People
Our experienced people give us the edge you need to grow your business.
Patent Attorney and Research Park Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Alan Singleton provides legal services to business clients in the areas of corporate formation and transactions, intellectual property, securities law, and real estate. He has over 24 years of experience working with entrepreneurs to develop solutions to the wide variety of business and legal issues they face in establishing and growing their companies. Through his commitment to serving the needs of clients, beginning with the selection of an appropriate business entity and continuing throughout their stages of development, Alan has established a reputation as one of the leading advocates for technology transfer and early stage companies in East Central Illinois. In recognition of his work, Alan was selected by the University of Illinois and the Champaign County EDC as the 2008 recipient of the Entrepreneurial Advocacy Award.
Alan has worked with clients to form limited liability companies, subchapter S corporations, subchapter C corporations, professional corporations, L3Cs, and not-for-profit corporations, including publicly supported organizations and private foundations. After formation, Alan regularly advises clients on issues including raising capital, securities compliance, taxation and implementing stock option plans. He has also assisted clients with mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, recapitalizations and real estate matters, including purchases and sales, leases, installment contracts, like kind exchanges, and zoning and land use issues.
A member of the patent bar, Alan represents clients in patent prosecution, trademark registration and negotiation of licenses and joint development agreements. He is familiar with the University of Illinois policies on technology transfer and has assisted with licensure of University technology on numerous occasions.
Alan is active in both the business and educational communities. He has served on the Advisory Councils of numerous technology companies and served on the list of advisors at the Illinois Technology Center. He is a member of the business plan review group Second Saturday and has served as a judge for the V. Dale Cozad Business Plan Competition and the Innovation Teams Entrepreneurship Competition.
Alan maintained an adjunct faculty appointment with the University of Illinois College of Medicine for roughly 20 years. He has given guest lectures for the University of Illinois MBA course on technology commercialization, the senior Capstone Design Course in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Idea to Enterprise Workshop, the Technology Entrepreneur Center Advanced Invention to Venture workshop and for medical residency programs throughout the state.
Alan earned a bachelor of science degree in Geology from the University of Illinois in 1988 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1991. Following law school and prior to founding Singleton Law Firm, P.C., he practiced with the Urbana law firm Webber & Thies, P.C. as an associate and then shareholder.
Alan is a member of the American Bar Association Sections on Business Law, Intellectual Property Law and Science and Technology Law, the Illinois State Bar Association Sections on Corporation and Securities Law (Member, Section Council) and Intellectual Property Law (Member, Section Council), the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Chicago Bar Association, and the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago.
Alan has chaired the EDC/techCommUnity Mentoring Program, has served on the board of the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club, and currently serves on the boards of the Mahomet Area Kids Endowment Foundation, Mahomet Seymour Soccer Club and the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation’s High Tech Advisory Committee.
Co-Founder and Entrepreneurship Specialist
Elizabeth (Liz) Kellner is a co-founder of Singleton Law Firm, P.C. and brings valuable experience and perspective to her role as Entrepreneurship Specialist/Paralegal.
Since Liz joined the Champaign-Urbana community 18 years ago, she has been involved with the local technology community in multiple capacities. Liz was involved at the ground level with technology commercialization at the University of Illinois in her role at the Technology Commercialization Lab (TCL) where she started in a temp secretarial role and grew to assistant business manager.
TCL was the original technology business incubator at the University of Illinois and the precursor to the current incubator,EnterpriseWorks. Liz is credited with reserving the domain name tech.com on behalf of the University’s first incubator.
Following her work at TCL, Liz served as Coordinator and then Executive Director of techCommUnity, a local not-for-profit organization designed specifically to assist with the growth of the local technology community. In those roles, Liz met on a regular basis with technology companies, venture capitalists, angel investors and University officials to provide assistance and nurturing to the technology community. She oversaw and assisted in the organization and implementation of such programs as techStart (an all day event designed to provide information to technology companies getting started), techMix, and the techCommUnity mentoring program.
Liz is actively involved in the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, where she serves as both a Board member and the Chair of the Technology Committee.
Because of her intimate association with the tech community, Liz has an understanding of the issues and challenges that entrepreneurs face and is uniquely qualified to identify obstacles and opportunities facing our clients. She is regarded as an advocate and resource for the local technology community, and she offers this expertise and a non-legal perspective to our work on their behalf.
The Team
With more than 100 years of combined experience,
we’re small and agile, yet powerful.
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Paralegal and Immigration Specialist
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Paralegal and Immigration Specialist
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Paralegal and Immigration Specialist