"I chose to practice law because, as I was nearing the end of four years of exhilarating intellectual challenge in college, most of the occupations which presented themselves appeared bleak. I felt that the law might be one of the few occupations in our society which would continue this intellectual challenge. That has proved true, and I think being a lawyer in San Francisco is the best job in the world."

Christopher Hays began his legal career in New York, New York, with the firm of Satterlee, Warfield & Stephens (now Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke), where he gained considerable experience in securities, corporate transactional work, commercial litigation, real estate, trust and estate law, and media law. The Satterlee firm served large multinational corporations, emerging businesses, leading cultural institutions, and prominent individuals.

Mr. Hays migrated to San Francisco in 1973, and has practiced here continuously since then. He has made a specialty of representing people who own their own business, most of whom prefer not to suffer the hierarchy of larger law firms. They prefer to deal with the principal.

The Hays firm's clientele and their families typically share a constellation of similar legal needs across a broad range of fields, including Business Law, Contracts, Complex Real Estate Transactions, Estate Planning, Trusts and Estates, Wills and Probate, Commercial, Litigation, Corporations, Partnerships, and Securities.

During his years in San Francisco, Mr. Hays has developed a network of other attorneys, most of whom are also sole practitioners and are similarly skilled and qualified, who have special experience in areas of the law where expertise is required.

Mr. Hays has made arrangements with these attorneys for their association on matters where their expertise is required at professional reduced rates.