About Charles
Charles Gardner trained at two West Coast schools before settling into a career that moves between production floors and conference rooms. He earned a B.A. in liberal arts from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984 and received his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles in 2000.
His career began on television sets. In 1989 he worked freelance in a range of production roles, including production supervisor, post production supervisor, script supervisor and stage manager. Those early years on set gave him practical insight into how shows are made, which later shaped his transition into legal roles within the entertainment industry.
Gardner shifted into legal work around the turn of the century. In 2001 he served as production counsel for freelance television production and worked as a litigation associate at Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow & Canter. He joined Warner Bros./Telepictures in 2003 as business and legal affairs counsel, moving from line production concerns to the contractual and rights issues that underpin programming.
He continued to move between law firms and corporate legal departments. In 2005 he was a senior associate at Bennett & Erdman. A year later he became director of legal and business affairs and senior lawyer at Harpo Studios, Inc., a role that placed him at the intersection of production, licensing and talent agreements. Since 2011 he has been special counsel in the Intellectual Property Group at Much Shelist, P.C., where he also heads the firm’s social media practice.
Gardner holds memberships in multiple bars and professional organizations. He joined the California State Bar in 2001 and the District of Columbia in 2003, the latter listed as inactive. He became a member of the New York State Bar in 2006 and the Illinois State Bar in 2011. He is a member of the American Bar Association and participates in the Chicago Bar Association and the American Inns of Court, Chicago-Lincoln Chapter, where he serves as a master of the bench.
His work spans intellectual property issues, social media policy and entertainment business and legal affairs. He has handled transactional matters tied to production and distribution as well as counseling on rights, clearances and online content considerations. His background in production and litigation informs how he assesses risk and negotiates agreements.
He is based at Much Shelist P.C. in Chicago, where he practices intellectual property and media-related law and leads the firm’s social media practice.
