Page 14 - Katten 2025 Pro Bono Annual Review

NORTHLIGHT THEATRE (NORTHLIGHT)

After retired Katten Partner and then-board member of Northlight Mike Callahan
introduced the matter in 2012, Janet Goelz Hoffman and Julia Schenk, among
other Katten attorneys and paralegals from Chicago, have provided end-to-end
legal support through property acquisition, construction planning, and regulatory
and fundraising challenges. Despite obstacles such as the pandemic and supply chain
disruptions, their guidance helped Northlight remain resilient and focused, ensuring
the project’s legal and financial foundations were secure as its construction of a new
theater home in Evanston now nears completion, slated for opening in 2026.

RECORDERS OF HOPE

Katten assisted this organization in dissolving as a
nonprofit corporation. Supporting attorneys, including
Janet Goelz Hoffman and Chicago Real Estate Associate
Justin Mahone, advised that it needed to donate any
remaining assets to another 501(c)(3) organization, so
the nonprofit selected a group in Haiti to donate all of
their remaining recorders to them. This nonprofit now
provides recorders and lessons to a wide variety of
youth in Haiti.

SUPPORTIVE HOUSING COMMUNITIES, INC. (SHC)

Charlotte Real Estate Partner J. Hayden Harrell and Associate Kirsten von Wahl
guided SHC through the sale of an affordable housing complex, advising on strategy,
marketing, contract negotiations and closing, to secure buyer commitments to a
right of first refusal for SHC’s clients and continued affordability restrictions. With
our assistance in navigating regulatory hurdles and maintenance cost burdens, SHC
was able to exit property management and refocus resources on serving the chron-
ically homeless.

VOCEL

Los Angeles Litigation Partner and Deputy General Counsel David Halberstadter
and New York Intellectual Property Partner Jessica Kraver conducted a compre-
hensive review of VOCEL’s educator training materials and led two workshops that
provided practical guidance on mitigating legal risks related to copyright, rights of
publicity, third-party content, attribution and likeness releases. Chicago White
Collar and Internal Investigations Partner Sheldon Zenner, who is personally
connected to the organization’s founders, noted that VOCEL has “come a long way,”
and credited Katten for “helping them continue to achieve” their mission of delivering
early learning opportunities in underserved Chicago communities.

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