Overview
Monica L. Keo-Newton is a corporate attorney who advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions, corporate governance, and complex commercial matters. She represents both buyers and sellers across a range of industries, delivering practical, business-focused guidance that advances strategic growth and investment objectives. Known for her collaborative approach and creative problem-solving, Monica partners closely with institutional investors, emerging companies, and established businesses to structure and execute transactions that align with their long-term goals. She brings a multidisciplinary perspective to her practice leveraging her Master of Sport Administration and Leadership to lead corporate transactions with a team-oriented, strategic mindset.
Originally from Hawaiʻi, Monica maintains strong ties across the Pacific and leverages her regional insight to support clients throughout the West Coast. Her work spans key markets from Alaska to Hawaiʻi, where she regularly advises on transactions involving fisheries, timber, agriculture, and other industries central to the region’s economy.
Prior to returning to the Firm as an associate, Monica was a summer associate with the Firm, consulted for local small businesses on corporate governance and formation issues, and negotiated commercial contracts in-house at a publicly traded company.
Education
Seattle University School of Law, J.D., cum laude; Student Commencement Speaker; Executive Business and Marketing Editor and Member & Alumni Subcommittee Chair, Seattle University Law Review; Research Assistant to Professor Sara K. Rankin
Seattle University, Master of Sport Administration and Leadership
Seattle University, B.S., Sport and Exercise Science, minor: Theology and Religious Studies, cum laude; Dean’s List; Division I Intercollegiate Athletics: Member, Seattle University Women’s Golf Team
Admissions
Washington
Hawaiʻi
United States District Court for the District of Hawaiʻi
Languages
- Khmer
Experience
Mergers and Acquisitions
- Represented West Coast-based forest products manufacturer in equity financing and multiple asset acquisitions of mill properties and redwood fence board manufacturing and distributing operations in northern California.
- Represented an Alaska seafood company in the acquisitions of the outstanding membership interests and substantially all the assets of various seafoods companies and processing facilities in Alaska and Washington.
- Represented an Oregon-based seafood company in its acquisition of five fish processing facilities in Kodiak, Alaska.
- Represented the minority members of an espresso machine manufacturer in their equity sale and rollover to an Italian home appliances company.
- Represented a Canadian asset fund in its acquisition of a California fruit and nut tree nursery and its related production orchards.
- Represented a Washington recycling and transportation business in its acquisition of substantially all the assets and real property of a metal and commercial and demolition recycling company in Snohomish, WA.
- Represented a Washington recycling and transportation business in its stock sale and equity rollover to a global asset management fund.
- Represented a consulting and project management firm in the carve out and divestiture of its governmental consulting and defense contracting business and represented its shareholders in the shareholders’ stock sale to a global project management firm.
- Represented the sole member in the sale and equity rollover of membership interests of a material handling solutions company.
- Represented an Alaska Native Corporation in its acquisition of substantially all the assets of a directional drilling company located in Washington.
- Represented an Alaska Native Corporation in its acquisition of all the membership interests of a general contracting business located in Alaska.
- Represented an Alaska Native Corporation in its acquisition of the membership interests of a coach tour business headquartered in Alaska, serving the Pacific Northwest.
- Member of the team that served as counsel to a joint venture’s acquisition of the fishing vessels, fishing rights, and other fishing assets of various Alaskan companies operating in the Bering Sea.
Other Corporate Experience
- Prepares and negotiates commercial agreements for an espresso machine manufacturer.
- Prepares and negotiates commercial agreements for a tree nursery.
- Provides counsel to a sustainable fishery in its general corporate matters.
- Provides counsel to a Washington-based timber company regarding corporate governance matters.
- Prepares and negotiates commercial agreements for a wood products manufacturer.
- Represented an industrial equipment supply company in a shareholder buyout transaction.
- Represented the issuer, a US manufacturer of paper goods, in its latest $6 million preferred unit offering.
- Represented the issuer, a healthcare technology company, in its Series C financing and convertible note debt financing.
- Represented an institutional investor in its $12 million investment in Series B of a medical software company.
- Represented an institutional investor in the $4 million investment of Series Seed of a medical software company providing doctors with an integrated charting platform.
- Represented an institutional investor in the $7.5 million investment Series B of a medical software company providing streamlined services in hospitals.
- Represented an Alaska-based seafood company in its $175 million refinancing.
- Represented a Washington-based seafood company in obtaining a $160 million syndicated credit facility to support its seafood processing operations.
Insights
Insights & Presentations
- Panelist on Navigating Starting Your Career at a Law Firm at the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Convention, November 2025
- Panelist, “LawYours: Diversifying the Legal Profession,” Seattle University School of Law, August 2023
- “For Richer or Poorer: Incentivizing Meaningful Investments in Qualified Opportunity Zones” (comment), 44 SEATTLE U. L. REV. 1227, 2021
- “Socially Responsible Investing and Qualified Opportunity Zones,” 41 ST. BAR ASS’N BUS. L. SEC. 6, 2020
- Memorandum on the Effects of AB5 and Dynamex on the Motor-Carrier Industry for Megan Lutes and the 2020 Transportation Lawyers Association Annual Conference, April 7, 2020
Press Releases
Recognition
- Trailblazer Award, awarded by the Seattle University School of Law Asian Law Students Association, 2024
- CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Corporate Tax
- CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Contract Drafting
Affiliations
Professional
- Association for Corporate Growth Seattle Y20 2023–2025 cohort, and Alumni Member
- Puget Sound Deal Network, Advisory Committee, 2023 - present and Member 2022 – present
- Stoel Rives’ Inclusion Committee, Member, 2026 - Present
- Stoel Rives’ Corporate Associates Meetings, Chair, 2022-2024
- Stoel Rives’ Associates Committee, firm-wide Co-chair, 2024 and Seattle Office Representative, 2023–2024
- Stoel Rives’ Recruiting Committee, Member, 2023–2024
Civic
- Campaign for Equal Justice - Washington, Board Member, 2026 - Present
- National Association of Cambodian American Lawyers, Founding Member, President-Elect, and Board Member, 2025 – Present
- Asian Bar Association of Washington, Board of Directors, 2023–present; Member, 2020–present
- National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Member, 2023 – present
- ABAW/CISC/ACRS Pro Bono Clinics, Volunteer Attorney, 2023– present
- Legal Foundation of Washington Associates Campaign for Equal Justice, Committee Member and Firm Co-Chair, 2022 – 2024; Statewide Campaign Co-Chair, 2024.
- Seattle University School of Law 1L Mentorship Program, Attorney Mentor, 2021–2024