Kerry Brockhage

Inhouse Attorney: Senior VP; chief counsel, content distribution, NBCUniversal Media

UC Hastings College of the Law, 1984

Brockhage crafts the agreements for NBCU’s broadcast TV stations to be retransmitted by cable TV, satellite and telco platforms, where battles over pricing have intensified in recent years. “The good news is you’re usually able to find an agreement that works for both sides,” she says. “So the incentive’s there, and the market’s working.” In addition to retrans for broadcast, Brockhage negotiates cable network carriage transactions, TV Everywhere deals for Rio Olympics coverage and compliance with consent decrees/FCC orders approving earlier Comcast acquisitions.

Gabriel Brakin

Inhouse Attorney: Exec VP, business and legal affairs, Participant Media

UCLA, 2005

Brakin is responsible for developing and executing industry strategies for Participant, the socially conscious producer behind this year’s best picture Oscar nominees “Bridge of Spies and “Spotlight” (the latter won). However his biggest deal was not for a project, but for a company: Amblin Partners, co-founded by Steven Spielberg and Participant founder Jeff Skoll, along with Reliance Entertainment and Entertainment One. “At a firm, you deal with some really large transactions for multiple clients,” says Brakin, who began his career doing transactional work for O’Melveny & Myers. “But once you’re inhouse, you take ownership of everything, from the big to the small.”

Peter Brodsky

Inhouse Attorney: Exec VP, business & legal affairs, Sony/ATV Music Publishing

Brooklyn Law School, 1990

Sony/ATV leads a music-publishing industry drive to convince the Justice Department to allow publishers to negotiate music deals directly while also assigning other transactions to outside performing rights organizations. “The market will set the price in a fair way through direct negotiations,” says Brodsky. Sony/ATV did direct deals until an internet music service won a court decision. Brodsky notes that PROs are hamstrung by government consent decrees, so they’re not suitable to handle all transactions. His duties include new-media initiatives, content agreements and legislative advocacy. He played a lead role in Sony’s EMI Music Publishing acquisition.

Seth Krauss

Inhouse Attorney: Chief legal officer, WME | IMG

Washington U. School of Law, 1995

With WME | IMG mushrooming through acquisitions, the company now has employees in over 25 countries and operates in even more. “The complexities only grow as you get bigger,” says Krauss, citing his general counsel duties touching cross-border transactions, achieving tax efficiencies, employment matters, litigation, privacy regulations, and protecting IP across a sprawl of jurisdictions. He focuses on spotting issues, and then marshals legal assets to resolve. Based in New York, Krauss oversees legal affairs, business affairs and risk management as the talent agency diversifies into ownership businesses. He joined in 2014 from vidgamer Take-Two Interactive.

Robert D. Lister

Inhouse Attorney: Chief legal officer and chief development officer, Imax Corp.

Fordham U., 1993

The highlight of Lister’s year was a series of deals that laid the groundwork for the successful IPO of subsidiary Imax China, which now has a valuation of $2.5 billion. It was no easy feat, given regulatory challenges facing a foreign entity doing business in the country. “It’s impossible to do it as just a Western company,” says Lister, who worked inhouse for a healthcare company before getting into the exhibition biz. “We knew going in we’d have to find the right Chinese partners,” in the government, as well as with exhibitors and local studios, “and have a largely Chinese workforce.”

Gwen Marcus

Inhouse Attorney: Exec VP, general counsel, Showtime Networks

NYU, 1981

Marcus is Showtime’s New York-based chief legal officer, handling everything from distribution agreements and regulatory issues to litigation. In her 32nd year with the network, she’s gone from analog to digital with all the enthusiasm of a first-year associate, most recently shepherding the launch of Showtime’s OTT service and dealing with piracy issues surround its carriage of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. With the latter, “we brought preemptive copyright action against pirate websites and shut them down before the fight,” she says. “I’d like to think that sent a message to some of the other pirates out there that they can’t be engaging in wholesale stealing of our intellectual property.”

Tina Perry

Inhouse Attorney: Exec VP, business and legal affairs, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

Harvard Law School, 1999

Perry has played a key role in shaping Oprah Winfrey’s cable network over the last five years and oversees business and legal affairs for OWN, including all scripted and unscripted programming and digital properties, as well as the recently established subsidiary OWN Studios. In the past year, Perry led negotiations for the OWN/Lionsgate deal for the upcoming scripted series “Greenleaf” from writer-producer Craig Wright, which she describes as “a pivotal moment” in her time at OWN. “It’s been great for me because there’s an entrepreneurial, innovative spirit in this company in particular that I have found incredibly rewarding.”

Lisa Pongracic

Inhouse Attorney: Senior VP, business affairs, HBO

Columbia U., 1988

As co-head of business affairs for HBO’s original series programming, Pongracic has crafted co-production and licensing pacts with Warner Bros, NBC/Universal, Fox, Sony and Lionsgate. In December, she helped beat Netflix in a bidding war for David E. Kelley’s series “Big Little Lies.” She acknowledges that competition for quality TV programming has increased during her 13 years with HBO but doesn’t think it’s all due to rise of streaming services. “There’s more competition,” says Pongracic,“ but I don’t think it’s necessarily different competition.”

Stephen Zager

Inhouse Attorney: Senior counsel-finance, Netflix

Hastings College of Law, 1999

Now streaming in more than 190 countries, Netflix has become a pioneer in acquiring global rights to content, which runs contrary to the traditional territory-by-territory dealmaking of content sellers. “The issue will diminish over time, but current factors we’re dealing with include bringing together exclusivity, windows and availability rights for select titles throughout the world,” Zager says. “We’re looking to program for a global audience, but complications arise when not all content is available in all territories.” Zager negotiates, structures, and drafts agreements for original content with producers, banks, hedge funds, equity investors, completion guarantors, and sales agents. He joined in 2014 from Loeb & Loeb.

Andrew H. Bart & Daniel A. Rozansky

Bart: Litigator: Partner and co-chair of content, media and entertainment, Jenner & Block
Rozansky: Litigator: Partner, Jenner & Block

Bart: Columbia U. Law School, 1978
Rozansky: Loyola Law School, 1992

Edgy lyrics can inflame juries, whom Bart and Rozansky navigated around in a court proceeding representing rapper Jay Z. The strategy led to a quick federal district court dismissal of a music sampling lawsuit in which Jay Z was a defendant. Lyrics were “not relative to the issue being tried and were potentially prejudicial,” says Bart, who reps music and film clients, including Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Bros. Pictures. Rozansky’s practice covers entertainment finance, implied-fact contracts, rights of privacy and publicity, and reality TV. Other cients include the Kardashians, Bunim/Murray Productions and Ryan Seacrest Productions.

Jill Basinger

Litigator: Partner, litigation, Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro

U. of Michigan Law School, 1997

As a key player on her firm’s litigation team, Basinger’s current cases range from repping MGA in a contract dispute over TV series based on MGA’s Lalaloopsy toy brand and ad sales agreements between MGA and Viacom, to representing Denise Richards in an ongoing dispute with Charlie Sheen. “Although these are business issues, they’re highly personal,” notes Basinger, whose clients include WME, Daniel Chun, Keith Olbermann, Paula Deen and 26 Management. “It’s important to keep in mind that no matter people’s fame or wealth, at the core they’re people who experience events the same way anyone else does.”

Ivy Kagan Bierman

Litigator: Partner, Loeb & Loeb

Northwestern U. School of Law, 1984

Bierman has two rules to resolving thorny Hollywood labor disputes — just make credible assertions and keep the negotiations civil, never personalized. This keeps discussions focused on “the issues that need to be resolved,” paving the way for both sides to make concessions for a deal, she says. “So we walk all away from the table feeling we got to the best place we could.” A transactional and litigation attorney, Bierman represents film, television and digital media companies, national advertisers and advertising agencies in entertainment and labor matters. in 2015, the Beverly Hills Bar Assn. named her Entertainment Lawyer of the Year.

Christopher Chatham

Litigator: Founder, Chatham Law Group

Southwestern Law School, 2005

Chatham handles both litigation and transactional work, which is unusual in the entertainment law community. “I’d rather litigate a dispute over one of my contracts rather than one someone else wrote,” says Chatham, who did a stint as bond trader at Lehman Bros. before law school. He’s representing actress Cynthia Sikes in a dispute with the children of her late husband, “All in the Family” co-creator Bud Yorkin. More than 600 hours of television are generated by his clients, who include Dr. Phil McGraw (“Dr. Phil”), for whom he has also served as an on-air legal analyst.

Kenneth L. Doroshow & A.J. Thomas

Litigators: Partners, Jenner & Block

Doroshow: Cornell Law School, 1989
Thomas: Harvard Law School, 1991

Wealthy technology companies that disclaim responsibility for copyright infringement on their systems create friction with content makers. “We’ve been at this a long time, but rules of responsibility for all the various players in digital space are still being written and fought over,” Doroshow says. “The lines are increasingly blurry” as tech and content businesses often overlap. Washington, D.C.-based Doroshow specializes in intellectual property and content protection. His clients include major trade orgs such as the Entertainment Software Association, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America and some of their members. Specializing in intellectual property litigation, Thomas represents NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. and Fox.

Bonnie E. Eskenazi

Litigator: Partner, Greenberg Glusker

Stanford, 1985

Eskenazi’s recent case load has included the Marley Natural cannabis branding deal for the Bob Marley estate and the estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien in a rights dispute with Warner Bros. and the Saul Zaentz Co. But her most interesting litigation is an ongoing case regarding whether a competitor can remain anonymous in a court battle over defamatory remarks made about an industry rival anonymously via email. “It pits our longstanding unfair competition laws in the state against the new technologies that allow people to engage in anonymous banter,” Eskenazi says.

Bryan J. Freedman

Litigator: Founding partner, Freedman+Taitelman

U. of the Pacific’s McGeorge
School of Law, 1990

Personal managers, talent agents and promoters can violate rules imposed by government, unions/guilds and sports leagues if they stray by providing unauthorized services. Such middlemen “have to be careful to stay on their own side of the street,” Freedman says. “If they are not carefully schooled in each particular area, the result can be devastating.” The risks are that their client talent may legally void contracts and also sanctions imposed by oversight industry groups and government. Freedman reps UTA over departing agents, Rebel Entertainment’s Richard Lawrence seeking packaging fees from syndication’s “Judge Judy,” and Variety owner Penske Media Corp.

Patricia (Patty) Glaser

Litigator: Litigation department chair and partner, Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro

Rutgers School of Law, 1973

Glaser’s work this year includes serving as lead trial counsel for Morgan Creek Prods. in a dispute concerning a biopic of rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, advising Boulevard Management in defense of a suit by NBA star Gilbert Arenas, and repping Rysher Entertainment and 2929 Entertainment in a contract-related case against Cox Media Group. “Contracts are conceptually one of the most difficult areas to deal with,” says Glaser, whose clients also include WME, New Regency, Roar, El Rey Network, Intrepid Pictures, Bold Films, CBS Entertainment, Disney and Sony. “It’s fun and it’s a challenge.”

David Halberstadter

Litigator: Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman

Georgetown U. Law Center, 1982

In February, Halberstadter helped achieve a victory for client Summit Entertainment in a precedent-setting case in which an Iraq War veteran claimed the 2009 Oscar-winning film “The Hurt Locker” was based on his experience as a bomb disposal expert. “The result has been a fairly strong statement that creators of works like this absolutely have a First Amendment right to tell these stories,” he notes. His other cases this year include defending Cumulus Media in a putative class action and defending director Terry Gilliam in a copyright infringement suit.

Neal Raymond Hersh & Joseph Mannis

Litigators: Partners, Hersh, Mannis & Bogen

Hersh: Southwestern Law School, 1976
Mannis: Loyola Law School, 1971

When working at distant locations such as film shoots, a divorced parent faces revising visitation for his or her children and has to deal once again with lawyers of former spouses. “It’s becoming a more and more prevalent issue with the world of young celebrities with children,” says Hersh. Arrangements can be expensive with logistics, educational tutors and sometimes even paying travel costs for an ex-spouse. Mannis says judges usually accept whatever the parents agree to, but “when you can’t get a deal in place, then you end up in court.” Hersh and Mannis represent executives, talent and athletes in family law for divorce, pre-nups, child support-visitation-custody and privacy.

Sean F. Kane

Litigator: Co-Chair, Interactive Entertainment Group, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz

Fordham U., 1998

At the forefront of interactive entertainment for the past decade, Kane’s practice encompasses some of the leading players in social media and videogames across all platforms, negotiating licenses, publishing agreements, acquisitions, development, distribution and IP rights for the likes of Take-Two Interactive Software, Ubisoft, Square Enix and Bandai Namco Entertainment. “I count my work with Kabam to be one of my biggest accomplishments,” says Kane, who’s worked with the company on successful titles like “Marvel Contest of Champions,” “Star Wars: Uprising” and “Fast & Furious: Legacy.” “I am proud to have been a part of such a vibrant and creative team.”

Michael Kump

Litigator: Founding partner,
Kinsella Weitzman Iser
Kump & Aldisert

U. of Michigan Law School, 1981

With the media landscape exploding, Kump finds that the adage “content is king” has never been more true than it is today. “As a result,” he says, “the question of ownership of rights is of critical importance.” To future-proof content deals, he says partners must sort out what rights are involved, who controls those rights and how can they be exploited. “Deal with it today because tomorrow might be too late,” he adds. A litigator involved in intellectual property and contract disputes, he represents the Kardashian and Jenner sisters in various litigations, “House of Cards” producer Media Rights Capital and WME | IMG in a copyright case.

Steven Marenberg

Litigator: Partner, head of media and entertainment litigation practice Irell & Manella

U. of Chicago Law School, 1980

Marenberg hears a growing chorus of gripes from plaintiffs now landing in arbitrations from Hollywood contracts written years ago. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the next few years, we see court cases alleging that the obligation for arbitration is unfair and the cards are stacked,” he says. “But I don’t believe that to be true.” He supports the dispute-resolution process because the legal experts in charge conduct more efficient proceedings than regular courts and decisions are more predictable than juries of non-pros, who sometimes render real head-scratchers. Marenberg represents UTA, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios and other Hollywood clients.

Pierce O’Donnell

Litigator: Of counsel, Greenberg Glusker

Georgetown U., 1972

A top litigator since representing Art Buchwald in his successful suit against Paramount over the theft of his idea for “Coming to America” in the mid-’80s, O’Donnell was sidelined by a six-month suspension for illegal campaign contributions, but bounced back in 2014, joining Greenberg Glusker. There, his work on behalf of Shelly Sterling forced the sale of the Clippers, and his repping of Sumner Redstone’s long-time friend Manuela Herzer helped expedite a changing of the guard at CBS and Viacom. O’Donnell loves his job but laments the increasing lack of civility. “We see too many shrill, nasty (things) in emails and letters,” he says. “I try to teach young lawyers that they’re not going to get anywhere and judges hate it.”

Dan Petrocelli

Litigator: Partner, trial practice committee chair, O’Melveny & Myers

Southwestern U. School of Law, 1980

Petrocelli prevailed in bringing a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by music producer Dr. Luke, Kasz Money Inc. and Prescription Songs against his clients Vector Management, pop star Kesha’s management company. It was recently reported he’ll continue to rep the pop star as the dispute continues. He also won summary judgment for Fox in the “Empire” litigation. In addition, he reps Top Rank Boxing and Manny Pacquiao., and Sirius XM in six landmark lawsuits concerning alleged rights in sound recordings fixed before 1972. “It’s a very important issue — probably the most single important issue in the music and broadcast industries,” Petrocelli says.

Mathew Rosengart

Litigator: Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig

Boston College Law School, 1987

Movie employers are offering fewer pay-or-play deals, but Rosengart sees more disputes over such guaranteed paydays. Litigation commences, but court trials don’t necessarily follow. “The stakes are high in a trial” he says, because court decisions are typically all-or-nothing to each party. So “there is a general trend of litigation to be resolved amicably as opposed to the parties incurring the time and expense of a protracted trial.” Rosengart reps Red Bull Media House, Michael Mann, Mary Tyler Moore for privacy, and Sean Penn in a defamation lawsuit and other matters.

Orin Snyder

Litigator: Partner and co-chair, media, entertainment
and technology practice group, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

U. of Pennsylvania, 1986

Snyder has been called “the deadliest trial lawyer in tech” for his work on behalf of Apple and Facebook. He’s defending Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s startup Square Inc. in a dispute over its mobile credit card reading tech. “As we’re trying to squeeze a bricks-and-mortar legal structure into a virtual world, sometimes it’s ill-fitting; a lot of my practice deals with creating new rules.”

Joel R. Weiner

Litigator: Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman

Berkeley, 1988

Weiner’s recent victories include winning a copyright infringement lawsuit over the teddy bear in “Ted” through a stipulated dismissal for Seth MacFarlane, Universal Pictures and MRC; and prevailing in his motions to dismiss and strike all claims against filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and his related companies in a suit regarding “Machete” and “Machete Kills.” Weiner says one of his biggest challenges is devising strategies for resolving disputes early. “My clients have the wherewithal to take cases to trial or settle; it’s more satisfying to win the case before it gets to that point.”

Howard Weitzman

Litigator: Partner, Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert

USC Law Center, 1965

The huge court awards to Hulk Hogan and sportscaster Erin Andrews for invasion of privacy heartens Weitzman. “You can see public sentiment moving toward the celebrity in this area of right of privacy and invasion of people’s personal space by media,” he says. The decisions are by lower courts and Weitzman hopes that “the appeals courts will even the playing field by providing boundaries for misconduct that invades people’s private space.” Litigator, transaction attorney and strategic adviser, Weitzman is also defending the estate of Michael Jackson.

Karl Austen

Transactional: Partner, Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein

Harvard Law School, 1989

Profit-participation and co-ownership deals in the premium pay and digital arenas can have a “significant upside” for talent, says Austen. “People who weren’t prepared to work in digital TV even five years ago are now happy to do so.” Austen represents actors Peter Dinklage, Corey Hawkins, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jonah Hill, Jude Law, Eddie Redmayne, and Kristen Wiig; writer and “The Martian” producer Simon Kinberg; “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” director and co-writer Matt Reeves; filmmaking brothers Anthony and Joseph Russo; and “Transparent” TV series creator Jill Soloway.

Daniel H. Black

Transactional: Shareholder and chair, West Coast entertainment and media practice, Greenberg Traurig

George Washington U.’s
National Law Center, 1976

Black finds that producers of digital content come in all sizes. Besides the startups that need financing, Black also reps big non-Hollywood companies wanting to directly inject their intellectual property into digital media. They become producers to “much more closely manage the integration of their messages and product into that content.” Examples include cosmetics giant Revlon and characters house the Pokémon Co. Intl., which Black reps. His practice encompasses both corporate and talent including Conde Nast Entertainment, the BBC over-the-top TV initiative, writer-producer Natalie Krinsky and writer-producer-TV show creator Robert Padnick.

Susan Bodine

Transactional: Partner, Cowan, DeBaets,
Abrahams & Sheppard

U. of New Hampshire School of Law, 1981

Bodine has advised “Narcos” helmer Jose Padilha and is negotiating a deal with Netflix’s Local Originals Group for him to write, executive-produce and direct a six-part Brazilian series. She also worked on the distribution deals for the A&E movie “Lila & Eve,” starring Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis, and the international and domestic production of the upcoming eight-part remake of “Roots,” which will be simulcast across A&E, History and Lifetime. “Being based in New York all this time, my practice is quite diverse,” Bodine says.

John Branca

Transactional: Partner, head of the music Department, Ziffren Brittenham

UCLA Law School, 1975

When Branca helped Michael Jackson buy the original ATV music catalog in 1985, many “thought we overpaid,” Branca recalls. Jackson put down $11 million of the $40 million net purchase. Now selling its remaining stake, the estate reaps a gigantic return from proceeds and dividends. Branca notes that catalog revenue skyrocketed from synchronization rights for commercials, TV and movies, as well as performance rights. Branca also reps Mariah Carey, Julio Iglesias and Authentic Brands.

Christopher Brearton

Transactional: Managing Partner, Century City office, Latham & Watkins

U. of Virginia School of Law, 1998

Brearton has seen joint ventures mushroom in the past two years. That’s because of uncertainty about which territories and also which release windows will thrive amid digital disruption. “Industry players are putting multiple bets on the table rather than taking 100% of the risk themselves,” he says. He reps TV networks, sports, media technology and financial entities; clients include AMC Networks, International Olympic Committee, MGM, NextVR, Participant Media, Sierra Pictures and Starz Entertainment.

Harold Brown

Transactional: Partner, Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown

UC Berkeley School of Law, 1976

Brown believes the notion of powerful lawyers lording it over Hollywood is overblown. “The power is not with us, but with our clients,” he says. “We just come along to articulate what they want to accomplish.” He adds that celebrated lawyers are merely “wet noodles” when the clients are minor. Brown’s practice includes Michael De Luca, Craig Ferguson, Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Stephen King, Michael Mann, George Miller, Gwyneth Paltrow and Steven Spielberg (with fellow Gang, Tyre attorney Bruce Ramer).

P. John Burke, Marissa Román Griffith & Christopher S. Spicer

Transactional: Burke: Partner, head of entertainment & media

Griffith: Partner, entertainment & media

Spicer: Partner, entertainment & media

Akin Gump
Strauss Hauer & Feld

Burke: Southwestern Law School, 1976

Griffith: Stanford Law School, 1993

Spicer: Georgetown U. Law Center, 2005

Prints and advertising used to be rare in movie financing, but Griffith says, “now, more and more, we’re seeing P&A as part of the production financing plan from day one” to assure cinema release. Such marketing financing sounds attractive as usually the first priority is to pay off, though Burke notes that increasingly “pictures are having trouble these days recouping P&A fast enough to justify the investment” by financiers. Spicer adds that, in the past, financiers could predict a floor for the box office “with some certainty based on your P&A spend, but now, with social media, when there is a bomb, even with a substantial P&A spend, the domestic box office number could be virtually nothing.” The trio handles corporate transactions for financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, high-net-worth individuals and producers. Bank clients include Bank of America, CIT Bank, Comerica, East West Bank, MUFG Union Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase. Others include Content Partners, Media Rights Capital and RatPac-Dune Entertainment.

Joseph Calabrese

Transactional: Global chair of entertainment,
sports and media practice, Latham & Watkins

Cornell Law School, 1981

Hollywood entertainment and global sports continue to have worldwide appeal and increasingly intersect, Calabrese says. An example is his work for Qatar-based sports TV outfit beIN Media’s purchase of Hollywood library Miramax. “There is a confluence between sports and scripted entertainment,” Calabrese says. He sees an appeal for international buyers, who perceive that it’s “increasingly easy to exploit that content via new digital and over-the-top platforms” around the world. He advised Legendary Pictures in its $3.5 billion sale, Warner Bros. buying OTT video outfit DramaFever, Warner Bros. for its tie-up with LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant in his alliance with China’s Alibaba Group.

Shaun Clark

Transactional: Partner, transactional entertainment, technology and advertising practice group, Sheppard Mullin

Loyola Marymount U., 1996

Clark reps Activision Publishing and virtual reality pioneers Oculus VR in licensing deals and creation of their production studios, and Snapchat in the launch of its Discover in-app content platform. “Every brand out there is now a content producer and distributor,” says Clark, who did bank financing in his first years of practice, including film deals. “And the complexity of where content is going to be run and what goals are going to be accomplishing is changing daily as new distribution platforms pop up.”

Lindsay Conner

Law Firm Transactional: Partner & co-chair, entertainment and media practice, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Harvard Law School, 1980

With an established specialty in pacts for financing, production and distribution of studio and independent film and television slates, Conner recently represented Sony Pictures Entertainment in two deals equaling more than $1 billion. He also repped Beijing’s Perfect World Pictures in a five-year, 50-film co-finance deal with Universal Pictures. “It’s exciting to work on the cutting edge of the emerging China-Hollywood partnership,” he says. “The deal — at a reported value of $500 million — was the first direct investment by a Chinese company in the film slate of one of the six major studios.” Other major clients include Imax and newly combined AT&T/DirecTV.

Christine Cuddy

Transactional: Partner, Kleinberg Lange
Cuddy & Carlo

Stanford Law School

Some foreign intellectual property that falls into the public domain gets its U.S. copyright restored automatically under certain circumstances, though Cuddy says this isn’t widely recognized. “It’s a little obscure because it only applies to U.S. copyrights for foreign works,” she says. Movies, stage plays and books can benefit. Cuddy recently advised the estate of D.H. Lawrence that the copyright for “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” qualified as restored. Her practice includes Hollywood writers such as Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (“The People vs. O.J. Simpson”) and book authors such as George R.R. Martin and Anne Rice. She also handles corporate work, including copyright counsel for chain-of-title reviews for Alcon Entertainment.

Lisa E. Davis

Transactional: Partner, entertainment group Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz

NYU School of Law, 1985

Davis’ New York practice focuses on documentary and feature film, live theater, unscripted television, sports and branded entertainment, and advising clients on publishing, endorsements, merchandising and ancillary markets. “I’m proud to have helped many wonderful creative clients launch important works that changed the world — including my work as counsel on the documentary films ‘Free Angela,’ ‘The Blacklist,’ and ‘9/11,’” says Davis, who is also a noted public speaker. Other clients she salutes for their work include Spike Lee, whom she repped on “Malcolm X” and “Jungle Fever,” author Terry McMillan, the late Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Manning Marable and playwright Anna Deavere Smith.

Craig Emanuel

Transactional: Managing partner, Los Angeles Office; chair, entertainment department

Loeb & Loeb

Monash U. (Melbourne), 1981

There’s a tendency to position digital media as a monolith, but Emanuel encounters differences. In content deals with Hollywood talent, Netflix seeks early windows, limited theatrical release and talent bonuses that are hard to structure because of the lack of viewership data. On the other hand, Amazon supports a more traditional theatrical release and “if there’s success, there’s the potential for an upside backend,” he says. A transactional attorney, Emanuel reps talent and production companies in TV and movies. Clients include Cirque du Soleil, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ryan Murphy and Robert Rodriguez.

Alan J. Epstein

Transactional: Partner, Venable

UCLA School of Law, 1987

Epstein handles transactional and tax matters for talent (Tyra Banks, Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson), companies (Imagine Entertainment, Bad Robot, Illumination Entertainment) and execs (Amy Pascal, Marc Shmuger). That often means shepherding deals that span entertainment, tech and commerce, as he did with the launch of Banks’ direct-sales cosmetics business and Hudson’s line of athletic wear. “There’s an increasing willingness of talent to go transactional, stepping out of their traditional roles … and pursuing entrepreneurial activities,” says Epstein.

Gregg Gellman

Transactional: Partner, Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman

Loyola Law School, 1992

The conventional wisdom is that overall studio deals are fast becoming a thing of the past for writers, but they’re common among Gellman’s clients, who include show creators Kenya Barris (“Black-ish”), Adam Reed (“Archer”), I. Marlene King (“Pretty Little Liars”) and Dave Erickson (“Fear the Walking Dead”). “The evolution of our business has understandably created concern for a lot of people, but it’s also created opportunities,” says Gellman, who began his career with a one-year stint as a litigator. “A big part of our value to our clients is helping them to discover those opportunities and ultimately take advantage of them.”

Michael Gendler & Kevin Kelly

Transactional: Partners, Gendler & Kelly

Gendler: UCLA School of Law, 1980

Kelly: UCLA School of Law, 1989

With the boom in TV series from digital streamers, Gendler avoids deals that lock down his creative-talent clients, allowing them the freedom to pounce on multiple opportunities. TV series orders these days can involve just six or 10 episodes, less than in the past, “so you want clients to have the ability to produce more than one series in a year,” he says. Four clients each have four active TV series. Gendler and Kelly’s law firm represents Meryl Streep, David Chase, Howard Gordon, David E. Kelley, Alex Kurtzman, Rob Marshall, Steve Martin, Roberto Orci, Chris Pine and Shonda Rhimes.

Cliff Gilbert-Lurie

Transactional: Senior partner, Ziffren Brittenham

UC Berkeley School of Law, 1979

TV program transaction models, which used to be stable, change constantly in the digital revolution. “I’ll work for weeks or months on a deal involving a digital service, and when the next one comes along I have to revisit the entire template,” Gilbert-Lurie says. What’s in flux are windows, hold-backs from certain media or competitors, co-ownership vs. work-for-hire, geographic territories, stacking rights, time frames and exclusivity vs. non-exclusivity on fifth year of production. A transactional lawyer, Gilbert-Lurie advised Imagine Entertainment on receiving an investment infusion and procedural TV juggernaut Dick Wolf Entertainment on renewing its NBCU alliance through 2020.

Lev Ginsburg

Transactional: Co-founding partner,
Ginsburg Daniels

UCLA School of Law, 2002

Ginsburg has structured multiple complex talent deals over the past year for clients who include Rachel Bloom, Donald Glover, Nikki Glaser and Jaimie Alexander. He closed pacts for Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly — writers of “Star Wars: Episode IX,” which Trevorrow is also directing. Trevorrow and Connolly also wrote “Jurassic World,” directed by Trevorrow. The duo is now writing “Jurassic World 2.” Ginsburg also demonstrates his passion for animal rescue — including at the office. “After learning about the appalling conditions in Los Angeles’ high-kill shelters, some of my colleagues and I got involved with local rescue organizations like NKLA Pet Adoption and the Forgotten Dog Foundation,” he says. “My two rescue dogs come to work every day as our resident ‘Attorneys at Paw,’ and our office is better for it.”

Joshua Grode

Transactional: Partner, co-chair transactions group, Irell & Manella

Loyola Law School

Grode sees virtual reality today where Internet digital stood 15 years ago — a new wrinkle about which Hollywood is unsure. For example, should content buyers get the right to edit to enhance the VR viewing experience? “There are a lot of deals percolating” to create VR content and infrastructure, he says. His clients include Wanda Group, including its $3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment, the Motion Picture Academy for its $341 million “Oscar bonds” financing, Miramax in its sale and distributor A24.

Alan Grodin

Transactional: Partner, Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin

NYU School of Law, 1967

Grodin finds that new media requires a new roadmap for talent deals. For transactions with digital streamers, the dearth of viewing data makes calculating any profit participation difficult, so he emphasizes guaranteed money. For virtual reality productions, talent needs protections since VR technology has uncertainties in production. “Many believe that VR is the Next Big Thing,” Grodin adds. He reps director Doug Liman, producer Anant Singh, “Ride Along 2” writers Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, and Stephen Chow, who is the creative force behind the $500 million China box office grosser “The Mermaid.”

Justin G. Hamill

Transactional: Partner, deputy chair-media and entertainment group, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Boston College Law School, 2003

Hamill crafts transactions for companies and media platforms to buy content entities that produce, distribute, provide services or control events. “The art of the deal is aligning the incentives of the buyers, and the sellers and founders,” he says. Often that involves providing earn-outs and potential equity to key executives to keep them onboard. Specializing in mergers and acquisitions and in private equity, he repped WME | IMG in its Miss Universe, Dixon Talent and Professional Bull Riders acquisitions; Vice Media for its Viceland joint venture; and digital/commerce startup Thrillist Media Group receiving a $54 million infusion.

David M. Hernand

Transactional: Partner, mergers and acquisitions practice, Paul Hastings

Georgetown U. Law Center, 1992

Specializing in M&A and venture capital, Hernand’s been instrumental in forging large international entertainment deals, including Fosun Group’s acquisition of Cirque du Soleil and China Media Capital’s joint venture with Warner Bros. and Universal’s Beijing theme park. He also repped DreamWorks Animation and AwesomenessTV in the acquisition by Verizon of a 24.5% stake in the latter. “With cutting-edge work at the intersection of technology and entertainment such as Collective Digital Studio’s acquisition by ProSieben, Hearst’s earlier investment in AwesomenessTV, and Viacom’s investment in DigiTour Media, Paul Hastings has been on a tear,” he says.

Kenneth Hertz & Seth Lichtenstein

Transactional: Hertz: Senior partner, Hertz Lichtenstein & Young

Lichtenstein: Managing partner, Hertz Lichtenstein & Young

Hertz: UCLA School of Law, 1984

Lichtenstein: Howard U. School of Law, 1984

Hertz and Lichtenstein have an abundance of overlapping duties with each other and fellow partner Jamie Young, servicing a client list that includes Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, No Doubt, Gwen Stefani, Idris Elba, will.i.am, Celine Dion, Melissa Etheridge, Herbie Hancock, Jason Mraz, Keith Richards, Britney Spears, David Blaine and Jamie Oliver. “A lot of our time is spent helping our clients figure out how to migrate into other industries where they can leverage their popularity,” Hertz says. Recent highlights include brand deals for Ariana Grande (MAC, Coach, Lipsy, UMG) and structuring a UBS partnership for photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Carolyn Hunt

Transactional: Partner, entertainment, media and sports practice group Barnes & Thornburg

Georgetown U. Law Center, 1996

Much of Hunt’s work in the past year involved structuring finance and production deals for film and TV, including repping East West Bank in its co-financing deal for the film “Hollywood Adventures” and other banks in connection with the production loan for the first two seasons of the Netflix series “Marco Polo.” “Netflix is a new entity, so they do have their own requirements,” Hunt says. “They’re an excellent partner for a lot of producers, and financiers are really happy to work with them. They’re a great addition to the marketplace.”

Andrew P. Hurwitz

Transactional: Partner, entertainment group Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz

Georgetown U. Law Center, 1988

Huge Disney tentpoles kept Hurwitz busy this past year as he closed deals for Jennifer Lee on “Frozen 2” and a “Frozen” musical. “They firmly establish Ms. Lee as one of the biggest woman writer-directors in Hollywood,” he says. “I also closed the deal for James Gunn to write and direct ‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2.’” Other clients include Tom McCarthy, Phil Johnston (“Zootopia”), the Roald Dahl estate and Hasbro. Along with development, production, distribution and digital rights agreements, he advises on corporate acquisitions, joint ventures and employment for senior media execs. Before moving to L.A., he chaired the board for New York-based nonprofit Services for the UnderServed.

Jim Jackoway

Transactional: Managing partner Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein

Yale Law School, 1977

Jackoway sees major producers not affiliated with TV channels as de facto truth squads setting true market prices for talent as channels increasingly acquire from corporate siblings. Unaffliated producers “aggressively make deals with A-plus talent in order to have the leverage to do business with vertically integrated (TV) buyers,” he says. A new wrinkle is digital streamers pacting directly with talent, without traditional producing companies involved, leaving talent to “balance creative opportunities with what could be a more limited economic upside.” Jackoway’s practice covers talent and production companies, and he reps filmmakers J. J. Abrams, Mitch Hurwitz and Seth MacFarlane.

Jason Karlov

Transactional: Partner, chair of the entertainment, music, media and sports group Barnes & Thornburg

USC Gould School of Law, 1995

Karlov’s impressive client roster includes musicians Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, John Fogerty and T Bone Burnett as well as brands like the NFL, Yahoo!, Funny or Die and Beachbody. This year, he handled all the outside legal work for the NFL’s 50th anniversary edition of the Super Bowl, including the star-studded halftime show, and negotiated numerous contracts related to Dylan’s two international tours, in addition to working on day-to-day legal activities for the singer-songwriter. “You never know what he’s going to do,” Karlov says of Dylan. “He always makes the right decision; he’s a trailblazer and has been for many decades.”

Jared Levine

Transactional: Partner, Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman

Harvard Law School, 1981

The tilt of Levine’s client list from feature writers to TV writers in recent years is reflective of larger changes in the industry. “The TV business has exploded from four U.S. platforms to 61 today, and the mainstream feature business is really contracting,” says Levine, who briefly worked as an entertainment litigator before becoming a sports agent in the late ’80s. Today, he reps TV show creators such as Bill Lawrence (“Scrubs,” “Undateable”), Graham Yost (“Justified”) and Carter Bays & Craig Thomas (“How I Met Your Mother”), along with actors (Zach Galifianakis, Aziz Ansari) and sportscasters and athletes (Skip Bayless, Tony Hawk).

Mickey Mayerson & Susan Zuckerman Williams

Transactional: Mayerson: Deputy chair, Loeb & Loeb
Williams: Partner, Loeb & Loeb

Mayerson: Columbia U. Law School, 1981
Williams: USC Gould School of Law, 1986

With studios focused on event films and shrinking elsewhere, Mayerson sees an “enormous vacuum for movies that the public is craving, but which won’t come from the majors. That creates a huge opportunity for producers and financiers.” Money pours in from China and elsewhere. Deals are for film slates, distribution and corporate buyouts or partnerships, though theatrical distribution is a bottleneck. Mayerson and Williams handle companies, financial institutions, hedge funds and high-net-worth individuals. Clients include Bank of America, Warren Beatty, Union Patriot Capital, Vendian Entertainment, Vine Alternative Investments and Netflix original productions.

Darrell D. Miller

Transactional: Chair, entertainment law department; managing partner, Los Angeles office, Fox Rothschild

Georgetown Law Center, 1990

Miller negotiated Angela Bassett’s deals to direct Lifetime’s Whitney Houston biopic and star in Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq” and secured Courtney B. Vance’s role as Johnnie Cochran in FX’s “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” Miller also negotiated a talkshow agreement for T.D. Jakes. “How we have put his talk show together is analogous to how Netflix came onto the scene,” he says. “If this model works, they’re going to change the paradigm of syndicated TV.” The Beverly Hills Bar Association has selected Miller to be this year’s honoree as Entertainment Lawyer of the Year.

Jonathan D. Moonves & Nina L. Shaw

Transactional: Partners, Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano

Moonves: U. of Virginia, 1985
Shaw: Columbia U. Law School, 1979

The digital revolution is disruptive to traditional Hollywood, but also a catalyst for broader inclusion, say Shaw and Moonves. Clients Lele Pons and Bethany Mota control large online followings. “The power is not all in the hands of institutions anymore,” Shaw says. “Disruption plus new platforms equals great opportunities for newcomers,” Moonves says. Shaw reps Misty Copeland, F. Gary Gray for “Fast 8,” and Lupita Nyong’o. Moonves handles Apple in content projects, Robert and Michelle King, Ray Romano and Nia Vardalos.

Schuyler Moore

Transactional: Partner, corporate entertainment department, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan

UCLA Law School, 1981

After repping China’s Hunan TV in its record-setting $1.5 billion film slate investment with Lionsgate, Moore predicts that China will continue to be a formidable presence in Hollywood. “It is my goal in life, within the next two years, to represent a Chinese company buying a U.S. studio,” he says. When advising clients like Oliver Stone and Moritz Borman on the complex international financing for their film “Snowden,” Moore says he continues to rely on his tax background. “I am a closet tax lawyer.”

Michele M. Mulrooney

Transactional: Partner, Venable

USC Gould School of Law, 1985

Mulrooney provides estate planning and family law counsel to some of the most recognized names in the industry, including movie stars, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members and sports franchise owners. But because of the sensitive and personal nature of the pre-marital agreements, wills and divorces that she handles, she can’t discuss their names. “A lot of the times, I’m the quarterback, handling everything that isn’t entertainment-specific,” says Mulrooney. “I might be involved in their investment adviser meetings or their litigation.”

Lawrence Rose

Transactional: Partner, Gang Tyre

USC, gould school of law, 1984

Rose feels profit participations for Hollywood talent are softening. On the feature side, he says the top talent that used to command so-called dollar-one deals now get pushed back to “an after-cash breakeven deal,” which means the financier first recoups a raft of costs. For pay TV, profit participations are defeated by buyers increasingly keeping content on inhouse channels. Not distributing content to outsiders that pay a market rate “makes the ability of achieving profits nonexistent,” Rose says. Clients include Stephen King, Ben Stiller and Steve Zaillian.

Bobby Rosenbloum

Transactional: Shareholder and co-chairman, Atlanta entertainment and media practice, Greenberg Traurig

Harvard Law School, 1994

Rosenbloum sees digital ventures in the pipeline that will plug music into non-music platforms, and often by big companies not previously in the tune biz. “Music will be integrated with a wide variety of other products and services, including social networks, products in the gaming space and hardware devices,” he says. In the past, ventures made music a centerpiece. Rosenbloum also sees new entrants piecing together their own music solutions, finding off-the-shelf options not suitable to simply plug into mobile, automotive and social networks. His clients include AwesomenessTV, Dick Clark Prods., Deezer, GoPro, Microsoft, the Recording Academy and SoundCloud.

Barbara Rubin

Transactional: Partner, entertainment department chair, Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro

Loyola Law School (Los Angeles), 1978

With one foot in the legal space and the other in education, inspiring students to join her profession, Rubin has continued to balance her high-profile transactional work at Glaser Weil with her role as executive director of Loyola Law School’s Entertainment Law Practicum. She serves as outside counsel for Anonymous Content and represents digital content network Machinima, as well as talent such as Martin Sheen. Rubin also repped showrunner Jeff Melvoin (“Army Wives”) and his team in a recent deal with Amazon. On the academic side, Rubin oversees Loyola’s internship program and focuses on helping students find the right opportunities. “The No. 1 lesson I’ve taught is that all business is personal,” she says.

Matthew Thompson

Transactional: Partner; co-head, media and entertainment, Sidley Austin

UC Hastings College of the Law, 1991

Thompson recently reached the final step in a major multi-year representation as he advised Mark Burnett, Roma Downey and Hearst Entertainment in the $233 million disposition of their remaining interest in United Artists Media Group to MGM, and worked with Burnett in his elevation to president of television at MGM. “I always try to remember that at the end of the day these are strategic relationships, or partnerships,” he says. Thompson also repped eOne in several transactions this year, including its equity investment in and formation of Amblin Partners, Steven Spielberg’s new venture with Participant Media, Reliance Entertainment and eOne.

Stephen Tsoneff

Transactional: Partner, media, entertainment and technology practice group, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Columbia Law School, 2000

Tsoneff has repped Paramount in the extension of its co-financing arrangement with Skydance Prods.; Universal in multi-year pacts with Amblin Partners, Blumhouse and Perfect World Pictures; and 20th Century Fox in partnerships to develop a Fox-branded theme park/resort in Dubai, and to create a touring “Avatar” Cirque du Soleil show. “The studios have been looking to extend their film businesses and their brands internationally through theme parks, videogames and live arena shows,” Tsoneff says.

Alan S. Wertheimer

Transactional: Partner, Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein

Stanford Law School, 1972

Wertheimer sees a residuals imbalance heating up industry labor-guild contract negotiations next year. “When the current agreements were entered into, no one foresaw Netflix and Amazon financing and distributing movies,” he says. Today, talent seeks guaranteed salaries to offset the lower downstream residuals paid by dot-com streamers. “This is what we as lawyers and negotiators have to factor in when we make these deals,” he adds. Wertheimer reps actors Timothy Hutton, Nicole Kidman, Kyle MacLachlan and Sigourney Weaver — as well as J. J. Abrams, Wes Anderson, James Foley for “Fifty Shades of Grey” sequels, Jason Reitman, Gary Ross and Danny Strong.

Kevin Yorn

Transactional: Managing partner, Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman

Tulane Law School, 1990

Yorn’s work for Ellen DeGeneres is a job unto itself. In the past year, he’s helped negotiate a contract extension for her self-titled talk show through 2020 and a deal with Netflix and Warner Bros. to produce a series adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham,” while handling everything from her ED by Ellen line of clothing and lifestyle products to tech investments and charities. “All of these things play off of each other in a multi-platform structure,” says Yorn, whose other clients include Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney and Zoe Saldana. It’s a long way from his days working as deputy district attorney for L.A.’s Hardcore Gang Investigations Unit in the early ’90s.

Tal Dickstein

Up Next: Partner, Loeb & Loeb

Benjamin N. Cardozo School
of Law, Yeshiva U., 2004

Dickstein reps music publishers and record labels in copyright infringement and royalty disputes, defends media companies in trademark infringement actions, and advises studios and film producers on copyright issues. In 2015 Dickstein secured a major trial victory on behalf of clients Sony Corp. of America, Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, obtaining dismissal of copyright infringement claims brought by Mayimba Music involving Shakira’s song “Loca.” “As someone who appreciates good music, but can’t sing a lick, defending the rights of artists, songwriters and publishers is my way of supporting the creative process.”

James Finney

Up Next: Partner, Hertz Lichtenstein & Young

U. of Notre Dame, 2004

Finney joined the firm in 2014 to oversee the film, TV and new media division. The former NBCUniversal exec was instrumental in the deal for Sony’s upcoming “Molly’s Game” with Aaron Sorkin making his feature directorial debut. He also negotiated the deal for Idris Elba to lead in “Dark Tower,” put Keke Palmer and Ariana Grande in “Scream Queens” and Palmer in “Grease Live,” as well as actress-singer Christina Milian in Fox’s “Rocky Horror” reboot. Other deals include the Bix Pix Animation pact with Amazon for “Tumble Leaf.” “It’s an exciting time to work with talent, creators and ventures in a rapidly changing media landscape.”

Bethany Haynes

Up Next: Partner, Sloss Eckhouse LawCo

U. of Chicago Law School, 2004

Haynes recently repped financier VisionChaos on deals with distributor A24, helped negotiate an Amazon deal for a Todd Haynes-helmed project based on Brian Selznick’s book “Wonderstruck,” reps Animal Kingdom and advised on a first-look deal with Focus. She also repped Beachside Films in its German co-production deal for Sundance hit “Morris From America” and negotiated financing, production and distribution deals for HBO doc “Jim,” spearheading a virtual reality initiative. “Serving as legal counsel goes beyond drafting documents and closing deals — it’s also forging connections among clients and advising on evolving models for creating, financing and distributing content.”

Philip M. Kelly

Up Next: Partner,
Kendall Brill & Kelly

UCLA Law School, 2000

Kelly reps high-profile clients, including Paramount Pictures, NBCUniversal, and composer Hans Zimmer. He acted as lead counsel for Viacom and Nickelodeon in defending and resolving the “Paw Patrol” copyright infringement case, and for Viacom Media Networks in the “Love & Hip Hop” copyright infringement lawsuit. Kelly ran day-to-day defense for Paramount in a lawsuit in which plaintiffs sought up to $40 million plus punitive damages, winning on appeal in December. “Amid all the industry changes, it’s extremely satisfying to have built long-term relationships with clients and provide lasting legal solutions.”

Sam Kozhaya

Up Next: Counsel, Irell & Manella

Southwestern Law School, 2001

Kozhaya was on the Irell team that repped Wanda Group’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment — heralded as China’s largest cross-border cultural acquisition to date. He also served as corporate counsel for the $341 million “Oscar Bonds” deal, one of the largest tax-exempt bond offerings for a cultural institution in the past decade; and repped Guggenheim Securities as initial purchaser in connection with a $340 million whole business securitization transaction involving Dick Clark Prods. “As cross-border transactions become the new norm, we need to be cognizant of cultural differences, and help bridge them to facilitate a smooth closing,” he says.

Adam Philip Lipsic

Up Next: Partner, Hersh, Mannis & Bogen

Pepperdine U. School of Law, 2005

Groomed by family law courtroom legends Joseph Mannis and Neal Raymond Hersh, the rising star and family law specialist was named partner at age 34. Lipsic recently negotiated a multimillion-dollar royalty and asset deal for an A-list musical legend, negotiated a premarital agreement to protect the intellectual property rights of a tech titan and litigated business valuation issues for an advertising guru. “Sugarcoating is not the solution. Clients want honesty and integrity and their privacy safeguarded as much as possible.”

Rick Offsay

Up Next: Associate, entertainment, sports & media practice, Latham & Watkins

Harvard Law School, 2009

Offsay’s multiple tasks have recently included representation of Participant Media in the formation, capitalization and operation of Amblin Partners; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in the acquisition of the outstanding equity interests of United Artists Media Group from Hearst Productions and Mark Burnett; Legendary Entertainment in a wide range of production, distribution, joint venture, acquisition and financing transactions; and Univision Communications Inc. in numerous transactions, including its negotiations with Grupo Televisa. Offsay calls the Participant deal “the final exam, as it required creative thinking and brought together so many aspects of our broad entertainment practice.”

Christopher Perez

Up Next: Partner, Donaldson + Callif

USC Gould School of Law, 2009

Perez reps independent film, television and web-based content producers with emphasis on all clearance matters. Last year he successfully appealed to the U.S. Copyright Office for a Digital Millennium Copyright Act exemption. His work sometimes connects him with unusual projects, such as “Tickled,” the 2016 Sundance documentary that explored the underground world of professional tickling competitions, for which he secured insurance. He also worked on clearance and fair use for “Cartel Land,” the Bafta- and Oscar-nominated drug documentary. “The line between narrative and documentary is increasingly blurred, so it’s an exciting time in our field, and great to see how our work in fair use and the First Amendment helps our clients.”

Gloria Franke Shaw

Up Next: Partner, Katten Muchin Rosenman

USC Gould School of Law, 2006

Shaw handles complex entertainment, intellectual property, as well as copyright and trademark infringement litigation for industry clients that include Universal Pictures, NBCUniversal and DirecTV. Recent wins include the dismissal of a copyright infringement suit against Seth MacFarlane; defending DirecTV’s creation of fantasy football channel Fantasy Zone, in which an anti-SLAPP motion was partially granted; and a trademark infringement trial for the producers of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” set for 2017. “Technology is constantly evolving and raising new legal issues, which challenges me to think creatively and find innovative solutions.”

Ashley R. Yeargan

Up Next: Associate, entertainment litigation, Liner

Stanford Law School, 2008

Yeargan began her career on a cutting-edge format protection case, and focuses on copyright and trademark infringement, defamation, breach of contract, and rights of privacy, working closely with department head Stanton Stein. She was co-lead counsel with Stein on such high-profile cases as the Blake Shelton/Bauer Publishing defamation case, and the Aubrey Graham p/k/a Drake case (Yeargan obtained dismissal of a trade libel case against the rapper); and is defending Camille Grammer in a defamation and malicious prosecution action brought by her former boyfriend in federal court in Dallas. “It’s an exciting time to be an entertainment litigator.”