Christopher J. Matarese

Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 1999)

Harvard College (A.B., cum laude, 1996)

Christopher was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up in a suburb of New York City before attending Harvard College. At Harvard, Christopher was the Captain of the Varsity Rugby Team, which placed 3rd in the nation. He was a first team selection for the All Ivy League and All East Coast Teams.

After graduating from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, Christopher began his practice in the tax department at O’Melveny & Myers. He joined Ajalat, Polley, Ayoob, Matarese & Broege in 2001 and became a partner in the firm in 2003.

Christopher specializes solely in all areas of California state and local taxation. In the past few years he has resolved literally billions of dollars of property tax disputes. He favorably settled a $100 million franchise tax issue after a California Supreme Court victory and he recently resolved a franchise tax matter resulting in an approximate $75 million of tax savings. Christopher has handled several extremely large city tax matters, saving his clients over $200 million in city taxes. His clients range from large companies like General Motors to large individuals like Shaquille O’Neal.

Christopher has authored articles in numerous publications including the Los Angeles Lawyer and State Tax Notes (General Motors v. Franchise Tax Board: California’s Sales Factor includes Gross Receipts from “Direct Sales” of Securities but Excludes Gross Receipts from Maturities and Repurchase Agreements). He also co-authored two chapters for the Institute for Professionals in Taxation Sales Tax Manual: Sales Tax Administrative Appeals and Court Action-The Final Decision and authored an article on property tax change in ownership law for the USC Tax Institute.

Christopher has lectured extensively on state and local tax issues before numerous organizations including the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, the Western States Petroleum Association, the American Bar Association, the California State Bar Association, the USC Tax Institute, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the San Diego County Assessor’s Office and the CPA Society. He served as the Chairman of the Los Angeles County Bar Association State and Local Tax Committee and the Chairman of the State Bar State and Local Tax Committee.

Christopher attended college and law school with his wife Christiana and has four wonderful children.