Practice Areas

Business Law

Tax and Estate Planning

Corporate

Transactional Law

Shelley's practice is concentrated in business law with an emphasis on tax and estate planning. She has counseled corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships, as well as many individuals seeking tax and business transactional advice. Businesses represented include accountants, apartment and commercial building owners, contractors, dentists, farmers, importers, manufacturers, manufacturers' representatives, not-for-profit corporations, orchardists, physicians, realtors, real estate developers, retail stores, private schools, trucking companies, wholesalers, and many others.

As an attorney for many private businesses, Shelley has also developed and implemented many succession plans and other plans of reorganization to facilitate the transfer of ownership and control from one generation to the next. These transactions require careful attention to corporate, estate planning, tax, and other areas of law.

Shelley is also experienced in federal tax controversies and collection actions, including employment tax disputes, discount valuation litigation, and installment and offers-in-compromise negotiation with the Internal Revenue Service.

Ms. Buckholtz also has commercial and fiduciary litigation experience, including representation of employers and employees in employment related disputes.

Reported Cases:

Christensen v. Grant County Hospital d/b/a Samaritan Hospital, 114 Wn.App. 579, 60 P.3d 99 (2002). In a matter of first impression, Ms. Buckholtz obtained reversal of trial court's summary judgment dismissal of her client's cause of action for wrongful discharge.

Education and Personal Background:

Shelley received her law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law (J.D., Magna Cum Laude, 2000). Her honors and activities included Gonzaga Law Review and the Moot Court Council. She then received a masters law degree from the University of Washington School of Law (LL.M. in Taxation, 2001). While working toward her masters degree, she was a Research Assistant to Professor Meade Emory.

Ms. Buckholtz received her undergraduate degree from Loyola Marymount University (B.A.1994) and also a masters degree from George Washington University (M.A. 1996).

Ms. Buckholtz is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, the U.S. District Court (Western District and Eastern District). She is also a member of the WSBA Young Lawyers, Practice Conditions Committee, the WSBA Taxation Section, and the WSBA Real Property, Probate and Trust Section. She has also volunteered her time for the King County Bar Association Volunteer Association for People With AIDS/HIV.

In her spare time, Shelley is into photography, skiing, golfing, cycling, and enjoying the outdoors with her husband and their two children.