People

Darrell Cafasso Partner

New York

Prior to joining Orrick, Darrell served as the Global Head of Litigation and Regulatory Proceedings at Goldman Sachs, where he served as a key advisor to the firm and oversaw litigation, arbitration, and other disputes, as well as regulatory, criminal, and investigative proceedings, affecting Goldman Sachs, its world-wide affiliates, or their employees. In this role, Darrell managed a large international team of lawyers that determined legal strategy for threatened or actual litigations, regulatory and criminal matters and other contentious proceedings, oversaw internal investigations, and advised legal and business constituencies on legal, reputational and regulatory risks and issues involving all businesses of Goldman Sachs including investment banking, global markets, merchant banking, research, trading, lending, M&A, asset and wealth management, and consumer lending. Darrell was responsible for the firm’s most critical litigation and regulatory matters and successfully resolved a number of important matters on behalf of the firm.

Before joining Goldman Sachs in 2018, Darrell was a litigation partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Over the years, Darrell has litigated a broad range of commercial cases, including in the areas of securities, banking, financial services, antitrust, consumer financial products, products liability, business torts, bankruptcy litigation, ERISA and other complex corporate litigation. For example, Darrell has represented several financial institutions and public companies, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Moody’s, Banco Popular, and Fiat Chrysler, in numerous securities class actions, shareholder litigations and other disputes.

Darrell also has guided corporate and individual clients across the globe through multi-billion-dollar investigations, enforcement proceedings, and significant compliance matters including a wide range of matters before the DOJ, the SEC, the CFTC, FINRA, the Federal Reserve Bank, the New York Department of Financial Services and various state attorneys general, and foreign bank regulators. For example, Darrell advised Goldman Sachs in reaching coordinated resolutions in multiple criminal and regulatory investigations in jurisdictions around the world relating to an alleged multi-billion-dollar money laundering and corruption scheme involving the Malaysian sovereign development company, 1MDB, and senior public officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Darrell also served as lead counsel to one of the preeminent automobile manufacturers in multiyear criminal and regulatory investigations relating to diesel emissions, sales reporting and bribery issues.

Dennisse Calle Associate

New York

Dennisse represents investors, issuers, underwriters, and other market participants across a broad spectrum of securitization and structured finance transactions. She has experience with a wide variety of asset classes, including commercial PACE liens, credit and charge card receivables, PDP oil and gas wellbore interests, and student loans.

Emma Cameron Senior Associate

London

Emma's primary focus is venture capital work, and she has considerable experience working with early stage companies as well as with investors and VCs. She can advise on all aspects of venture and growth capital transactions including early stage financing, institutional funding rounds and exits.

Elizabeth Campbell Associate

New York

As an Associate in the Energy and Infrastructure group, Elizabeth represents developers, investors and lenders in securing or providing financing for an array of renewable energy assets including solar, wind and battery storage projects. She has experience with tax equity investments, tax credit transfers, debt financing and mergers and acquisitions in the renewable energy sector.

Devin Canavan Of Counsel

Washington, D.C.

Devin regularly represents several of the largest independent power producers and other major players in the energy space on debt financings across a variety of asset classes including wind, solar, battery storage, gas and infrastructure assets. Devin takes a collaborative and common sense approach to help clients navigate complex financing challenges in a dynamic market to ensure their deals reach a successful close.

Max Cantor Partner

New York

Max has extensive experience in a broad range of domestic and cross-border corporate and transactional matters, including venture capital and growth equity financings, mergers & acquisitions and fund formation. He has represented both early and growth stage companies in hundreds of venture capital financings, growth equity investments and M&A transactions, and he regularly advises leading venture capital and private equity funds on their investments across the innovation ecosystem.

Max is recognized for his strategic counsel on corporate governance, boardroom matters, fundraising strategy and product development, serving as a trusted advisor and outside general counsel to clients around the world.

In addition to representing U.S. companies on domestic transactions, Max has substantial experience representing clients outside the U.S., including emerging companies and venture funds operating in Canada, Europe, Latin America, India, Japan, Singapore, China, Australia, Israel, the Cayman Islands and various other jurisdictions.

Rachel Capler Senior Associate

San Francisco

Rachel has defended financial services, technology, and retail industry clients on a broad range of employment law issues in federal and state courts and administrative agencies in California and throughout the country. She has significant experience with single plaintiff and class action litigation involving wage and hour claims, collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and representative actions under the California Private Attorneys General Act.

In addition to her extensive litigation practice, Rachel also provides employers with advice and counsel on employment law issues, including best employment practices, at-will employment, compensation and equity, reductions in force, and employee classifications.

Rachel maintains an active pro bono practice by providing advice and counsel on employment matters to non-profit organizations, as well as volunteering with a number of non-profit organizations committed to advancing the right to vote and voting accessibility.

Charles C. Cardall Partner

San Francisco

He also has legal experience relating to both charter schools and the federal income tax classification of governmental and quasi-governmental entities. He has consulted on thousands of tax-exempt, build America and tax credit bond issues and has developed deep knowledge in almost every tax aspect of municipal finance. Private activity bonds for multifamily housing, solid waste, charter schools and independent schools are areas of particular focus in his practice, as are higher education, short-term and long-term working capital and the various forms of pooled financings. Chas also has advised numerous clients experiencing financial distress or bankruptcy in tax matters relating to their municipal bonds. Representative active clients include the State of California, the University of California, the Bay Area Toll Authority, and Charter School Capital.

As a legal and policy advocate, Chas represents both government and non-government clients in federal tax rulemaking matters and in IRS proceedings, including the various types of tax-exempt bond audits, voluntary compliance (VCAP) requests and requests for private letter rulings. He has successfully closed IRS examinations relating to solid waste, water and wastewater, working capital, healthcare, pooled, multifamily housing, and industrial development bond financings. He has obtained multiple private letter rulings and technical advice memoranda and has been integrally involved in numerous regulation and legislative projects. He has found that a close working relationship with IRS and Treasury Department personnel often is critical to obtaining good results for clients.

Alyssa Caridis Partner

Los Angeles; Santa Monica

Alyssa represents companies in all stages of litigation — from pre-suit investigation, through trial, and on to appeals court. In 2023 alone, she was a key member of Orrick teams that won two jury verdicts, three ITC proceedings, and numerous IPRs and dispositive motions.

She draws upon her engineering degree from Harvey Mudd College to engage with technical professionals and quickly grasp new technologies. She brings experience with technologies ranging from medical devices, streaming media systems and software to projects in the aerospace, automotive, and nuclear energy industries.  She also has experience in litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act, successfully defending generic challenges to patents protecting blockbuster medical therapies.  Most recently, Alyssa has been involved in both litigation and counseling involving the legal questions raised by the rapid growth of AI.

The Daily Journal recognized Alyssa as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California in 2023 and both Bloomberg Law and Daily Journal named her to their 40 Under 40 lists.

For Alyssa, IP protection is more than business; it’s personal. For more than a half-century, her family patented mechanical technologies that they developed into a thriving business, inspiring her love of science and technology as well as her desire to protect innovative ideas. Alyssa calls Southern California home, but remains loyal to the sports teams of her Bay Area childhood.

Christopher J. Cariello Partner

New York

Chris has served as appellate counsel to tech titans and telecommunications giants in high-stakes copyright litigation, innovators facing billion-dollar trade secret verdicts, and national retailers with key trademarks on the line. He has authored dozens of briefs in the federal courts of appeals and U.S. Supreme Court. And he has argued and won key victories in precedent setting cases applying copyright secondary liability doctrines, the DMCA, and the Lanham Act.

Chris is most passionate about the IP issues confronting innovators—and he joins the battle wherever and whenever it is taking place. He is currently litigating a generational copyright case in the Supreme Court while directing legal strategy and briefing at the district court level in numerous challenges to generative AI large language models. He is a consummate team player when partnering with trial teams to craft winning legal strategies and themes, brief dispositive motions, win key legal and evidentiary rulings at trial, and construct a record with an eye towards appeal. And Chris regularly provides strategic counseling to clients from startups to leading public companies on product design, pre-complaint strategy, or regulatory compliance issues in the copyright and AI space.

Chris also has a wealth of experience in class action defense in both trial and appellate courts, including several appellate victories defending the denial of class certification. He also maintains a generalist appellate practice, representing clients in white collar criminal defense, founder disputes, contract actions, bankruptcy, and constitutional law.

Ciarra Carr Senior Associate

San Francisco

Ciarra’s practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, global investigations across a broad range of industries, and developing anti-corruption compliance programs. She has extensive experience conducting internal investigations and representing companies against the U.S. government in response to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and sanctions compliance inquiries.

Ciarra remains committed to serving her community through varied pro bono matters, including the Criminal Justice Act where she has experience advising individuals charged in large racketeering conspiracies and other federal criminal statues. Most recently, Ciarra served as one of Orrick's inaugural Racial Justice Fellows, working for fifteen months in Howard University School of Law's Civil Rights Clinic. During this time, she assisted the Clinic in filing five amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, achieved a meaningful settlement on behalf of the family of a man killed by police officers in Greenville, Mississippi (after convincing the district court to deny qualified immunity for the officers involved), and published an academic article about the genesis of Section 1983 and the Ku Klux Klan Hearings of 1871.

Prior to joining Orrick, Ciarra graduated from Brooklyn Law School where she received a distinction in criminal law. While there, she authored timely CLE materials as a Center for Criminal Justice Fellow. She also interned with various non-profit and government agencies, including the Bronx and Kings County district attorney’s offices in the child abuse and sex crimes bureau.

Connor J. Carroll Senior Associate

New York