About Cate
Cate Beekman earned a B.S. in Public Affairs from Indiana University Bloomington in 2000 and followed that with an M.S. in Policy Analysis from the same university in 2001. She then attended the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, completing her J.D. in 2006. Those academic steps reflect an early intersection of public policy and the law.
After graduate school, Beekman worked as a policy analyst at the Center for Civil Justice in 2001. That early work examined how legal systems interact with social services and municipal programs. She moved from policy work to legal practice after law school, taking on public defense roles across several California counties.
Beekman began public defence work in Kern County in 2006, serving as a deputy public defender. The next year she joined the Solano County Public Defender’s office and then moved to the Napa County Public Defender’s office in 2011. In those roles she handled a wide range of criminal matters. Her duties included client counseling, pretrial litigation, plea negotiations and courtroom advocacy on behalf of people who could not afford private counsel.
Her membership record tracks long-standing engagement with professional organizations relevant to criminal defense. She has been a member of the California Public Defender Association since 2007. She joined the Napa Bar Association in 2016 and the Solano Bar Association in 2018. Since 2016 she has held membership in the California DUI Lawyers Association, and she has been listed with California Lawyers for Criminal Justice since 2019. These affiliations reflect ongoing involvement in practitioner communities that address criminal defense practice and policy.
Beekman now practices at Beekman & Chikhani, LLP. The firm listing follows years of public defender work and participation in bar and specialty associations. Her practice encompasses criminal defense matters, including representation in DUI cases and other state-level criminal charges. She splits her time between case preparation, client representation in court, and collaborative work with colleagues at the firm.
Colleagues and clients describe a lawyer whose background combines policy analysis and courtroom experience. That combination informs how she approaches legal issues and advocacy. She currently handles criminal defense and DUI matters at Beekman & Chikhani, LLP.
