Charles B. Ortner, a partner in the Litigation Department, focuses his practice on the entertainment and media industries. The matters which Chuck has handled, as a litigator or as a counselor and strategic advisor, cover virtually the entire entertainment and media legal and business landscapes, including copyright, trademark, false advertising and unfair competition, contract disputes, libel and slander, privacy, internal corporate investigations, defense of class actions, senior executive contract negotiations and terminations, securities law litigation, and significant business transactions, including mergers and catalogue acquisitions.
Chuck has represented many leading entertainment and media industry institutions, including: Bertelsmann A.G.; SONY/BMG Music Entertainment (including The RCA Records Group, Arista Records, J Records and Jive Records); Sony Music Entertainment; BMG Music Publishing; Universal Music Group (including Interscope Records and Island/Def Jam); Warner Music Group (including Warner Bros. Records, Elektra Records, Maverick Records, Atlantic Recordings and Warner/Chappell Music); EMI (including Capitol Records, EMI Records, Virgin Records and EMI Music Publishing); Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures; Hasbro, Inc.; Sega; Palm Pictures; Windup Records; Blackground Records; Ken Ehrlich Productions; and Primary Wave Music Publishing. Chuck has also represented many of the top personal managers in the music industry.
Chuck has represented many of the world’s most successful recording artists (including Madonna, U2, Shania Twain, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Michael Jackson, Sting, The Police, Janet Jackson, Green Day, Ke$ha, The Eagles, Bon Jovi, John Legend, Bonnie Raitt, Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Maroon 5, Joss Stone, My Chemical Romance, Matisyahu, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston, Meat Loaf, Collective Soul, Lauryn Hill, and Rob Thomas/ Matchbox 20), renowned record producers and leading entertainment industry executives and entrepreneurs (including Clive Davis, Jimmy Iovine, Chris Blackwell, Russell Simmons, Clive Calder, Robert Sillerman and Antonio “LA” Reid).
Chuck was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Board of Trustees of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for an initial six-year term in 2010, and was reappointed by President Obama for an additional six-year term in 2016.
Chuck is a member of the Board of Directors of the Grammy Museum, the Born This Way Foundation (Lady Gaga’s charitable foundation), and the Board of Trustees of the Multiple T.J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, Leukemia and AIDS.
He also served as president of the Kanye West Foundation, a charity devoted to educational initiatives, and as a member of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Hollywood Bowl Committee.
Chuck served as an Aide to John V. Lindsay, Mayor of the City of New York, and as an Assistant to Whitney North Seymour, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Education :
- Brooklyn Law School, J.D., 1971
- Washington University, A.B., 1967
Admissions & Qualifications : New York
Court Admissions :
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court, New York, Eastern District
- U.S. District Court, New York, Southern District
Memberships :
- American Bar Association
- New York City Bar
- New York State Bar Association (Committee on Reform of the New York State Legislature)
- T.J. Martell Foundation, Member of the National Board of Directors
- Americans for the Arts, Board of Directors
Cost
Rate : $$$