Meet Cheerful Catunao

Cheerful Catunao is the founder of Catunao Law PLLC, an environmental law firm based in Bellevue, Washington. She advises businesses, developers, and government clients on complex environmental regulatory matters, including permitting, compliance strategy, environmental transactions, and litigation.

Cheerful brings nearly a decade of experience spanning private practice and public service. Before founding the Firm, she practiced environmental and natural resources law at two mid-sized law firms in Seattle, served as Associate Legal Counsel to the Governor of Guam, and began her career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Ecology Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. Having advised developers, represented regulatory agencies, and counseled government leadership, she offers clients a practical perspective informed by multiple sides of the environmental decision-making process.

Her practice spans a broad range of federal and state environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Washington’s Shoreline Management Act and Growth Management Act, and environmental review under SEPA and NEPA. She has guided energy, infrastructure, mining, and transportation projects through complex permitting and environmental review processes; managed environmental due diligence for transactions; and represented clients in federal and state courts and before Washington’s environmental hearings boards.

Originally from Guam, Cheerful enjoys spending time outdoors and on the water. A PADI-certified freediver, she can often be found freediving, surfing, hiking, or snowboarding. Outside of her practice, she enjoys spending time with her partner, mini dachshund, family, and friends.