CHRISTOPHER E. NOVAK
PARTNER

Chris is an early distributed ledger technology adopter. He’s also a digital nomad and can be found working on client matters from places around the globe.

 

Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

Chris’s skillset runs the entire lifecycle of emerging technology, blockchain and AI companies, but he has deep expertise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and other complex corporate transactions. 

Prior to joining Ashbury in 2021, Chris worked at Skadden, which Forbes called “Wall Street’s most powerful law firm,” for nearly eight years. While there, he worked on the largest tech deal ever (Dell’s acquisition of EMC for $67 billion) and was the lead associate on most of WeWork’s significant transactions (including its founder’s attempted $47 billion squeeze out of minority stockholders – now dramatized in a miniseries on Apple TV+). 

Chris also performed freelance work for Fenwick, one of Silicon Valley’s prominent firms for startups, where he advised clients like Coinbase on M&A deals.

AT ASHBURY LEGAL
  • Advised a major VC fund on an $85 million investment in an industrial AI unicorn.

  • Successfully negotiated a $500 million governance dispute involving a major VC fund’s investment in a biotech AI unicorn.

  • Advised numerous clients on M&A deals, including companies in the software and blockchain verticals.

  • Advised numerous clients on debt and equity financings, including companies in the software, blockchain, gaming, AI, and spacecraft manufacturing verticals.

  • Advised DEX in connection with an SEC investigation.

  • Designed the staking protocol for a token with a top-20 market cap.

  • Advised blockchain exchanges and other marketplaces on issues related to FinCEN and securities law compliance.

  • Advised clients on securities law implications of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), including certain products related to government bonds and real estate interests.

  • Advised numerous clients on legally compliant blockchain token offerings. 

CREDENTIALS

BEFORE ASHBURY LEGAL

 

Skadden
Fenwick

 

EDUCATION

 

BS, University of Connecticut
JD, University of Connecticut

 

BAR ADMISSIONS

 

Connecticut
Massachusetts

 

CONTACT CHRISTOPHER: