior to joining Orrick, Simon worked as a litigation associate in Kirkland & Ellis' San Francisco office. He received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law. While in law school, Simon served as a managing editor of the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal.

Scott Cohn Senior Counsel

New York

Scott's work involving regulatory compliance includes: 

• Product Recalls
• Product Safety Evaluations
• Compliance Manuals
• Made in USA claims
• California Proposition 65 Warnings and defense of Notices of Violation
• Due Diligence regulatory reviews
• Civil and Criminal Investigations and Penalties
• FDA Import Alerts
• FPLA (Fair Packaging and Labeling Act) requirements
• Textile, Wool, Fur, and Care Labeling requirements
• U.S. Customs Country of Origin Labeling requirements
• U.S. Customs tariff classification and valuation for imported products
• Autonomous Vehicle regulation
• U.S. Fish& Wildlife Service and CITES compliance

Maria Theresa Coladonato Associate

Wheeling, W.V. (GOIC)

She advises high-growth technology companies on general incorporation matters, venture capital financings and everyday corporate governance. Maria also represents venture capital firms in connection with their investments in private companies.

Abigail Colella Senior Associate

Washington, D.C.

Abby has authored briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and federal and state trial courts. She specializes in communicating complex technological concepts to judges of all backgrounds, and her work spans a wide range of topics and industries—from cutting-edge patent issues to the intricacies of the DMCA.

Abby also represents internet and digital media companies in litigation related to online speech, with a particular focus on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Her recent successes include arguing and winning a Ninth Circuit appeal raising novel state action issues.

Prior to joining Orrick, Abby served as a law clerk to Judge Timothy B. Dyk of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Thomas Coleman Senior Counsel

San Francisco

Before his retirement as a partner, he was also the Partner-in-Charge of Lawyer Development for a number of years. While still practicing, he served at times as the firm’s General Counsel, Executive Director, Peer Review Committee Chair and member of the Partner Compensation Committee. He still acts as an advisor to the firm on matters affecting lawyer development.

Tom concentrated his practice in banking and commercial transactions. He represented banks and other financial institutions in a variety of transactions, including syndicated and single-lender credit agreements (both secured and unsecured), project financings, public finance transactions, and “synthetic” and other lease arrangements. As a lecturer and panelist, Tom frequently spoke at seminars on a range of topics related to his practice.

He served for several years as co-counsel of the International Bankers Association in California. He has been a member of the State Bar of California’s Business Law Section’s Financial Institutions Committee and Uniform Commercial Code Committee. In addition, he has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony’s Business Gifts Committee.

Before joining Orrick, Tom was Vice President and Counsel at California First Bank (now Union Bank of California) in San Francisco. He was a visiting attorney at Clifford-Turner (now Clifford Chance), Solicitors, in London.

John Coleman Partner

Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining Orrick, John was a partner at Buckley LLP, which he joined after 15 years in federal government service as a litigator and advisor to senior policymakers, most recently as Deputy General Counsel for Litigation and Oversight at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He joined the CFPB soon after its creation in 2010 and was one of a core group of attorneys tasked with interpreting the authorities granted to the agency by the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and establishing the procedures by which the agency exercises those authorities. He was the first person to appear in court on behalf of the CFPB and was involved in every significant litigation matter in the agency’s history prior to his departure. As Deputy General Counsel, he managed the team of attorneys responsible for representing the Bureau in litigation, including appellate matters, and before congressional oversight bodies.

John served every director or acting director in the CFPB's history during his tenure at the CFPB, advising them and senior officials in the Division of Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending on a range of complex legal and policy matters, including those arising in the course of examinations, investigations and enforcement actions. He also advised the Director and senior officials in the Division of Research, Markets, and Regulations with respect to rulemakings, and represented the agency in all rulemaking challenges.

Prior to joining the CFPB, John was a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, representing federal agencies and officials in high-profile civil litigation, including cases brought under the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act and federal antidiscrimination laws.

Following law school, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable T.S. Ellis III, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Matthew E.S. Coleman Partner

New York; Boston

Matthew develops global privacy, AI and cybersecurity programs to meet state, federal and international laws and self-regulatory regimes. He also leads Orrick’s data protection team in supporting mergers and acquisitions and data licensing transactions. Matthew counsels on cybersecurity breach preparedness and leads the immediate response after an incident to guide clients through an investigation, incident remediation, consumer and regulatory notifications and government inquiries.

Matthew helps clients comply with:

• U.S. state comprehensive privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA)
• The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• U.S. state AI laws
• U.S. state biometrics privacy laws, including Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act
• U.S. state consumer health data laws, including Washington’s My Health My Data
• The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM)
• The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
• the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and state breach notification, biometric privacy and cybersecurity laws

He counsels on self-regulatory privacy programs, including:

• NIST, ISO, AICPA and OECD frameworks for AI risk management and cybersecurity
• Programs covering online behavioral advertising, including the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI)
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard  
• EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework
• Binding Corporate Rules
• The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Cross-Border Privacy Rules (APEC CBPRs)

Matthew also acts as product counsel and provides compliance solutions for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain. His comprehensive data management knowledge enables clients to meet regulatory obligations while supporting business innovation, interoperability, growth and digital trust. He takes a risk‑based approach to developing and implementing policies governing the full lifecycle of personal information and manages data‑related relationships with vendors, employees, acquired entities and creditors. He also integrates privacy considerations into product development and change‑management processes.

Matthew’s past role with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) helps clients stay compliant and avoid regulatory scrutiny. Prior to joining Orrick, Matthew was an Enterprise Privacy Solutions Manager for TrustArc (formerly TRUSTe), a San Francisco-based privacy consulting and certification firm and an adjunct law professor of Privacy Law at Santa Clara University. Matthew is a Certified Information Privacy Manager and a Certified Information Privacy Professional with a specialization in United States privacy law.

Alex Collins Partner

London

He was named a “Rising Star” by Legal Media Group’s Expert Guide Series in Structured Finance and Securitisation and the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) European Awards. Legal 500 UK also named him a “Next Generation Partner” whose “exceptional understanding of the market makes him an asset on any transaction. Clients benefit from his quick thinking and solution-driven approach. Alex is constantly on hand to respond to clients and his dedication makes him the go to person for complex or new transactions requiring extra care and thought.”

Before joining Orrick, Alex spent seven years at a Magic Circle firm and completed secondments with the structured finance legal teams of two leading investment banks.

Alex received his LPC from College of Law, Moorgate, and his LL.B. from the University of London.