Christopher “Chris” Michael Barkley was born on September 20, 1980, in Bellevue, Washington.
When Chris was 3, the family moved to Duncanville, Texas, where Chris attended Hastings Elementary and was in the gifted and talented program. Chris played several sports growing up but settled on soccer as his favorite. He attended Byrd Junior High where he played soccer and was in theater presentations and competitions. He was also in the Junior National Honor society.
Chris attended Duncanville High School, where he was chosen as starting goalie his freshman year for the high school soccer team. He not only excelled at sports (winning Goalie of the Year his senior year), but also academically, taking honors and AP classes and being selected to the National Honor Society.
Chris decided to play soccer in college and attended SMU in Dallas on a partial academic scholarship in engineering. Chris graduated cum laude from SMU in 2003 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and he went to work for Lockheed Martin as an engineering checker on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
Eventually, Chris attended law school at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, where he made the Southwestern Law Review after his first year and would later become an editor. Chris attracted the attention of the intellectual property law firm of Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto in Costa Mesa, California and he was asked to complete an internship the summer between his second and third years. When he graduated from the Southwestern Law School in 2007 Chris was offered a job with that firm and he passed the California bar that summer.
Chris met his future wife, Theresa Nguyen, his second year at the law firm. The two of them enjoyed traveling the world, and always loved the beaches of Southern California and visiting Disneyland.
Chris eventually join the Dallas-based law firm McCathern, Shokouhi, Evans, Grinke as a Partner in their Los Angeles office. There, Chris led the firm’s intellectual property practice group, where he used his engineering background to focus on patent matters and other technology-related legal matters. He praised his fellow McCathern lawyers and the firm, enjoyed working there, and earned several notable successful outcomes for his clients. Chris passed away unexpectedly on January 16th, 2022, but his life left an indelible impact on everyone who knew him. More than anything, Chris loved family, sports, children, and pets (especially dogs). His love for others, spirited manner, and hearty laugh drew others to him, and Chris was loved by many.