As a principal at Momentum Tech Law, Chris focuses his practice on representing companies in a wide variety of complex technology, intellectual property and commercial transactions. He structures, drafts and negotiates all types of such transaction agreements, including patent, trademark, software, know-how, trade secret and other technology licenses, outsourcing, OEM, consulting and strategic alliance transactions. He is also highly experienced with respect to services agreements, product sales and distribution arrangements, manufacturing agreements, technology development and transfers, reseller and distributor agreements, hosting and other e-commerce agreements.
He advises clients regarding open source software matters, including the work needed to clear new products and services for commercialization, policies and clearance work for new internal projects, and analysis of open source issues in connection with M&A transactions.
Chris counsels clients on data privacy issues and security, including with respect to compliance with GDPR and other data privacy laws. He helps companies formulate policies and agreement documents that address compliance with data privacy laws, and provides practical advice that clients find valuable in driving important business decisions.
He regularly advises on intellectual property and technology issues arising in corporate transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, debt financing, public offerings and bankruptcy. This advice includes performing diligence on all IP and technology aspects of potential targets (both on buy-side and sell-side), and negotiating deal documents. He has a wealth of experience with all stages of investments, and understands what investors need to know and understand to make well-informed decisions.
Chris has been a registered patent attorney for nearly 10 years. His clients appreciate that with his computer science and programming backgrounds, he can “talk the talk” and understand with more than passing familiarity his client’s technical projects.
Chris has counseled clients and handled transactions in a wide variety of fields, including in the automotive, financial, e-commerce, food, medical devices, aviation and data gathering industries, as well as in up-and-coming technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.
Professional Recognitions
Ranked as Up and Coming in the Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2018 edition, sources described Chris as “pleasant, professional, experienced and efficient,” and commented that he “does a very good job of explaining the significance of concepts to non-legal personnel.”
Education
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF LAW
Summa cum laude, Order of the Coif
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
Majors in Computer Science and Japanese
Bar Admissions
• Illinois
• Washington (inactive)
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office