Charles Harder is a national litigation and trial attorney who practices in the areas of media law, First Amendment, defamation, privacy, reputation protection, entertainment, intellectual property and business litigation.

Licensed to practice in California, New York and the District of Columbia, Mr. Harder litigates cases in federal and state courts throughout the country, as well as arbitrations and administrative proceedings. His experience includes matters in a variety of industries: from representing Fortune 500 companies, to some of the most famous public figures in the world, including A-list film and television actors and producers, high net worth individuals, and the President and First Lady of the United States.

Mr. Harder literally “writes the book” on some of his core practice areas, serving as Editor and Co-Author of ENTERTAINMENT LAW & LITIGATION (2011-2020) a law treatise with in depth analysis of defamation, privacy, right of publicity, anti-SLAPP, royalty audits, copyright, trademark, employment, and insurance law.

In 2017, Mr. Harder was named California Lawyer of the Year in Media (winning the CLAY Award), by California Lawyer magazine.

Mr. Harder has been listed repeatedly in the Top 100 Lawyers in California by Daily Journal newspaper.

Mr. Harder has been listed repeatedly in the Top 100 “Power Lawyers” in America by The Hollywood Reporter (one of only 30 litigators).

Mr. Harder has been listed as a Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers Magazine (Thompson Reuters).

Mr. Harder has been listed repeatedly as an IP Star by Euromoney’s Legal Media Group.

In 2019, Mr. Harder prevailed in a federal lawsuit filed by former campaign staffer Alva Johnson against client President Trump.

In 2018-19, Mr. Harder defeated two federal lawsuits filed by Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Clifford) on behalf of client, President Trump, which included a six-figure award of attorneys’ fees for his client, and sanctions in his client’s favor.

In 2017, Mr. Harder won a multi-million dollar settlement payment and full retraction and apology on behalf of his client, First Lady Melania Trump, in a defamation lawsuit against the Daily Mail.

In 2016, Mr. Harder won a $140 million jury trial verdict for his client, Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea), in an invasion of privacy lawsuit in Florida against Gawker Media, causing the company to file for bankruptcy.

In 2011, Mr. Harder won an $18 million trial verdict for his client, Cecchi Gori Pictures, and obtained valuable film rights to seven motion pictures including The Departed and Shutter Island, and also defeated a $5 million counterclaim filed by the opposing party.

In 2009, Mr. Harder won four separate ICANN domain name arbitrations on behalf of four different A-list actors. Each case involved a three-arbitrator panel, and each decision sided 3-0 for Mr. Harder’s client. Links to each of these public case decisions are provided below, under “Reported Decisions.”

In 2007, Mr. Harder defeated an $11 million arbitration case on behalf of his client, UBISOFT, a Top 5 worldwide videogame publisher.

Mr. Harder has obtained numerous seven-figure and eight-figure settlements on behalf of his plaintiff-clients in recent years, and favorable settlements and defense verdicts on behalf of his defendant-clients.