Legal Foundations for Climate Tech Startups with Perkins Coie
For CoMotion, 9Zero, VertueLab, and City of Seattle Members Only.
Getting your legal house in order is critical to building a climate tech company that can scale, attract funding, and navigate risk. This workshop with experts from leading law firm, Perkins Coie, will walk founders through the legal fundamentals needed to move from MVP to market with confidence. Whether you're preparing for your first pilot or your first term sheet, this session will help you understand what investors, partners, and regulators expect, and how to be ready.
Key Takeaways:
Understand the legal structures that support growth and investment
Learn how to protect your IP and navigate licensing
Get clarity on employment, equity, and founder agreements
Know what to expect in early-stage fundraising and due diligence
Identify common legal pitfalls and how to avoid them
Featuring Legal Experts:
Jamie Nicole Johnson
Partner, Emerging Companies & Venture Capital
Jamie Nicole Johnson is a Partner, Emerging Companies & Venture Capital at Perkins Coie. She advises emerging growth companies from formation through exit, with a focus on fundraising, governance, and equity compensation. Jamie also represents investors such as venture capital firms, family offices, and corporate venture groups. Her clients span industries including cleantech, fintech, agtech, AI/ML, SaaS, and university spinouts. Jamie is deeply involved in diversity and inclusion efforts at the firm and in the broader legal community. She holds both a J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Illinois and was a Division I NCAA athlete at Seattle University.
Michael Avent
Partner, Emerging Companies & Venture Capital
Michael Avent serves with Perkins Coie as outside counsel to emerging growth technology and life sciences companies. He negotiates and closes debt and equity financings, mergers and acquisitions, commercial agreements, and general corporate matters. He also works closely with venture capitalists and corporate venture groups investing in high-growth companies. Michael works with clients across a range of sectors and technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotics, climate tech, blockchain, software-as-a-service, fintech, aerospace and defense, retail, and biotech.
Benjamin Straughan
Firmwide Co-Chair, NewSpace Industry Group
As co-chair of Perkins Coie’s NewSpace practice, Ben Straughan assists startups and early-stage companies in addressing the unique issues our clients face when doing business in the space economy. Ben understands corporate financial matters, routinely counseling clients on angel and venture capital transactions. His clients span industries in which intellectual property is a key component, including space, software and SaaS, consumer packaged goods; food and beverage; gaming, e-commerce, cloud migration, and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML).
How to Get Here
Address
Seattle Climate Innovation Hub
1215 4th Ave 15th Floor, Seattle, WA 98101, USA.
Transportation
Paid parking with EV chargers is available in the building. Enter going East (up the hill) on the one-way University Street. Also consider using Spothero. The closest Link light rail station is the Symphony Station on 3rd street. Bikes, battery-powered mobility, and batteries (even when not charging) must be stored in the locked room on the C/D level of the garage. Bring your own lock for the storage rack if needed. It’s inside the double doors by the elevator (email [email protected] for the door code).