Governance | Staff

Governance:

Michael Graham, President
Michael Graham is a Seattle attorney whose practice involves intellectual property transactions, estate planning, and real estate and business transactions and litigation. His clients include artists, writers, and musicians, and small businesses. He attended law school at Quinnipiac University, in Connecticut, where he wrote for the Quinnipiac Legal Times, and at Seattle University, where he served on the arts legal clinic. In addition to WLA work, he has volunteered for the American Civil Liberties Union, leading student discussions on citizens' rights with the police. He is a musician who has released two albums and performed extensively throughout the Northwest since 1998. Mr. Graham is a member of the Washington State and King County Bar Associations.

Ingrid A.B. Mattson, Vice President
Ingrid Mattson is an attorney whose practice focuses on various aspects of media law including film production, music licensing, publishing, and art. Currently she is clerking with the Kitsap County Superior Court. She has also recently taught Media Law and Ethics at Seattle Central Community College. A graduate of Seattle University School of Law (2005, with high honors), Ms. Mattson was an editor on the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, completed the intellectual property focus of study, and wrote legal articles for the Seattle newspaper Real Change. She received her undergraduate degree in Religion from the University of Florida. Ms. Mattson is a member of the Washington State Bar Association.

Shannon M. Whitemore, Secretary
Shannon M. Whitemore is an associate attorney at AXIOS Law Group, working with creative businesses in securing their intellectual property rights through trademark and copyright registration and in litigation matters. A 2001 cum laude graduate of Seattle University School of Law, she completed the intellectual property focus of study and served on the Dispute Resolution Board as a member and competition coach. Ms. Whitemore received her undergraduate degree in comparative literature at University of California at Santa Cruz. She first joined Washington Lawyers for the Arts as the volunteer clinic coordinator for the Arts Legal clinic, before being asked to join the board of directors. She is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and Northwest Indian Bar Association, and an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Confederation of Tribes of California. She enjoys the local Seattle music and art scenes and secretly wants to write.

Iole Alessandrini, Board Member
Born and raised in Italy, Iole Alessandrini is an artist who has been living in Seattle since 1994. She received her diploma in Fine Arts from the First State School of Fine Arts in Rome and earned two master's degrees in Architecture: one from the University of La Sapienza in Rome and the other from the University of Washington in Seattle. It is the intersection between these two creative expressions – art and architecture – through which her work moves. More on Ms. Alessandrini’s work: www.iole.org

Roger Atreya, Board Member
Attorney Roger Atreya has his own legal practice specializing in intellectual property and corporate law. Mr. Atreya had the experience of working as a copyright/trademark attorney at one of the largest intellectual property law firms in Japan. Prior to establishing his own practice, he worked at a boutique securities/corporate law firm in Seattle. He has a law degree from the Massachusetts School of Law as well a Masters of Intellectual Property Law from Franklin Pierce Law Center. He received his Bachelors of Arts and Master of Arts in Sociology from Loyola University of Chicago. Mr. Atreya is admitted to practice law in Washington and Massachusetts, and is also a member of the WSBA's intellectual property and corporate law sections.

Barbara Buckland, Board Member
Barbara Buckland grew up in Southern California, where her father chaired the USC English Department (at Long Beach). As a child, she met Aldous Huxley, Groucho Marx, Colin Wilson, and Joseph Campbell. In such distinguished company, she developed a deep appreciation for the power of words and poetry, as they transitioned from beat to soul to surf to the British Invasion to psychedelic to folk, and back again. Ms. Buckland has shared, and continues to share, the stage with many internationally known artists such as Victoria Williams, Tim Easton, Tom Freund, Steven J. (Jesse) Bernstein, City Fritter, Berkley/Hart, Jon McKinney. She also performed with Pete Seeger, as an original member of the Seattle Labor Chorus in 1997. Ms. Buckland is the co-founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization Music Community Resources, coordinated musicians for the Hopvine, the Alley Upstairs at Café Allegro, The Fabulous Rainbow (now Fusion) and interfaces with organizations such as The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Grammy Assoication, University District Service Providers Alliance, Real Change, KBCS 91.3 FM and Women's Audio Mission. She recently fell in love with the Joshua Tree, California-area, and now divides her time between the Bay Area, Seattle and the High Desert, forming new alliances and furthering networks of musicians and organizations as she goes.

Valerie Chan, Board Member
Valerie Chan is a Seattle attorney who decided to stop practicing law on a full-time basis to continue her practice as a public relations consultant representing high tech start-ups and public companies. She has been in the PR field for over 12 years and has worked with and for wide-variety of companies including: Oracle, Microsoft, Western Wireless, Neah Power Systems among others. In addition to her work with WLA, Ms. Chan has an avid interest in real estate, classical music and running. She was formerly a violist, playing extensively in Europe, California and the Pacific Northwest, most recently with the Vancouver Symphony. She received her undergraduate degree in English and Communications from the University of Puget Sound and her law degree from Seattle University. Ms. Chan is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Regina Vogel Culbert, Board Member
Regina Vogel Culbert concentrates her practice in intellectual property litigation, including patent, copyright, trademark and related claims of unfair competition. She earned her B.A. from Northwestern University and J.D. from Villanova University School of Law in 1985. Ms. Culbert has litigated a variety of matters involving software, web site design, trade dress, domain name disputes, and theft of trade secrets. Prior to moving to Seattle, she was a partner in a Philadelphia law firm, and held leadership positions in the Philadelphia Bar Association. Ms. Culbert is admitted to practice in the State of Washington and in the Federal Circuit, and is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, the American Intellectual Property Law Association and the American Bar Association. She is the 2006-2007 Chair of the King County Bar Association Intellectual Property Section, and serves on the Trade Secrets Committee of the Intellectual Property Owners' Association.

Robert C. Cumbow, Board Member
Robert C. Cumbow heads the intellectual property practice at the Seattle law firm of Graham & Dunn, and counsels a wide variety of clients on intellectual property, Internet, advertising and media law issues, concentrating on trademark and copyright protection and dispute resolution. He also assists his firm’s alcoholic beverage law clients with trademark protection, labeling, marketing, distribution, and advertising compliance. He is a past chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the Washington State Bar Association; a board member of Washington Lawyers for the Arts where he has been active as a volunteer for more than 10 years; and an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law, teaching Trademark Law and Advertising Law. He speaks and writes on law, language and movies.

Mandy Davis, Board Member
Mandy Davis is a marketing professional currently working as the marketing and promotions manager for Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism and visual communications from Brigham Young University and has been published by various media including the Associated Press, Reuters, Marketing and Utah Business. Ms. Davis has served on marketing committees for United Way of King County, Volunteers of America Western Washington, Puget Sound Attractions Council and the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the American Marketing Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and Public Relations Society of America.

Sean McChesney, Board Member
Sean McChesney is a Seattle attorney whose practice is focused on general commercial and intellectual property transactions and disputes. He earned an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Kansas. He received his law degree from Seattle University School of Law, with a focus on intellectual property. While attending SU, he also participated in WLA's Arts Legal Clinic. In addition to his involvement with WLA, Sean has served as a volunteer attorney for the Housing Justice Project, a King County Bar Association program that provides free legal assistance to low-income tenants facing eviction. Mr. McChesney is a member of the Washington State and King County Bar Associations.

J. Bowman Neely, Board Member
J. Bowman Neely is a graduate of New York University (B.A., 1995), the Art Institute of Chicago (painting), and the University of Montana School of Law (J.D., 2004). During law school, Mr. Neely was the editor-in-chief of the Montana Law Review. He worked as a law clerk for the United States Attorney's Office. Mr. Neely then clerked for Federal Magistrate Judge Lief B. Erickson. He has studied abroad as a visiting student at Oxford University, and is proficient in French and Spanish. Before law school, he was involved in the arts working for Sotheby's Auction House in New York and for a private dealer, as well as in the role of an artist exhibiting in New York and Los Angeles. He is a member of the bar of Washington.

Chad Smith, Board Member
Chad Smith is head of the trademark department at the law firm of Axios Law Group and is involved in the procurement of trademarks, strategic branding, and trademark prosecution. Mr. Smith is a former trademark examining attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. With an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering, he also works in patent preparation and prosecution for mechanical devices. He has spent several years overseas exploring the art and cultures of a variety of lands, including trips to Dubai, Latvia and Brazil. In addition to his work with WLA, he also volunteers his services to the Sustainable Style Foundation, an international nonprofit organization promoting sustainable living.

Staff:

Cal Kinnear, Administrative Director
Cal Kinnear comes to WLA with experience as a development officer/ fundraiser for nonprofits, most recently in education. He is a published poet whose work has been featured in such locally based poetry magazines as Point No Point, Crab Creek Review, and Fine Madness, as well as others. In addition to a history including ballet and modern dance productions in Olympia and Seattle (he remains a board member of Flamenco Arts Northwest), Mr. Kinnear is a founding donor and member of the Richard Hugo House, which serves Seattle's creative writing community. With a BA from Stanford University and an MA from Princeton University in English Literature, he eventually returned west to Olympia, where he ran a bookstore near The Evergreen State College, Word of Mouth Books, a hub for poets. Currently he lives and writes in West Seattle.

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