Chris enjoys playing blues guitar, miniature model painting, The Big Lebowski, standup comedy, and politics.
Chris W. Basil
Associate
Practice Areas
Appellate practice; Complex commercial litigation (investment disputes and contracts); Construction litigation (private and public projects); Insurance litigation (coverage and bad faith litigation); and Torts (defamation, wrongful death, survival, premises liability, product liability, personal injury, automobile liability, uninsured/underinsured motorist arbitration, assault and battery).
Biography
Born and raised in La Crescenta, California, Chris graduated with Distinction in General Scholarship from the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in History. He then worked for multiple startup companies in the San Francisco Bay Area in business development and marketing roles before joining Accenture in Chicago as a Management Consulting Business Analyst.
Chris began his legal career as a summer law clerk for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Organized Crime Division and Astuno Sabel APC in San Diego, California. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. While in law school, he was a member of the First Generation Law Students Association and Older Wiser Law Students. Chris earned the Masin Family Academic Excellence Gold Award for Professional Responsibility, Employment Law, and Harmonizing Hollywood: Entertainment Disputes, Ethics, and Peacemaking, as well as the Masin Family Academic Excellence Silver Award for Business Associations. The gold and silver awards are given to the first- and second-highest performing students in a competitive law school course with a curve.
Chris began his legal career as a summer law clerk for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Organized Crime Division and Astuno Sabel APC in San Diego, California. He received his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. While in law school, he was a member of the First Generation Law Students Association and Older Wiser Law Students. Chris earned the Masin Family Academic Excellence Gold Award for Professional Responsibility, Employment Law, and Harmonizing Hollywood: Entertainment Disputes, Ethics, and Peacemaking, as well as the Masin Family Academic Excellence Silver Award for Business Associations. The gold and silver awards are given to the first- and second-highest performing students in a competitive law school course with a curve.
Notable Matters
- Sinanyan, et al. v. Five by Two Corporation, Los Angeles Superior Court: Obtained summary judgment on behalf of sushi restaurant in downtown Los Angeles against causes of action for negligence and premises liability in connection with an unprovoked attack on customers by arguing that the lack of evidence demonstrating prior similar incidents of violent conduct on the restaurant’s premises
- Dima v. Passages, et al., Los Angeles Superior Court: Obtained dismissal via judgment on the pleadings on behalf of rehabilitation-center client against negligence and breach of contract claims in connection with dispute over property lease.
Honors, Awards & Memberships
- Los Angeles California Bar Association
- Association of Southern California Defense Counsel
- Masin Family Academic Excellence Gold Award for Employment Law
- Masin Family Academic Excellence Gold Award for Professional Responsibility
- Masin Family Academic Excellence Gold Award for Harmonizing Hollywood: Entertainment Disputes, Ethics and Peacemaking (The Mason Family Academic Gold Award is given to the highest-performing student in a competitive law school course with a curve.)
- Masin Family Academic Excellence Silver Award for Business Associations (The Mason Family Academic Silver Award is given to the second highest-performing student in a competitive law school course with a curve.)
Education
J.D. University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
B.A. University of California, Berkeley, Distinction in General Scholarship
Bar Admissions
State Bar of California
United States District Court, Central District of California