Christian A. Horsnell is a founding member of Milom Horsnell Crow Rose Kelley PLC and its predecessor firm and has been providing services to the entertainment and intellectual property industries for over thirty years.  Chris began his nascent legal career when he was hired by Mike Milom as a summer associate and clerk with the Nashville firm of Barksdale, Whalley, Gilbert and Frank while in law school in 1977 and has proudly practiced with Mike, the senior partner and founder of Milom Horsnell Crow Rose Kelley PLC, continuously since his graduation in 1979.

Chris concentrates his practice in the areas of corporate, business, entertainment, copyright and intellectual property.  His practice has provided him with extensive experience in the selection, formation, organization and governance of business and non-profit entities; the purchase and sale of intellectual property assets; the analysis and management of complex copyright issues; brand protection and management; and the termination of transfers of copyright, in addition to issues presented daily by a general practice in the entertainment industry.

Chris is the author of “Works for Hire in Sound Recordings Under the Copyright Act of 1976,” 2 Journal of Copyright, Entertainment and Sports Law, 61 (1983), which won first prize in ASCAP’s Nathan Burkan Memorial Competition at Vanderbilt University Law School.  He has authored or co-authored a number of featured articles on copyright and the music business in the Nashville Bar Journal and Music Row Magazine.

Chris has taught Copyright Law and Intellectual Property Law in the Mike Curb School of Entertainment and Music Business of Belmont University and the Law of the Entertainment Industries at Vanderbilt Law School.  He was a co-creator and organizer of the Mastercard® Priceless Edge music business program in 2002 and also served as a lecturer in and dean of the program in 2002 and 2003.  He is a graduate of Leadership Music and past president of the W. O. Smith Nashville Community Music School and The Rochelle Center.

Chris received his B.S. degree in 1971 from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, his M.Ed. degree in 1975 from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) and his J.D. degree in 1979 from Vanderbilt University, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and an Associate Justice of the Moot Court Board.

Chris was named the “2011 Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year in Nashville” and has been selected for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America^® in the practice areas of Copyright Law, Litigation-Intellectual Property and Trademark Law by Best Lawyers / U.S. News and World Report.  Chris is also the proud recipient of a Creative Writing Award for his article “Madam Register, Please Don’t Help Us Anymore” in Music Row Magazine.