Title: Senior Associate
Firm: Orrick
Age: 39
For Steffi Chan, being a public finance attorney is the best of both worlds.
In her role as senior associate in Orrick's public finance department, Chan combines her legal expertise and affinity for transactional work with doing good for the community.
It was a winding road to her current role: Chan studied English literature at the University of California, Berkeley with thoughts of a journalism career. But instead of journalism, Chan attended law school at UC College of the Law, San Francisco and landed at a boutique hedge fund law firm.
It was a great learning experience, but after about a year, Chan realized that something was missing. She wanted to do work that makes communities better places to live. She wanted to see the tangible results of her efforts. She also wanted to work in a collegial and collaborative environment "that makes it very easy to get up for work every morning," she said. Public finance was calling and Chan became what she affectionately terms a "wayward do-gooder."
Since joining Orrick in Los Angeles more than a decade ago, Chan has brought her technical expertise and leadership skills to her local government and state agency clients. Her practice includes general obligation bonds, revenue bonds, lease financing and complex structures such as land-secured financing and housing projects. She's proud to have given back to her alma maters UC Berkeley and UC Law San Francisco through funding projects, such as a new academic village.
Chan is celebrated for her innovative approach to public finance.
In 2024, Chan served as underwriters' counsel for the first grant anticipation note issuance secured by National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program funds. "It was a groundbreaking transaction that was very exciting and gratifying," Chan recalled.
