Named both a “Power Lawyer” by The Hollywood Reporter and to Variety’s “Legal Impact Report,” Chad Fitzgerald is a Partner in the firm's Litigation Department and specializes in complex entertainment matters as well as business and intellectual property litigation.
He represents showrunners, producers, writers, directors, actors, musicians, professional athletes, production and distribution companies, clients in the fitness, apparel, toy, and gaming industries, the entertainment guilds, talent and business managers, and the major talent agencies.
Chad focuses on entertainment industry disputes regarding profit participation audits, vertical integration, and distribution (including streaming), litigation involving copyright, trademark and trade secrets, fraud, rights of privacy, and defamation, and transactions for entertainment industry clients. His profit participation audit matters have resulted in $500 million in settlements, judgments, and awards for his clients. Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Global Entertainment, Sports & Media Lawyers” Guide describes Chad as representing “the glitterati of Los Angeles – as well as the power players behind the scenes” and “the man to call for television profit participation audits.”
Chad has written numerous articles on legal issues in the entertainment industry, regularly appears on panels and seminars discussing entertainment law, is frequently quoted in media outlets such as Puck, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline, and the Daily Journal, teaches entertainment law classes at the UCLA School of Law, and sits on the Advisory Board for UCLA School of Law’s Ziffren Institute for Media, Entertainment, Technology and Sports Law.
Chad began his legal career as an entertainment litigation associate at a prominent Los Angeles firm, worked in legal affairs at Universal Pictures, and practiced for almost 20 years at an entertainment litigation boutique before joining Greenberg Glusker. During law school, Chad externed for the Honorable J. Spencer Letts of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and volunteered with the HIV/AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA).
