D. Christopher Osborn, Esq.
Shareholder
Area of Practice
Litigation
Profile
Chris Osborn’s approach to construction, real estate, and employment disputes is to gain a clear understanding of the client’s primary goals in a given situation, and assist the client then to formulate the best strategy for achieving them as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. Drawing upon his wealth of litigation and alternative dispute resolution experience in a wide variety of forums and settings, Chris has developed a knack for obtaining practical solutions and favorable results for land developers, builders, contractors, property owners, and other kinds of small-to-medium sized businesses in Charlotte and the surrounding area.
Chris has lived and practiced law in Charlotte since 1995. He began his career in the courtroom, as an associate with a well-known insurance defense firm. While the substantial trial experienced he gained was invaluable, Chris wanted to explore other substantive areas of law. Thus, he left private practice to serve as a as law clerk for The Honorable Carl Horn III, then-Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of North Carolina. While working with Judge Horn to manage a full civil docket of federal cases, Chris expanded his knowledge of commercial disputes and employment law. He also co-authored Law for Physicians: An Overview of Medical Legal Issues, AMA Press, 1999, with Judge Horn and Donald Caldwell, contributing the chapters on employment discrimination liability and medical malpractice claims avoidance and defense.
Upon returning to private practice in 2000, Chris began to develop an interest and gain experience in his current areas of practice: construction law, real estate disputes, and employment law. Since joining Horack Talley in 2001, Chris has litigated matters in state and federal courts throughout North Carolina, and has been admitted to practice before the federal courts in the Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of North Carolina, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has also handled numerous appeals of property tax valuations before the Mecklenburg County Board of Equalization and Review and the North Carolina Property Tax Commission in Raleigh, with his most notable success being a successful appeal to the Commission that reversed Mecklenburg County’s 2006 attempt to tax Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte’s Re-Store as a for-profit enterprise.
In 2009, Chris was certified as a Superior Court Mediator by the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission, and has begun to devote a portion of his time to serve a mediator in all kinds of civil litigation matters.
Chris has also presented at numerous CLE seminars on construction disputes and mechanics’ lien law, as well as professional and legal ethics. Together with Michael Kahn, a former attorney and licensed professional counselor, Chris developed ReelTime CLE, a unique interactive seminar format that makes getting ethics credit hours enjoyable, as well as of practical benefit for participants. ReelTime CLE presentations use film clips from contemporary movies to stimulate discussion of how attorneys can best guard against the most prevalent underlying causes of professional misconduct and ethical miscues.
Outside the office, Chris serves as a member of the Mecklenburg County Bar’s “Professionalism, LawyerLife, and Culture” Committee, an Elder at Hope Community Church, a soccer coach at the Harris Y, and (with his wife, Wendy), a parent to three active and vivacious daughters. When he has spare time, he enjoys writing, playing soccer, hiking, playing guitar, golf, whitewater rafting, and singing with the infamous Horack Talley Band.
Education
J.D., University of Virginia, 1995, Hardy Cross Dillard Scholar, Virginia Law Review
B.A., English & Political Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1992, James M. Johnston Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa
Bar Admission
North Carolina, 1995
Professional Affiliations
Mecklenburg County Bar
North Carolina Bar Association
Practicing: Litigation
