Our team of seasoned attorneys.

Van Katzman

Van Katzman brings a pragmatic, business-centric approach in counseling companies and senior management teams, developed over 15 years working in legal, strategic, and operating roles for both Fortune 500 and start-up companies. During that span, he has negotiated countless transactions; helped companies raise capital (venture, angel, and senior debt); spearheaded mergers and acquisitions; forged business development opportunities; drafted strategic business plans; counseled companies on employment, regulatory, and ethical issues; managed complex litigation; and served as a trusted sounding board to many CEOs.

Van also has a deep environmental business and policy background and works extensively with clean-tech and other environmental companies, providing legal and business development advice to a broad array of entities in the renewable energy, alternative vehicle fuel, waste-to-energy, water conservation, energy efficiency, biofuel, and other related areas.

Van’s legal career began with Perkins Coie in Seattle. In 1996, he transitioned to the business sector, co-owning and managing Communicore, a technology firm in Seattle focused on accelerating the adoption of innovative products to enhance the quality of healthcare and the environment. From 1998-2001, Van served as assistant general counsel for Waste Management, the largest solid waste collection and recycling company in North America, where he helped manage all legal affairs for the Western United States. In 2001, Van joined Fishmonger.com (later WorldCatch) as vice president of business development and general counsel, and helped guide the company in its transition from B2B marketplace to a bricks-and-mortar-operating seafood company. In late 2003, he co-founded Beacon Law along with Chris Hurley, based on his desire to work with entrepreneurs and to leverage his operating experience in working with dynamic technology and environmental companies.

Van received his undergraduate degree from Yale University, holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from George Washington University, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia, where he was associate editor of the Virginia Law Review and Order of the Coif. Van serves on the board of Parent Trust for Washington Children and is a co-founder of the Northwest Chapter of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). He lives in Seattle along with his wife and two kids.

Noel Howe

Noel Howe has over 15 years of experience helping public and private technology companies achieve their strategic and tactical goals. During his career, Noel has closed numerous private-equity financings (mostly company-side), M&A transactions, and commercial/licensing agreements. In addition to his extensive transactional experience, Noel has advised senior management on corporate governance, equity compensation, employment, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, protecting intellectual property, and other strategic matters. Noel has worked with companies in a variety of industries, including software, wireless, biotech, medical devices, e-commerce and Internet. Noel always strives to provide practical advice that meets management’s goals.

Noel started his career in 1995 at Gray Cary/DLA Piper in San Diego as a member of the corporate and securities and intellectual property and technology practice groups. In 1999, Noel moved to Seattle and joined Venture Law Group/Heller Ehrman, where he worked almost exclusively with venture-backed technology start-ups. In 2002, Noel joined Corixa Corporation (a public biotech company), where he spent the next three years working closely with the senior management team on a wide variety of corporate and commercial transactions, managing ’34 Act reporting and compliance, protecting the company’s intellectual property assets, advising the sales and marketing groups, and closing numerous licensing and commercial transactions.

After Corixa was acquired in 2005, Noel took a senior management position at Melodeo, Inc. (a venture-backed wireless start-up), where he was vice president and general counsel. In addition to fulfilling his role as a member of the senior management team, Noel helped Melodeo close a China joint-venture, a financing transaction, and numerous wireless operator, OEM, and other licensing transactions.

Noel received his B.S. in geological sciences (with honors) from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1990 and his J.D. from University of California at Davis in 1995. Noel is a member of the Washington and California State bars. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two sons.

Brian Richmond

Brian has over ten years of accounting and finance experience with software and start-up companies. Prior to joining Beacon, Brian spent six years as controller and director of finance for Hubspan, Inc., where he handled the accounting, legal, and human resources functions for the company. Brian helped Hubspan in raising over $15 million dollars in equity and debt, while overseeing the administrative aspects of the growing company and negotiating terms of mission-critical, multi-million dollar deals with Fortune 500 clients.

While at Hubspan, Brian also began law school in the evening program at Seattle University. He earned his J.D. (magna cum laude) in 2007.

Brian holds an undergraduate degree in business administration with a concentration in accountancy from the University of Notre Dame and is an inactive certified public accountant.

Pauline Kenny

Pauline received her B.A. in communications from the University of Washington in 1994, and her J.D. from Seattle University in 1999. She is a member of the Washington bar.

Prior to joining Beacon Law Advisors, Pauline worked in both small start-ups and large publicly traded corporations, including Sproqit Technologies, Inc., in both traditional legal roles as an attorney and operational roles as a human resource manager.

Pauline counsels clients on a variety of general corporate issues, with an emphasis in corporate governance, employment, and licensing issues. Specific issues Pauline counsels clients on include:

• Corporate and LLC formation and organization
• Employment, consulting, and other personnel agreements
• Asset purchases and mergers
• Angel, venture capital, and bridge financing
• Software licensing and distribution
• Trademarks

Charlie Shonkwiler

Charlie worked for Weyerhaeuser and Hewlett-Packard prior to obtaining his law degree and his M.B.A. from the University of Oregon in 2009. He was also active in the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, working to identify and develop opportunities to commercialize new technologies owned by the University of Oregon and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories.

Charlie earned his B.S. in paper science & engineering from the University of Washington in 2002.

Charlie is a member of the Washington State Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

John Gregory

John graduated in 1999 from Gonzaga University with a degree in Business Administration, concentrating on Finance and Operations Management. In 2006, he graduated from Willamette University College of Law, where he was a member of the Moot Court Board and an Editor of Willamette Law Online.

In 2011, John graduated from the University of Washington School of Law with an LLM in Intellectual Property Law & Policy, earning an Outstanding Student Award. Prior to joining Beacon Law, John practiced law at NW Venture Law, advising small technology start-ups on intellectual property protection and enforcement issues.

John is a member of the Washington State Bar, and admitted to practice in the Western and Eastern U.S. District Courts of Washington.