ABOUT ME

Christine Lawton is a leading media and entertainment transactional attorney and business advisor with over 20 years’ experience. As a partner at Nolan Heimann LLP, she focuses her practice on licensing and distribution transactions in entertainment, digital media, consumer technologies and consumer products. While holding senior business and legal affairs positions at Disney, DreamWorks, Universal and Fox, she became known for strategically and safely guiding licensing and distribution agreements for dynamic digital growth businesses. Adept at simplifying complex transactions, she’s especially sought-after for her skill in developing novel license and distribution agreements that launch media and distribution platforms and ensure their long-term futures. Her multi-industry domain knowledge and network of trusted executive relationships add further value to serving license and distribution needs of intellectual property-powered businesses

Key career highlights:

Trusted business advisor to Universal and Fox home entertainment presidents overseeing ~$1B annual revenue; member of senior management teams and business affairs and legal affairs department head.
Launched streaming and download licensing business for NBCU with Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Wal-Mart and Sony to add $40M incremental revenue.
Structured and negotiated a major motion picture studio’s first-ever immersive media development, production and distribution agreement.
Developed and executed $100M partnerships, and multiple manufacturing, licensing and distribution deals worth $10M-$50M annually.
Negotiated and administered ~300 digital platform licensing deals annually, each with term value of ~$5M+ to ~$10M+.
Optimized acquisition and distribution terms for home entertainment releases of multi-billion-dollar franchises, including Hunger Games, Twilight and Shrek.
Led Business Affairs digital platform innovations, including SVOD, VOD, digital lockers, 4K, AR, MR, and VR.
Structured and negotiated partner relationships for Fox Innovation Lab.
Boards

Vice Chair, Board of Directors, I Have a Dream Foundation – Los Angeles, 2016 – 2019

Member, Board of Directors, 2011 – 2019
Member, Development Committee, 2009 – 2014

Honors and Distinctions

Moderator, xRS Week 2019, How Entertainment Companies are Rethinking Immersion, October 2019

Panelist, Digital Hollywood, The Next Generation of AR/MR-Transforming Digital Interactions; Content, Devices, Platforms, May 2019

Moderator, Digital Hollywood, Women in the Industry: Developing Film, Television & OTT About Women – A Golden Age in Hollywood and Indie Production, May 2018

Faculty Advisor, Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute, 2015 – 2019

Moderator, Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute, Financial Acumen Webinar, March 2017

Co-Author, “Harmonize Your Trade Secret Protection to Protect Your Assets”, ACC Docket, December 2017

Co-Host and Moderator, Women’s In-House Counsel Leadership Institute Project 20/35, Disruptive Technologies Workshop, September 2017

Presenting Speaker, USC Gould School of Law, Black Law Students Association Annual Alumni Banquet, 2017

Member

USC Gould School of Law Intellectual Property Institute Planning Committee, 2016 – Present
USC Gould School of Law African American Admitted Students Committee, 2016 – 2018
2020 Women on Boards Los Angeles Planning Committee, 2016 – 2018
Association of Corporate Counsel Diversity and IP Committees, 2016 – 2018

Chairperson, USC Gould School of Law Reunion Committee, 2010

Curriculum Advisor and Lecturer, USC Gould School of Law Entertainment Law Program, 2009 – 2013

Hub Co-Leader, Women’s Network @ NBCUniversal Los Angeles, 2010; Co-Chair, West Coast Regional Legal Conference on Women & Diversity, 2009)

Education

University of Southern California Gould School of Law – JD (1990); Merit Scholar Award (full tuition scholarship plus stipend)
University of Delaware – BA, Communications, French (1985); Reporter, UD TV News Program; Member, UD Dance Company; Certificate Studies, University of Paris, La Sorbonne

Contact

clawton@nolanheimann.com

christinelawton03@yahoo.com

(M) 818-749-7337