Climate work is all we do.
The world is changing. You need a law firm that understands the latest climate issues and opportunities.
The regulatory context is changing and the climate crisis presents real business risks and leadership opportunities.
State and local jurisdictions are quickly implementing building performance or emissions standards. At the same time, private companies are making climate commitments that impact the entire supply chain.
Our unique perspective, as a lawyer and sustainable building practitioner, means that we are able to help our clients navigate this evolving landscape. We leverage our knowledge of contractual tools and frameworks, and extensive background in sustainability, to help our clients align their contracts with their climate goals and targets, including key metrics and milestones.
As strategic partners on your climate journey, we apply technical, sustainable building experience to the stickiest legal and regulatory issues.
The legal profession needs to innovate to meet the complexity of the climate crisis and clean energy transition, as it collides with the increased availability and quality of DIY legal services that AI can provide.
Here’s an analogy: our clients don’t want a drill, they want a hole in the wall. They don’t want fancy law offices, high hourly rates, and opaque billing practices; they want specialized support, deep sustainability knowledge, the ability to control costs, and a proactive practice that evolves with the latest technology and quickly-changing regulatory landscape.
Making Sense of Sustainability: we help our clients make climate-informed business decisions that add value and mitigate risk.
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Building and portfolio owners, tenants, and organizations who:
Need to comply with building performance standards or carbon disclosure laws and don’t know how to get started or even which regulations apply to them.
Want to leverage collaborative lease language to comply with Building Performance Standards, corporate carbon commitments, market demands, or to manage risk.
Need to understand whether and how new climate regulations apply to them (do we fall within thresholds? Do we really need to track and disclose Scope 3?)
Want to implement climate-aligned contract language to support climate goals throughout their supply chain.
Need to lease in a very high performing building, and want to understand their obligations and manage any associated risks.
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We help our clients make sense of sustainability
Compliance with Building Performance and Emissions Standards
Building Performance Standards (BPS) are a new type of regulatory tool and a necessary step to meet climate action goals. If you are a building owner and concerned about compliance and potential penalties, we know what to do. We can help you update your lease language and templates to create clarity, reduce uncertainty and align tenants towards shared climate goals.
We leverage the latest research to craft climate-aligned contracts, including lease language that takes the pain, guesswork and risk out of compliance with building performance standards.
The great majority of leases were drafted in a time that pre-dates building performance standards and ESG goals and metrics. Chances are, your lease language has not been updated to reflect these new regulatory requirements - now is the time as compliance deadlines in many jurisdictions are looming.
Regulatory and Strategic Guidance
We help our clients navigate the latest climate-related regulations and industry standards to add value, increase resilience and reduce risk.
We leverage the latest language for climate-aligned contracts to meet the current regulatory and market risks.
We make sense of sustainability: because it just doesn’t have to be that hard.
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As a solo law firm, we focus exclusively on climate work. And we are one of the few firms with counsel who maintains multiple sustainable building credentials: LEED Green Associate, WELL AP and Faculty, Fitwel Ambassador, LFA.*
We bring in experts from our network when necessary.
For certain matters and clients, we have the opportunity to quote flexible rates or pricing structures, including flat rates (again, where appropriate).
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Provided strategic guidance regarding compliance with new climate regulations; developed several options based on client’s risk tolerance and business goals.
Developed innovative lease language for very high performing project; identified and resolved technical issues, and translated performance goals to enforceable metrics.
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For some clients, we offer monthly subscription plans:
Here’s an analogy: our clients don’t want a drill, they want a hole in the wall. They don’t want fancy law offices, high hourly rates, and opaque billing practices; they want specialized support, deep sustainability knowledge, the ability to control costs, and a proactive practice that evolves with the latest technology and quickly-changing regulatory landscape.
Building Performance Standards are a great example - entities working to comply with new requirements need standby support and the option to pick up the phone, or send an email, with a quick question or clarification.
Monthly subscription plans are a great option. If you are interested, contact us to discuss your specific needs, and we can determine if a subscription service is a good fit. We have an established set of “tiers” - generally based on a combination of business needs, estimated hours, complexity, and type of issues - we can work together to find a plan that works for your business.
We also offer hourly rates and for many clients, flat-rate or project specific rates.
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Contact us!
206-450-0887
And check out our Leasing Best Practices Guide annd Climate Counsel Blog, where we post a significant amount of free information and resources.
What we do: Climate aligned contracts
Has your company made a climate commitment - such as “net zero by 2030” - and now you need support to make progress towards, and enforce that commitment through your supply chain? We can provide clear next steps.
We also help our clients align climate work with material Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals and metrics, to avoid greenwashing, add value to investors and other stakeholders, and comply with regulatory requirements.
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Founding Attorney (she/her)
J.D., WELL AP and Faculty, LEED Green Associate, Fitwel Ambassador, LFA, Honorary AIA*
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Seattle University School of Law
Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude, May 2006; Dean’s List, 2005-2006
University of Michigan
Bachelor of Science, School of Natural Resources and Environment, December 2002
Professional Coursework
- Vanderbilt University on Coursera: Generative AI for Legal Services Primer; course completed, March, 2025
- University of Pennsylvania on Coursera: The Materiality of ESG Factors, four course specialization; certificate earned, March 19, 2022
- Harvard Extension School: ENVR E-125, Creating, Implementing, and Improving Corporate ESG Reporting; course completed, December 2021
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Nicole combines more than a decade of legal experience with deep knowledge of sustainable building practices.
She practiced insurance and construction law in the Seattle area for more than ten years, before she decided to focus her efforts on climate work full time.
Nicole is also an Affiliate Instructor at the University of Washington, Department of Real Estate Studies, where she teaches the course she developed, Risk and Reward in Sustainable Development. She also developed and taught the course Policy and Planning, at Boston Architectural College. Among other published work, Nicole authored a chapter of the award-winning book Health and Wellbeing for Interior Architecture (IDEC 2018 Book Award), published by Routledge.
Nicole is a WELL AP and Faculty and has served on two advisories: Task force on COVID-19 and Other Respiratory Infections and Health Equity advisory. In fact, she was an early adopted of WELL and one of the first 2,000 WELL APs.
Nicole was also a member of the team of lawyers tasked with transposing the work of The Chancery Lane Project, to US markets and relevance. She demonstrated her leadership regarding climate-aligned contracts, through this pro bono work, crafting some of the first model clauses of this type, designed for US markets. Nicole transposed what is now known as “Willow’s Clause,” which works to manage the impacts of embodied carbon in construction.
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AIA Honorary Membership, AIA Seattle, 2021
Awarded Honorary Membership for leadership on holistic sustainability, and legal stewardship of sustainable architecture and development in the Seattle community.
IWBI 2022 Educator of the Year
Named Educator of the Year by the International WELL Building Institute, for engaging and empowering the next generation of healthy buildings professionals.
Puget Sound Business Journal, 2023 LGBTQ+ Outstanding Voices
Honored as an outstanding LGBTQ+ business leader and advocate, whose work has made a more inclusive business community and driven the regional economy.
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Quoted in Reuters re: ESG predictions for 2025
Quoted in Construction Dive re: navigating sustainability provisions in construction contracts
Quoted in Forbes and Financial Times
Invited to join the California Lawyer's Association's ESG podcast (video)
ESG for Washington State Bar, author of lead article
Nicole’s practice is grounded in a rare combination: deep technical fluency in sustainability and hands-on legal experience spanning the full arc of the built environment — from design and construction through development. This dual foundation shapes how she approaches client work, bringing both technical and legal dimensions into alignment to drive deeply sustainable outcomes while managing the associated risks.
Did you receive a letter from the Department of Commerce and don’t know what to do next?
We have you covered…
We provide a variety of options for building owners and operators (commercial and multi-family) who need support complying with Washington's Clean Buildings Performance Standard and the City of Seattle's Building Emissions Performance Standard. Depending on client need, we potentially provide a suite of legal services, including:
- Analysis of whether buildings are in scope, and any potentially applicable exemptions.
- Identification of relevant timelines and documentation requirements.
- Guidance regarding paths to compliance and related strategic decisions.
For certain clients, we can offer flat rate or subscription services, in addition to more traditional hourly fee structures. Learn more about How We Can Help.