Chris Chatham is one of Hollywood’s legal power brokers and steers many industry-shaping deals. Chris has a client base that operates on a number of media platforms with approximately 400 million users and over 2.5 billion views per month, generating over 1,000 hours of original scripted and unscripted content per year (including the number one syndicated television (TV) talk show). In addition, his clients are involved in developing dozens of pilots and films, renewing multiple shows on network, cable, streaming (including the number one show and mini-series on Netflix) and podcasts (including fastest growing podcast on Spotify) and selling more than 80 million books. Over the past decade, he has facilitated deals that collectively amount to an estimated $10 billion in value.

Understanding his clients’ objectives and risk tolerance, Chris 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 artists, 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 allows 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 free ad-supported streaming TV channels and other complex 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.

Chris’s 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, his impactful work has earned him recognition as a top dealmaker for 11 consecutive years (and counting) 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.