Christopher Chatham is one of Hollywood’s legal power brokers and steers many industry-shaping deals. He has amassed a roster of globally celebrated entertainment luminaries, and he ensures that these clients are treated as fair and equitable partners in their respective projects. Over the past decade, he has facilitated deals that collectively amount to an estimated $10 billion in value. Chris masterfully utilizes the most relevant resources of the Firm to meet the diverse needs and objectives of his clients.
Understanding his clients’ objectives and risk tolerance, he serves as a trusted business and legal partner, structuring and negotiating unprecedented deals on behalf of his clients and bringing them successfully across the finish line. He represents high-profile individuals and companies from media, entertainment, production, hospitality, sports and technology as well as family offices, startups, professional athletes, celebrities, public figures and influencers. His execution-oriented approach and unique breadth of experience handling cutting-edge transactions allow his clients to adapt and grow their businesses in today’s advanced data- and technology-driven marketplace. His portfolio also includes mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, brand monetization, cross-border transactions, equity and debt financings, corporate governance, and partnerships between the world’s top influencers and the best entrepreneurs and operators. Chris has become the go-to lawyer in town for complex corporate and commercial transactions involving icons and moguls across a wide range of industries, including media, entertainment, technology, sports, consumer brands, health and wellness. He also tirelessly works alongside his clients to launch their most ambitious charitable endeavors.
His broad litigation and advisory practice covers the gamut of media and entertainment law, including misappropriation of the right of publicity, employment dispute, defamation, blockchain and cryptocurrency, business tort, class action, intellectual property protection and enforcement, breach of fiduciary duty, privately held companies, the formation and division of trusts, and real estate and commercial matters. He efficiently assembles the right teams to quickly and effectively implement calculated strategies from the inception of the dispute through the end of trial.
Frequently recognized as one of the entertainment industry’s top lawyers, Chris has a client base that is operating on a number of digital platforms with approximately 200 million users with over 2 billion views per month, generating over 1,000 hours of original scripted and unscripted content per year (including the No. 1 syndicated TV talk show), developing dozens of pilots, renewing multiple shows on network, cable, streaming, and podcasts, and selling more than 60 million books. His impactful work has earned him recognition as a top dealmaker from various media publications across the country, including Variety’s Legal Impact Report and the publication’s highly competitive Dealmakers Impact Report; The Hollywood Reporter’s Top Dealmakers, which features major game-changing deals that have impacted the showbiz landscape; and other major nationally recognized outlets, such as the Los Angeles Times, Reuters and Bloomberg. Before starting his career as a lawyer, Chris was a corporate bond trader on Wall Street and a registered representative of the National Association of Securities Dealers, coordinating billions of dollars in debt offerings for clients.