About
A lawyer who has run the companies he advises
I have spent my career alternating between building organizations from within and helping others build theirs.
Charlie Knight has lived in Denver for more than 30 years and has been a lawyer for more than 40. He has also been the client, co-founder, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and general counsel of companies that had to make payroll.
The first degree was in experimental psychology, at UC Santa Barbara — an unusual starting point for a lawyer, and one that has never stopped being useful. Most deals come apart over what people believe about each other, not over the numbers.
A JD and an MBA at UCLA followed, then a corporate securities practice in New York, Los Angeles, and eventually Santa Barbara. That is the conventional half.
The other half is a bit more entrepreneurial. He co-founded companies and ran them, taking turns as chief executive, chief financial officer, and general counsel across renewable energy, medical devices, real estate, and automotive parts distribution — some private, some public. And he started a law firm focused on early-stage entrepreneurs.
The public work runs alongside, not after: general counsel of a state housing finance authority, now a commissioner of a city one, and board seats that scale up and all the way down to a few blocks of South Pearl Street. The teaching came out of all of it.
The quickest way to reach him is to write to him.
Experience
Earlier
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General Counsel Colorado Housing and Finance Authority
Also served on the authority's board.
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Founding Partner Venture Law Advisors, LLC
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Co-founder, CEO, CFO, and General Counsel Private and public companies
Renewable energy, medical device manufacturing, real estate, and product distribution.
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Corporate securities practice New York, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara
Education
- JD, University of California, Los Angeles
- MBA, University of California, Los Angeles
- BA in Experimental Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Certified Innovation Mentor, University of Notre Dame