About Mr. Charles Barton
Charles Barton Brown built his career at the intersection of business and law. He studied finance at Georgetown University, completed further study in international marketing at Metropolitan University in 1978, and earned his J.D. from Seattle University School of Law in 1979. Those years set the rhythm for a professional path that moved from private practice into corporate counsel roles and later into senior advisory posts.
He began his legal career as an associate at Morrissey and Kay in 1982. In the mid-1980s he shifted in-house, serving as corporate counsel for HSBC when it was part of Household International in 1986. By 1988 he was division counsel at Wilson Sporting Goods, handling legal work inside a major manufacturing environment. That experience in corporate legal departments informed his next steps outside strictly in-house roles.
In the late 1990s Brown took on senior business and consulting positions. He was senior principal at Diamond Management and Technology Consultants in 1997. The following year he became principal at CorpLaw Associates, LLC. Those roles blended legal judgment with business strategy and exposed him to governance issues faced by companies across sectors.
Brown has long been active in bar and professional groups. He led the Chicago chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel as its president in the early 2000s, serving the chapter in 2002–2004. He also chaired the Chicago Bar Association’s Corporate Law Departments Committee from 1997 to 1999. At the community level he has taken on civic posts in Kenilworth, including multiple terms as president of the Kenilworth United Fund and service as vice president of the Kenilworth School Board from 2009 to 2013.
He is admitted to practice in Illinois and before the Federal Circuit. That combination of admissions and in-house experience has shaped how he approaches transactional and governance matters. Colleagues describe him as steady and pragmatic. He prefers clear, practical solutions over theoretical ones.
Throughout his career he has moved between roles inside companies and in advisory capacities. That movement gave him experience on both sides of corporate decision-making and dispute resolution. He has worked on compliance, contract, and corporate governance matters in businesses ranging from financial services to manufacturing.
As of 2026 he continues to practice law. He handles corporate law matters and supports companies and boards on counsel and governance issues.
