Christos Michaels

Christos is a partner and also heads Lee & Thompson’s Film sector team.

He trained at magic circle city law firm Linklaters and then specialised there in international project finance before joining Harbottle & Lewis. Focusing on television and film, he was part of the Entertainment Law Team of the Year 1999 (as voted by Legal Business) and was also seconded to head up business affairs for the 10 television production companies at Chrysalis Visual Entertainment.

In 2000, Christos joined Mel Gibson’s Icon UK Group as Head of Business Affairs overseeing development, finance, production, sales agency and distribution in the UK and internationally. He was also in charge of all business affairs for Icon Distribution in Australia. Christos worked on an extensive range of UK, US and international films and television productions with budgets ranging from micro to blockbuster including the Icon-produced “What Women Want” and “Apocalypto”. He is one of the only private practice lawyers in the UK to have had this in-house experience at a leading US and UK vertically integrated independent film company.

Christos joined Lee & Thompson in March 2006. Using his unique experience, Christos represents a range of new and established producers and financiers in the film and television industries. Christos also heads up our Film sector group’s representation of leading distributors and sales agents.

Christos specialises in structuring the finance and production for independent films and helping implement exploitation models of new and established media.

Christos speaks at industry events and seminars in the UK and internationally. He also is a speaker on the acclaimed ‘Inside Pictures’ scheme and sits on the Media and Marketing Committee of the Medicinema charity.

The latest UK editions of legal directories Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 both rank Christos as a leader in his field. Clients describe him as as “really practical, very knowledgeable and an excellent lawyer“, “very accomplished and very commercial”, “extremely hard-working but also really approachable” (Chambers & Partners) and “a brilliant thinker” who is “tenacious, attentive and very well connected in the industry” (Legal 500).