Variety’s Legal Impact Report 2026: Meet Hollywood’s Top Entertainment Attorneys

Scott Miller
Chief legal counsel

Miller was studying law at night when he got a job at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library. After getting his JD, he was hired by the in-house legal department and never left. Recently, he brokered the landmark deal that will take the Oscars telecast off broadcast TV and on to YouTube beginning in 2029.

Career advice: “Take a job with a company that you like, show you’re indispensable and you’ll work your way up.”

Lesley Freeman
Chief legal officer

Freeman advises on the independent production company’s ambitious slate. Six releases are planned for 2026: Netflix’s “The Whisper Man” with Robert De Niro, Amazon’s “The Bluff,” starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Lionsgate’s “Rambo” reboot as well as two “Avengers” blockbusters. Freeman, who also handles the studio’s global legal affairs as it expands worldwide, says she’s less involved in individual deals and more focused on overall company management and reinforcing AGBO’s leadership tone.

Personal motto: “I probably say it weekly: Onward and upward.”

Chris Spicer
Partner

Alissa Miller
Partner

Vanessa Roman
Partner

Jonathan Pavlich
Partner

Randall Boe
Senior counsel

Completing transactions valued at over $5.5 billion kept Akin and its army of media, entertainment and sports lawyers busy throughout 2025. Arranging a $500 million credit facility in November directed by J.P. Morgan and assisting Ari Emanuel’s new global events and experiences company Mari in acquiring the Madrid and Miami Open tennis tourneys and Frieze art festivals are some of their prominent deals. “Investments in sports are becoming an important part of building out a diversified portfolio,” says Boe. “You’re seeing the birth of sports and event-type assets becoming their own asset class.”

Crisis management: “Whatever you put in text or email lasts forever,” notes Spicer.

Grace Del Val
COO, general counsel

Although Del Val handles all of Bad Robot’s legal affairs, she also serves as a liaison to help push complex deals across the finish line. Recent projects include J.J. Abrams’ upcoming sci-fi fantasy film “The Great Beyond,” and the second season of Apple TV’s series “Presumed Innocent.” She also advises the company’s animation, documentary, live theater, games and digital divisions.

Personal motto: “Dale, que tu puedes, which is a common Cuban expression. It basically translates into a more passionate version of ‘go for it, you can do it.’”

Carolyn Hunt
Partner

Stephen Weizenecker
Partner

Bryan Thompson
Partner

Hunt, Weizenecker and Thompson solved one of Hollywood’s toughest puzzles: how to finance a movie. The team advises studios, banks and producers on the complex lending structures that bring film and television projects to the screen, including corporate credit facilities for Lionsgate and financing for independent features. They also represented producer Scott Givens and FiveCurrents in the successful bid — alongside Fulwell Entertainment — to produce the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. As production costs continue to rise, Hunt says making budgets work has become the industry’s central challenge.

Advice to clients: “If you don’t ask,” Hunt says, “the answer’s always no.”

John V. Berlinski
Partner

Julia B. Cherlow
Partner

Kimberly A. Meyer
Partner

Dividing his time mainly between arbitration and litigation, Berlinski recently achieved “a first instance” of retrieving a full payback of damages for a client who had previously settled a film production shutdown issue. “That was a good feeling to get back all of the money that was paid out in connection with the settlement,” he says. Cherlow specializes in complex compensation and profit participation conflicts in film and television while Meyer, who has co-repped such stars as David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel with Berlinski, is currently pursuing her masters in AI ethics from Cambridge University.

Vital tool: “Working with an IT team who ensures that you’re up to speed. It’s critical,” says Berlinski.

Leigh Brecheen
Co-founding partner

Dave Feldman
Co-founding partner

Stephen Breimer
Co-founding partner

Ashley Silver
Co-founding partner

Richard Thompson
Co-founding partner

The firm boasts complementary skill sets born out by the diversity of its recent deals. Brecheen advised Conan O’Brien on various matters and Plan B on major TV projects including its “Adolescence” follow-up. Feldman brokered Keegan-Michael Key’s seven-figure State Farm Super Bowl campaign pact and Silver negotiated Jake Shane’s multimillion-dollar Netflix deal for his “Therapuss” podcast. Breimer secured Shemar Moore’s star/EP deal for the spinoff “S.W.A.T. Exiles.” Thompson is repping a client with non-Hollywood funding to establish a company to produce AI-assisted animated projects.

Craziest clause: Demanding a project be completely AI-free. “You just told me I can’t make my production because AI is already so embedded in so many aspects of it,” says Thompson.

Jeff Cohen
Founding partner

Jonathan Gardner
Founding partner

“Gucci is great. They make a lot of shoes,” says Cohen. “We want to be Saville Row and create something personally tailored.” The boutique’s recent bespoke matters include Ryan Coogler’s Gardner-brokered pact for Hulu’s “The X-Files” reboot and the Cohen-crafted deal for Michelle Yeoh to star in and executive produce the action-suspense film “The Surgeon.”

Reason for optimism: “People are still consuming content at an amazing rate, maybe more than ever before,” observes Gardner. “They’re just doing it in different ways.”

Bobby Ghajar
Partner

A self-described “intellectual property strategist,” Ghajar secured a partial summary judgment victory for Meta in 2025 dismissing the plaintiffs’ core copyright infringement claims over the use of authors’ works to train its Llama AI models. He is currently defending Midjourney in the ongoing lawsuit brought by Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal, which challenges the AI tool’s ability to generate images of iconic Hollywood characters.

“I’ll retire when …”: “I’ve argued at the Supreme Court and won the current spate of cases that I’m handling,” says Ghajar.

Neema Sahni
Partner, litigation group

Jonathan Sperling
Partner, litigation group

Phyllis Jones
Partner, litigation group

Paul Schmidt
Partner, litigation group

Hardy Ehlers
Special counsel

Robyn Polashuk
Partner, transactional group

Adrian Perry
Partner, transactional group

Derek Ludwin
Partner, transactional group

Alex Berengaut
Partner, transactional group

Mike Hill
Of counsel

Covington & Burling’s litigation group handled cases last year that touched all of the hot spots in the marketplace: AI, social media’s impact, digital access, royalty and copyright protection. On the transactional front, the firm was also in the crosscurrents of the big media stories of the year as counsel to Warner Bros. Discovery, to ByteDance in the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operation, to the NFL in its NFL Network deal with ESPN and to Major League Baseball in media rights deals. Covington & Burling’s big wins included dismissal of a copyright case brought against the creator of “Squid Game” by a Korean filmmaker, and securing summary judgment in favor of Shari Redstone against an insurer in relation to litigation from the 2019 CBS-Viacom merger. Its partners and associates are in the thick of complicated cases involving Meta, Amazon Music, Sony Music, Spotify and TikTok — companies that are at the intersection of change across entertainment and media.

Sense and sensibility: “I think we’re widely perceived in the market as bringing a degree of precision and sophistication,” Sperling says of the firm’s reputation in the courtroom.

Elizabeth Cohen
General counsel

Cohen guides Crunchyroll’s rapid international expansion as the popularity of anime explodes, structuring distribution deals with Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Sky U.K., Brazil’s Claro and Delta Air Lines’ seatback platform. She also oversees legal strategy for theatrical and streaming releases, including box office blockbuster “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle,” alongside dozens of new anime series negotiated each season. The strategy, she says, is simple: meet fans wherever they are.

Advice to younger self: “Don’t wait until you feel ready. Jump in and embrace the opportunity — you’ll figure it out.”

Nicolas Jampol
Partner

Jonathan Segal
Partner

Diana Palacios
Partner

Cydney Freeman
Partner

With Jampol defending companies from trademark infringement and high-stakes copyright wrangles, Segal shielding content creators from production and distribution claims, Freeman offering client pre-broadcasting counsel and Palacios concentrating on IP, First Amendment and media litigation, DWT enjoyed a strong 2025. Victories included the vanquishing of a plagiarism suit against “Yellowjackets” creators from the makers of a 2015 survival film and a successful defense of those behind the “Surviving R. Kelly” documentary against defamation claims filed by the recording artist’s assistant.

Crisis management: “As outside counsel and an outside expert, I really strive to be the rock for my client: the force of calm and reassurance for them,” Segal states.

Jonathan Moonves
Partner

Tom Greenberg
Partner

Loan Dang
Partner

Ethan Cohan
Partner

“The source IP that big studios are looking at is shifting away from comic books and Marvel and really doing a deep dive into video games,” notes Greenberg. Deals that he and Moonves negotiated with Amazon MGM Studios in 2025 include “Fallout: Shelter,” a competitive, unscripted-TV “Fallout” spinoff streaming series for client Bethesda Game Studios; a TV series adaptation of “Wolfenstein” for clients ZeniMax Media and Bethesda Softworks; and a Sasha Luss starring role in the TV reworking of “Tomb Raider.”

Best client advice: “Look at the changing landscape and find multiple platforms and opportunities in which you can do your craft. Those that can find the greatest success,” says Greenberg.

Benjamin Mulcahy
Partner

Katherine (Kate) Imp
Partner

Stacy Marcus
Partner

Michael Isselin
Partner

Staci Trager
Partner

The firm was busy working on deals that touched all aspects of the streaming marketplace, from M&A and investments in startup ventures with starry names to sports rights deals to sponsorship and brand integration deals for blue-chip companies. Led by partner Mulcahy as chair of the national advertising team, the DLA Piper quartet worked on the launch of Fox One, the expansion of HBO Max overseas, for Apple on promotions for “F1: The Movie,” and deals involving the Lego Group, Tom Brady’s Shadow Lion startup as well as Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s Park County venture. Marcus and Isselin represented the advertising industry in commercial contract negotiations with SAG-AFTRA. It also repped the estate of the Notorious B.I.G. in various transactions last year, including Web3 streaming deals.

Cross fit: “The competitors in the market tend to be very strong in one area. Either media or sport or entertainment. But our group is truly a cross-disciplinary team that is strong in all three of those verticals. And we don’t treat them as verticals internally within the firm. We treat them as a unified team,” Mulcahy says.

Lisa Callif
Partner

Chris Perez
Partner

Callif has served as clearance counsel on such films as the Oscar-nominated “Blue Moon” and documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” which was “intense,” she says, “because it was very archival heavy, and the rights of some of the programs are from the ‘80s, and kind of hard to track down.” Perez notes that “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” was his favorite project of the past few years. The filmmakers “really, really push the limits. But the best part is that as soon as they have an idea, they pick up the phone and they call me and they say, ‘Can we do this?’” Perez usually finds a way.

Quality act: As film and TV budgets get trimmed, “We’re learning how to adapt and be more nimble to service our clients in the same way we did before. We don’t want to compromise our work,” says Callif.

Nick Jacobus
Partner

Sam Djahanbani
Senior counsel

Evan Krauss
Partner

Michael S. Sherman
Partner

Christian Simonds
Partner

Eisner handles M&A transactions, joint ventures, equity financings, liquidity events, music catalog sales and brand and endorsement deals for actors, directors, producers, executives, comedians, influencers and digital media businesses. Eisner has also become deeply involved in the creator economy, or what Sherman describes as the “creator-verse.”

New dawn: “Instead of the traditional media where you spend money upfront and you hope in the distribution pipeline to get attention that will then drive revenue, the creator-verse starts the other way around. The attention starts at the beginning,” Sherman says.

Megan Kane
Senior VP, deputy general counsel, head of corporate legal affairs

A former professional dancer, Kane helped close multiple nine-figure financing deals for Fifth Season in the past year, including a five-year, $500 million credit facility led by J.P. Morgan in November and a $225 million investment from Toho Intl. in December, which, she says, “really upsized our capabilities in supporting creators making great content.”

Watusi for the win?: “My dream is to negotiate an arbitration clause that settles contractual disputes by way of a dance-off,” she says.

Howard Meyers
Exec VP and global head of business affairs

A devoted cinephile, Meyers’ ability to structure innovative deals ensures that Focus Features continues to work with some of the boldest auteurs, including Yorgos Lanthimos (“Bugonia”), Chloé Zhao (“Hamnet”), Craig Brewer (“Song Sung Blue”) and Robert Eggers (“Werewolf”). “Every director, emerging or established, must work within budgetary parameters. But with regard to creative rights, regardless of what is in their deal, we are ‘filmmaker first’ and effectively provide directors with the flexibility needed to deliver a film that honors their creative vision,” Meyers says.

Personal motto: “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

Sam Bramhall
Exec VP, business and legal affairs

Bramhall left his job as a diesel engine mechanic to go to law school to become a prosecuting attorney and somehow wound up in showbiz. Today, he’s in-house at Fox, where he’s recently cut deals to bring in iconic IP like reboots of “Baywatch” and “Fear Factor.”

Don’t say it’s a “dealbreaker”: “It’s kind of like waving a red flag in front of a bull,” he says. “Now I’m going to make you do it.”

Darrell Miller
Partner

Marc H. Simon
Partner

As the guiding forces in Fox Rothschild’s entertainment and sports law department, this duo has their hands in many sectors of the biz. Miller focuses on in-front-of-camera talent, cutting deals for the likes of Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Taylor Tomlinson and Courtney B. Vance, while Simon guides leading storytellers and companies, from rising writer, director and actress Sonja O’Hara to Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Prods.

Prioritizing the consumer marketplace, not stockholders: “I’m really troubled that that perspective seems to have been lost, and it’s having a dramatic and adverse effect on our entire ecosystem,” says Simon.

Alan Sacks
Partner

Hayden Goldblatt
Partner

Sean Jefferson
Partner

Larissa Calva-Ruiz 
Counsel, IP finance group

Adam Macy
Counsel, IP finance group

Marcie Cleary
Partner

Sasha Levites
Partner

Cleary and Levites are “like sisters,” says Cleary, who helped JB Smoove’s production company, Alternate Side Prods., with deals and the formation of a creative agency, the First Darrin. She sees creators eschewing big media for digital deals in which they can hold on to rights. Among other film and TV pacts, Levites handled all production legal and financing work on documentary “Ask E. Jean,” which examines author E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuits against Donald Trump. “We had to collaborate very closely with her attorney, Roberta Kaplan,” Levites says of the challenging process. “But Robbie really worked with us to find a way to make it work. Everybody really stands behind this film, E. Jean and the story she’s trying to tell.”  The IP finance group works with indie gems (“Josephine,” “Wrong Girls” “Arco”), and small distributors, including Jolt, Joint Venture, Sumerian Pictures and Mubi for “The Mastermind” and “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.” Sacks says that they have never been busier. “The money today in the private realm has become highly sophisticated,” he says, noting that the proliferation of distributors has given assurance to financiers. “If there are more buyers out there, it gives them the confidence that there is a buoyancy to the pricing, which gives them an opportunity to recoup.”

Biz consolidation effect: “What I’m concerned about is that storytelling across film and television will be of a narrower viewpoint and will not reflect the texture that comes from diverse storytellers,” Cleary says.

Necessary evil: “Funds, structurally, on the financing side, have become more complicated, which means that the time it takes to put a deal together is longer,” notes Sacks.

Christopher Frost 
Founding partner

John D. Maatta 
Founding partner

Ben Kassis 
Managing partner, Los Angeles

Emily Fulham 
Managing partner, Nashville

With a brand-spanking-new Nashville bureau headed by Fulham to deal with copyright and trademark infringement, and a Silicon Valley office to handle AI, investigations, compliance and privacy while complementing established practices in New York, L.A. and Phoenix, three-year-old Frost is ramping up its profile. “Accelerating faster than we’d ever imagined is our firm theme song, generally,” jokes founder Frost, who helped alt rockers Jane’s Addiction reach a settlement with singer Perry Farrell, and along with Fulham, secured client Playboy $81 million in arbitration from a Hong Kong business for a license violation.

Ripe for a comeback: “The word ‘rad’ is massively underused,” says Frost.

Annie H. Lee 
Partner

Bianca J. Levin 
Partner

Daniel S. Passman 
Partner

Cheryl M. Snow 
Partner

Whether working separately or together, the partners of this firm represent a diverse roster of talent including Timothée Chalamet, Dwayne Johnson, Billie Eilish, Ridley Scott, Daniel Dae Kim, Regina King, Riz Ahmed and Robert Zemeckis. But they’ve also made philanthropy a cornerstone of their practice. Each partner sits on the board of a nonprofit organization they truly care about. Snow says knowing they’re making a difference in their community is a core part of their corporate culture. Lee supports Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles; Levin, Baby2Baby; Passman, Geffen Playhouse; and Snow, the Fulfillment Fund.

Best advice for a client: “Sometimes the smartest move is saying no,” says Snow.

Michael Gendler 
Partner

Kevin Kelly 
Partner

Sarah Cunningham 
Partner

Collaboration is key to this firm’s success. Cunningham describes the office culture as decidedly “not an eat-what-you-kill kind of environment,” with Gendler, Kelly and Cunningham working together the majority of time. Despite a long list of high-profile deals and negotiations — including Meryl Streep reprising her role as Miranda Priestly for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” — they may be most excited for client Jenny Han, who has grown from the author of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” into a showrunner who’s currently writing, directing and producing a film sequel based on the series.

I’ll retire when… “Ask me again in 30 years,” Cunningham says.

April Perroni 
Senior VP, head of business affairs

Perroni negotiated agreements for Christopher Meloni and Sam Corlett to join Hulu’s new football-themed TV series “The Land,” and “Landman” for legendary actor Sam Elliott, but says the highlight of her year was working with “One Battle After Another” breakout Chase Infiniti in securing deals for campaigns with Louis Vuitton and De Beers.

Tactical advantage: “Remaining agile, because no deal is the same. And because getting to the best result often requires flexibility and a willingness to break the mold.”

Kevin Masuda 
Partner

Benyamin (Ben) Ross 
Partner

Steve Tsoneff 
Partner

Sarah Graham 
Partner

Theodore Boutrous 
Partner

Orin Snyder 
Partner

Ilissa Samplin 
Partner

Brian Ascher 
Partner

Masuda, Ross, Graham and Tsoneff lead the corporate capabilities of Gibson’s media, entertainment and technology group, whose work included representing LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Company in its merger with Fulwell 73; North Road Company in its acquisition by Mediawan; and Paramount Pictures in its multiyear worldwide film distribution agreement with Legendary Entertainment. The team also repped Kevin Hart in his strategic partnership with Authentic Brands Group and Iconic Artists Group in its acquisition of a portion of Frank Sinatra’s name, image and likeness rights. Boutrous, Snyder, Samplin and Ascher have been handling major litigations for clients including Warner Bros. Discovery, Range Media Partners, NBCUniversal, AMC Networks, Bob Dylan, MGM Amazon, Pinterest, UMG, DraftKings and more. The team has recently secured wins for Lady Gaga in a $100 million trademark suit related to her Grammy-winning album “Mayhem”; for OpenAI in a successful defense against the first-ever defamation case arising from generative AI output; and for NPR in in securing a settlement releasing $36 million in withheld federal funds and permanently barring the enforcement of Executive Order 14290.

AI’s impact on the legal biz: AI is not only affecting the work of the firm’s clients, it’s “impacting us internally as well,” says Masuda. “I know a lot of people are nervous about it, saying, ‘Hey, is it going to wipe out our junior associates?’ … Ultimately, I think it will make us more efficient.”

Lev Ginsburg 
Partner

Grace Kallis 
Partner

Josh Krauss 
Partner

The boutique firm that specializes in top multihyphenates had a strong year with clients who are riding a wave of success, including Nikki Glaser, Nate Bargatze, LaKeith Stanfield, Adele Lim, Nick Antosca and Colin Trevorrow. The firm’s clients are active in everything from production and development deals, to film and TV deals, brand endorsement, publishing, licensing and merchandising pacts. “Brand deals are about more than just that product or service, they are affiliations that can potentially close more doors than they open,” Ginsburg says. “Clients who are selective and focused generally secure better results over time.”

Dealbreaker: “Anything that violates a union rule,” Ginsburg says.

Patricia Glaser 
Partner

Andrew Baum
Partner

Julie Gerchik
Partner

Kerry Garvis Wright 
Partner

Jesse Levin 
Partner

Gali Grant 
Partner

Glaser Weil is one of a small handful of entertainment-centric law firms that are bigger than boutiques but smaller and less intimidating than the L.A. branches of the biggest white-shoe shops. Glaser Weil represents a range of clients in entertainment, banking, real estate and sports. The firm’s partners list actors and CEOs, authors and directors, composers and comedians and celebrity estates as clients. It also has a reputation for being ready to go in litigation and in the courtroom. It’s a point of pride for Glaser, who co-founded the firm in 1988 with longtime colleague Peter Weil.

We try harder: “Here, we try cases,” Glaser says. “If you sued my client, I would like to settle if you can be reasonable. And if you’re not going to be reasonable, OK, let’s go.”

Carlos Goodman
Partner

Richard Genow
Partner

Michael Schenkman
Partner

Lucy Popkin
Partner

Matt Rosen
Partner

The talent these attorneys represent ranges from up-and-comers like Emily Bader (“People We Meet on Vacation,” repped by Rosen) and Milo Manheim (“Tangled,” Genow) to critical favorites like Jacob Elordi (“Frankenstein,” “Wuthering Heights,” repped by both Goodman and Genow) and Oscar winners including Ben Kingsley (“Wonderman”). Popkin secured breakthrough deals for clients Milly Alcock as “Supergirl,” Joseph Quinn as George Harrison in the upcoming Beatles biopic, and Tom Rhys Harries as the lead in DC’s feature “Clayface.” Schenkman handled Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas’s deals for “The Odyssey,” and Genow was proud to have represented the late Eric Dane.

Advice to younger self: “Plastics,” Goodman quips.

Andre Des Rochers
Partner

Elizabeth Moody
Partner

Josh Sandler
Partner

Anita Surendran
Partner

Based in the Bay Area, Moody has been at the vanguard of unprecedented music-driven AI deals, pairing AI music generator company Udio in 2025 with music licenser Merlin and the Universal and Warner Music Groups, and securing deals for ElevenLabs’ Eleven Music — a platform that generated “studio-grade music” from natural language prompts — with Merlin and music publisher Kobalt. “There’s amazing potential if AI’s used the right way,” Moody enthuses. “It’s super exciting because in crafting these deals, we’re setting the very early stages of things that are going to change the industry.”

AI: “Don’t be scared by AI. Just learn about it,” Moody says.

Matt Galsor
Partner

Sky Moore
Partner

Sally James
Partner

Mark Muir
Partner

Alla Savranskaia
Partner

Ryan Webb
Partner

The Oscars are going to YouTube in 2029, and Galsor had a hand in it, advising the Academy that it was time to say goodbye to linear TV. “I think they were smart about that and made a really right call,” Galsor says. “The future will tell.” The firm was also in the middle of another big controversy — Amazon’s $40 million deal for the “Melania” documentary, with which director Brett Ratner made his comeback with Moore’s help. “I’m sure a lot of people will watch it,” Moore says. “It got more publicity and free advertising than any other doc in history.”

What backlash? Despite Hollywood’s anti-AI mood, the firm has kept busy doing AI deals on behalf of its star clients. “Forget it,” Moore says. “We’ve crossed that line.”

Mathew S. Rosengart
Shareholder

Bobby Rosenbloum
Shareholder

Dan Black
Shareholder

Jake Phillips
Shareholder

Jared Welsh
Shareholder

Ann Clark
Shareholder

Rosengart will forever be known as the man who freed Britney Spears from her conservatorship. He represents a range of other high-profile clients — Eddie Vedder, Sean Penn, Lena Dunham, Steven Spielberg — as he moves more heavily into the realm of “reputation management.” Known for fiery cease and desist letters, Rosengart can also take a more subtle approach. “I think it’s important for any litigator to have five speeds rather than one speed,” he says. “And sometimes, if you can achieve a result under the radar with elegance, that is a bloodless victory.”

A sprawling global firm: Greenberg Traurig has opened offices in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, as entertainment companies are building a foothold there. “Obviously what’s going on in the Middle East right now is a setback and a challenge,” Rosenbloum says.

Lawrence Shire
Senior partner

Karen Gottlieb
Senior partner

Peter Grant
Senior partner

Robert Strent
Senior partner

Born to run the new media, motion picture, television, theater and sports group, Shire has clients ranging from Bruce Springsteen to LeBron James, representing them across a range of negotiations including the Springsteen biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere” and LeBron’s luxury endorsement deals with Nike, Louis Vuitton and DraftKings. He also repped Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on his memoir of imprisonment in Russia and the sale of rights to Amazon MGM Studios. Gottlieb leads iHeartMedia+Entertainment’s podcast, TV and special projects, including their exclusive video-podcast partnership with Netflix, while Grant has negotiated acting agreements for clients including Ana de Armas, Robert De Niro, Lady Gaga and Meg Ryan, among others. Strent led the way on Lizzo’s “Rosetta” deal at Amazon MGM Studios.

Nothing but the truth: “The best advice to a client is always give us all the facts, don’t leave anything out,” Shire says. “Because we can only deal with the facts as we get it from them.”

Jamice Oxley
Partner

Oxley has been crafting high-profile pacts for unlikely media stars, including NASA scientist Aisha Bowe (L’Oreal/Maybelline brand deal), poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib (original podcast series with Magnet Originals) and street lit authors Ashley and JaQuavis Coleman (BET adaptation of their six-part book series, “Ethic”).

The gates are open: “You don’t have to be a traditional actor, actress, writer or director to have a platform and take advantage of how you can use your voice in entertainment,” she says.

Rosalind Read
Global head of business and legal affairs

Read’s work involves multiple moving parts. Hasbro’s popular “Magic: The Gathering” fantasy gaming property was a triple tentpole deal with Legendary, encompassing a scripted series, an unscripted series and a film. She plans by focusing on economics, timeframes and brand integrity. Coming soon for Sony: a new film, scripted and unscripted series all based on the company’s iconic game Clue.

Only in Hollywood… “can you negotiate a nine-figure deal based on a two-sentence pitch, then argue for weeks about brand integrity and how to preserve that going into the future,” she says.

Robert Lister
Chief legal officer & senior executive VP

When Lister calls 2025 a “transformative year,” he’s not exaggerating. Along with expanding to 257 different exhibition partners, Imax did $1.28 billion in global box office at its theaters — 40% higher than 2024 — with its largest film slate yet. His team negotiated 12 deals for 2026’s Film for Imax program; Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey” will be the first movie to be entirely filmed with Imax cameras.

Advice to younger self: “Tough, candid conversations are an art. Being direct, especially if it’s difficult for the other person to hear, is often the most empathetic course of action,” Lister says.

Peter Sample
Partner

Jeff Bernstein
Partner

Sample helped Amy Pascal set her deal to shepherd the James Bond transition for Amazon MGM Studios, and he helped “Severance” creator Dan Erickson set an overall deal at Apple TV as that show took off in the cultural conversation. Sample prides himself on getting to know his actor, writer and director clients in order to help them make the best career choices.

Being there: “The relationship that I have really transcends a one-off transactional thing where you’re the lawyer and you do the deal in the moment and then you disappear. It’s really about hands-on engagement with my clients — helping to architect my clients’ businesses, helping to grow their businesses, making the best deals possible, protect them when things go south and be there by their side through it all.”

Tara Kole
Founding partner

P.J. Shapiro
Founding partner

Kole and Shapiro broker deals for Hollywood’s biggest stars, navigating the shifting ground between talent and studios. Kole negotiated Greta Gerwig’s involvement in Netflix’s “Narnia,” while Shapiro works with Selena Gomez across “Only Murders in the Building,” the “Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” series and her Rare Beauty empire. They also secured a landmark agreement for the creators of “K-Pop Demon Hunters.” Even in an era of rapidly shifting media landscape, Kole says the underlying principle hasn’t changed: “Content still is king.”

AI and talent rights: “Six months ago we weren’t saying, ‘You can’t license a client’s voice or likeness to [AI],’” Shapiro says. “Now we are.”

Richard B. Kendall
Partner

Philip M. Kelly
Partner

Nary Kim
Partner

Patrick J. Somers
Partner

KBK founding partner Kendall has spent more than four decades practicing law, and he’s served as lead counsel for many of Hollywood’s biggest names, including longstanding clients Paramount and MTV. Kelly is a notable litigator in media and entertainment, having won victories in cases involving ParamountSkydance, NBCUniversal, TikTok, CAA, Lionsgate, Hans Zimmer and more. Kim has worked on behalf of major film and television studios, music labels and brands, other law firms and leading entertainment figures and artists; she has secured multiple wins in strategic lawsuits against public participation cases for both entertainment and malpractice clients. Somers also works with entertainment, media, corporate and individual clients and has regularly served as lead or co-lead partner on several significant cases.

Shawn Holley
Partner

Greg Korn
Partner

Patti Millett
Partner

Kristen Spanier
Partner

Nick Soltman
Partner

Aaron Liskin
Partner

These entertainment litigators go all-in for their clients. Holley’s cases often involve situations tangential to the entertainment industry, like reputational damage, but she collaborated with Millett and Spanier — who she calls “brilliant tacticians” — in representing the estate of MLB player Tyler Skaggs in a wrongful death suit. Korn and Millett successfully defended New Republic Pictures in a contractual dispute with its former president, while Soltman and Liskin teamed to represent “Fear the Walking Dead” co-creator Dave Erickson in a profit participation lawsuit against AMC.

No news is good news: “When my family says, ‘I haven’t seen you in the news in a while,’ I say, ‘That means I’m doing a very good job,’” Holley says.

Dale Cendali
Partner

Joshua Simmons
Partner

Miranda Means
Partner

Yungmoon Chang
Partner

Maggie Flores
Partner

Sarkis Jebejian
Partner

Lee Blum
Partner

Adam Shapiro
Partner

Josh Korff
Partner

Is training AI via copyrighted material fair use? In February 2025, a Delaware court determined that the use of Thomson Reuters editorial content by Ross Intelligence was not fair and constituted copyright infringement, a landmark victory for litigators Cendali, Simmons, Means, Chang, their extended Kirkland & Ellis team and their client as the first legal decision on the issue. While the defendant has appealed the summary judgment to the Third Circuit, with the court of appeals currently set to decide the verdict, Simmons says, “We’re very proud of our win for Thomson Reuters and [our work] with artificial intelligence in IP for over a decade.” The team of Flores, Jebejian, Blum, Shapiro and Korff advised an investor consortium that included Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners in their acquisition of gaming giant Electronic Arts for $55 billion.

Advice to younger self: “Work hard, doors open and opportunities present themselves. Take advantage,” Flores recommends.

Edward Klaris
Managing partner

Alexia Bedat
Partner

Doug Nevin
Partner

Lance Koonce
Partner

The New York-based boutique firm’s practice spans litigation, production and clearance counsel, content distribution, transactional work and licensing. Klaris represents clients ranging from Legendary Pictures to Norton and Simon & Schuster, as well as audio platforms, media companies and authors, including Maya Angelou’s estate. Klaris negotiated AI content licensing deals with major AI companies on behalf of social media and audio platforms.

Shifting temperature on AI deals: With AI platforms now open to inking licensing deals, “you can see that there’s real business in it,” says Klaris. The big tech companies initially started “by scraping the internet” for content — which “created a huge amount of chaos.”

Cierra Carter
Head of film and television

After just two years at LaPolt Law, Carter has been making a big impression helping recording artists stretch out of their comfort zones. Carter helped Mary J. Blige’s Blue Butterfly production company negotiate another three-film extension with Lifetime as well as the theatrical release of her first sold-out Madison Square Garden concert. Other clients include actor Joseph Sikora and, returning for season three of Apple TV’s sitcom “Loot,” Michaela Jaé Rodriguez.

Personal motto: “Don’t be afraid to pivot. Have faith,” Carter advises.

Michael Anastasio
Partner

Kendall Johnson
Partner

Rick Offsay
Partner

Ian Nussbaum
Partner

Liliana Ranger
Partner

Jonathan West
Partner

Marvin Putnam
Partner

Jessica Stebbins Bina
Partner

Robert Ellison
Partner

Michael Reiss
Partner

Laura Washington
Partner

Hollywood is shedding jobs overall, but the era of consolidation has meant a lot of work for Latham’s M&A team. The group handled MGM’s sale to Amazon, and helped Paramount Skydance outlast Netflix in its do-or-die battle for Warner Bros. “We hope it ends up being a force for good in the creative community,” says Nussbaum, who led the deal from Latham’s New York office. “It’s really meaningful to be able to have significant roles on these transactions that are this high profile.”

I love mess: The litigation side is up to its neck in messy disputes, like one involving MGM’s “Vanderpump Rules.” “I specialize in shitshows,” Bina says, adding that a lot of work goes into not letting it get that far.

Scott Edel
Chair, entertainment

David Grossman
Co-chair, litigation

Arash Khalili
Firmwide co-chair; co-chair of corporate & capital markets department

Anne McGuire
Deputy chair, entertainment; chair, podcast

John M. Gatti
Partner

This Loeb & Loeb group worked on a cross-section of high-level entertainment matters. On the transactional side, it advised Oprah Winfrey on deals for docs, books and TV specials (McGuire) and Big Loud Records in the sale of its minority stake in Morgan Wallen’s catalog to Chord Music (Khalili) and repped Alcon in its ongoing $400 million-plus Village Roadshow asset acquisition, while its litigation team handled various disputes for the Jimmy Buffett estate (Gatti) and secured a summary judgment for NBCUniversal in a $14 million copyright suit brought by Providence Publications (Grossman).

Creative collabs: “With less money coming into the market, they’re having to be more creative and that’s opening up new avenues of filmmaking for our clients,” says McGuire.

Christopher Chatham
Partner

Sandra Bignone
Partner

Sophia Yen
Partner

Ellie Heisler
Partner

Kimberly Lord
Partner

W. Joseph Anderson
Partner

Esra Hudson
Partner

Stephanie Roeser
Partner

Matt Bruno
Partner

Sarah Moses
Partner

Eric Bergner
Partner

The team handles matters for top Hollywood talent and companies, including Jason Momoa (including for his Max show “On the Roam”), Christian Baha and Toby Emmerich in financing for the upcoming movie “I Play Rocky,” and matters for the Sundance Institute. Esra, Stephanie, Matt and Sarah are representing Blake Lively in her ongoing litigation against Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and related parties, leading Lively’s successful motion to dismiss the Wayfarer Parties’ entire countersuit. Bergner counts Samsung and Univision among his heavy-hitting clients, while Heisler arrived at Manatt in mid-March from Nixon Peabody, where she recently brokered big Netflix deals for YouTube creators Alan Chikin Chow (scripted K-pop series in partnership with Hybe America) and celebrity chef Matty Matheson; they followed her to her new firm.

Brand partnership evolution: “I’m seeing different ways in which products are being launched, whether [it’s] licensing, self-funded, venture backed or alignment with retailers,” Heisler says.

Maria Rodriguez
Partner

Tom Conaghan
Partner

Alexei Cowett
Partner

The trio handled high-wattage litigation and transactions during a busy year for sports and entertainment dealmaking and disputes. The firm helped Disney and 20th Television defeat allegations of discrimination and retaliation from former “9-1-1” actor Rockmond Dunbar. The nitty-gritty details of MrBeast’s deal to open the Beast Land amusement park in Riyadh and Season 2 of his Prime Video series “Beast Games” ran through McDermott Will’s desks. But nowhere has the firm seen more heat than in the wheeling and dealing around sports assets, from media rights deals to team and franchise acquisitions, including last year’s $6.1 billion sale of the Boston Celtics.

Togetherness: “About six years ago, the sports transactional sector really exploded, in part because we came out of the pandemic and everybody realized how much we missed live sports. And it was also the time when the major sports leagues opened themselves up to private equity institutional investors. And the values are just going through the roof,” says Conaghan.

Lisa Helfend Meyer
Partner

Doreen Marie Olson
Partner

Dana Lowy
Partner

Felicia R. Meyers
Partner

Celebrity divorces have all the same issues as regular divorces, but Helfend Meyer acknowledges that in high-profile cases those issues “are heightened.” “When people are used to getting their own way, whether they’re a celebrity or not, family law can be very unsettling,” she says. Helfend Meyer, Olson, Lowy and Meyers have repped household names in entertainment, sports and business, including Christina Ricci, Evan Rachel Wood and Dr. Dre’s former spouse Nicole Young. For those seeking privacy while navigating divorce, early neutral evaluation offers a way to reach settlement without alerting TMZ. “Celebrities love that because you can mediate your case outside the presence of a judge,” says Helfend Meyer.

High-net worth: Helfend Meyer recalls a $100 million case in which a defiant spouse was ordered by the court to take her private jet and bring back all the jewelry she’d stashed abroad so it could be inventoried. “She also removed huge palm trees from the parties’ residence and was charged with that as well.”

Karin Pagnanelli
Partner

Marc Mayer
Partner

Mark Humphrey
Partner

Theresa Bowman
Partner

Aaron Moss
Partner

Josh Geller
Partner

Lindsay Edelstein
Partner

Adam Levin
Partner

Seth Pierce
Partner

Amy Stein Simonds
Partner

Hannah Shepherd
Associate

When Bravo gets sued over the “Real Housewives,” it turns to MSK. In recent years, Levin has prevailed against a butler who claimed he was sexually assaulted when cast members slapped his butt and tore off his shirt. Next, he defeated a cast member who relapsed after being supplied with free booze. In both cases, Levin leaned on the First Amendment — an increasingly powerful tool in employment cases. “We continue to zealously protect our clients’ free speech rights,” Levin says. Levin is also defending several studios from union claims over residuals. The firm represents video game companies as they seek to clamp down on piracy, game hacks, cheat codes and circumvention tools.

Rookie mistakes? “Not answering what the judge asked,” Levin says. “I’ve seen it over and over again. It never ends well.”

Frederick P. Bimbler
Partner

Bimbler reps the estates of legendary writers, including Tennessee Williams, August Wilson and Paddy Chayefsky, and recently brokered the sale of creator/star Joel Hodgson’s interest in “Mystery Science Theater 3000” to Shout Factory.

Pick your poison: “The good news is they will fly commercial,” Bimbler once told a producer while negotiating first-class tickets on behalf of an artistic client. “The bad news is there are 10 of them and a dog.”

David Fox
Partner

Repping creative talent, Fox takes an old-school approach before agreeing to take on a client — he reads or watches their work: “I want to know if I can relate to their vision.” Visions he’s helped realize: Oren Uziel as “Spider-Noir” showrunner; David Koepp to write a “Westworld” feature; Annie Potts’ “Toy Story 5” return; and sealing Ariana Grande’s (co-repped by Aaron Rosenberg) “Focker-in-Law” starring role.

Advice to younger self: “Fasten your seatbelt,” he says.

Andrew Eitingon
General counsel, corporate legal affairs and operations & technology

Kimberley D. Harris
General counsel

Eitingon oversees legal matters in support of the media company’s operations and technology teams. He worked with NBCU general counsel Kimberley D. Harris to complete the separation of Versant Media from NBCU, which established Versant as a stand-alone public company housing CNBC, MS NOW, USA, Golf Channel and more. “The real challenge was separating businesses that operated together for decades in a way that addressed operational, tech, tax, legal and commercial requirements,” says Eitingon, a process that “required separating thousands of contracts.” Harris provides legal advice to NBCU’s senior management team and oversees legal functions across all the media company’s divisions. She also oversees all international government and regulatory affairs for parent company Comcast. Harris also oversaw the legal strategy for last year’s opening of Universal Epic Universe in Orlando, the first major U.S. theme park to open in the last 25 years.

Advice to her younger self: “Slow down; a career is not a race,” she says. “If you move too fast down a preconceived path you may miss unique opportunities that could change everything.”

Christina Chang
Partner

Nic Mayne
Partner

The Nixon Peabody lawyers advise creator-driven media businesses as the line between digital platforms and traditional entertainment increasingly blurs. Chang spearheaded Netflix deals for reality TV breakout Harry Jowsey, including roles in “The Wrong Paris” and “Let’s Marry Harry,” and advised the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the Amazon doc “Raise the Flags.” Mayne represented Youshaei Studios on its docuseries “The Making of Beast Games” and counsels top YouTube creators on various matters. Chang is leaving the firm for Barnes & Thornburg.

The maturing creator economy: “We now have creators with 10-plus-year catalogs,” Mayne says. “And those will result in bigger deals.”

Daniel Petrocelli
Partner

Molly Lens
Partner

Matt Kline
Partner

Cassandra Seto
Partner

Amy Siegel
Partner

Matthew Syrkin
Partner

Silvia Vannini
Partner

Leif Cervantes de Reinstein
Partner

Trial lawyers Petrocelli, Lens, Kline and Seto notched a series of big wins in the past year, including defeating two copyright infringement suits against Paramount related to “Top Gun: Maverick”; advised the Walt Disney Co. on various matters including defending the Mouse House against claims brought by actress Gina Carano; and successfully blocking a preliminary injunction in a foreign copyright dispute over “Superman,” paving the way for Warner Bros.’ global release of its latest reboot. The transactional team of Siegel, Syrkin, Vannini and Cervantes de Reinstein prides itself on covering all areas of corporate deals affecting producers, distributors, financiers, studios and streamers. Its big pacts from the past year include advising Legendary Entertainment on its $150 million equity investment from Tokyo Broadcasting System, 101 Studios in connection with its massive multimedia deal with NBCUniversal involving Taylor Sheridan and private equity fund Ares Capital in connection with Shout! Studios’ merger with FilmRise to form Radial Entertainment.

Annoying trend: Suits targeting successful properties. “Plaintiffs are hoping to leverage the cost of litigation in their favor and hopefully attract settlement,” says Lens.

Steven Marenberg
Partner

Susan Leader
Partner

Ken Deutsch
Partner

Sidney Fohrman
Partner

Erik Hyman
Partner

Susan Williams
Partner

Josh Gordon
Of counsel

Hayley Silvertown
Of counsel

Litigators Marenberg, Leader and Gordon are known for taking on complex cases, especially those involving new technologies such as AI, NFTs, deepfakes and digital assets as they interact across entertainment as well as sports, fashion, gaming and more. Because of its prowess in the courtroom, the firm is often the first choice when celebrities and others need to exit a less-than-great transaction. Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, found himself in such a pickle after he signed a deal to create the delivery-only MrBeast Burger chain. It seemed like a good idea at the time. “It is very difficult to do a remote delivery burger restaurant, primarily because the shelf life of a French fry is finite,” Marenberg notes. The transactional team of Deutsch, Fohrman, Hyman and Williams ran the gamut of clients from Ryan Murphy and Marc Forster to business clients such as Vice Studios, Relativity Media and Gulfstream Pictures. The entertainment and media group was also drawn into advise on the sale of Tik-Tok’s U.S. operations to a consortium of investors. The partners are not shyabout backing up their firm’s assertion that its work in AI and blockchain matters is shaping the industry’s legal standards for the future.

Credit, please: Despite media and entertainment’s sector-wide challenges, there’s no shortage of money chasing content and music deals. “We’re seeing a lot of activity in the space with capital deployment, from private credit funds and in the commercial banks as well,” Williams says.

Robert E. Freeman
Partner

Anthony (Tony) Oncidi
Partner

Oncidi handles high-profile, high-stakes employment matters for clients including the Recording Academy, CAA, Fox, the NFL and the production companies of big celebs (including Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney and Charlize Theron), while Freeman specializes in big money deals for sports-related companies, both new (Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports) and old (NFL Media).

Future of sports franchises: “The trend of asset managers, private equity, etc., flowing into these assets is only going to continue,” observes Freeman, and “there just aren’t that many individuals who are going to be [able to write] $12 billion checks to acquire teams.”

Jim Janowitz
Partner

Briana Hill
Partner

Simon Pulman
Partner

Ben Jaffe
Partner

Hill says she wouldn’t have become an entertainment lawyer if she hadn’t initially worked for a denim company. “Without realizing it, I started getting interested in IP issues. I developed a counterfeit denim identification program for retail stores. I’m the inadvertent entertainment lawyer because I actually got into it because of my interest in IP.” Hill and Pulman repped Hazelight and producer Story Kitchen for an Amazon film based on the former’s “Split Fiction” videogame. Jaffe advised podcast shingle Exactly Right Media on the licensing of its hit “My Favorite Murder” to Netflix, and the production of a new unscripted series with HBO inspired by the podcast.

Survival tactics: “Flexibility, bespoke solutions and hydration,” Hill says.

Elsa Ramo
Founder & managing partner

Michelle Chang
Managing partner

Erika Canchola
Senior partner

Ramo is a boutique firm specializing in putting together deals for independent film, television and documentaries. The firm’s indie clients are nimble by necessity — which helps in a time of turmoil for the industry. “I’m challenging a lot of my colleagues, partners, staff and clients to say, ‘Yes, the sky is falling. And then what?” Ramo says. “At the end of it, people are still going to want to watch stuff.” The firm is expanding into microdramas and creator-led content for YouTube and other platforms. “I feel like everybody wants to get into that space,” Ramo says. “You got to find a way to fund content. Unless you have a clear understanding and a brand strategy as a producer and content creator, you’re sort of omitting a major source of funding.”

Dan Kupetz
Head of entertainment business & legal affairs

Christina Tajalli
Exec VP, business and legal affairs

While the entertainment business consolidates, Kupetz and Tajalli see opportunity for Range with its expansion into commercials and microdramas. Kupetz cites a drive into the format with Google’s 100 Zeros involving top talent such as Mike Fleiss, McG, Kenan Thompson and Simon Fuller. “Google will be integral in getting these microdramas out there,” he says.

Only in Hollywood: Flexibility is key. “Sometimes we have to do content creator deals for people’s dogs. Someone will send through a signature on a document, and we’ll say, ‘Oh, this part wasn’t signed.’ And they say ‘Oh, but it’s for her dog,’” Tajalli says. “Talk about totally new ventures!”

Nicole Page
Partner

Page has repped world-renowned rock climber Alex Honnold for more han a decade, leading the deal for his daring “Skyscraper Live” event on Netflix, in which he free-climbed a 101-story building in Taipei. In any contract with celebrities, there are always issues “you have to cover, but for somebody like Alex, we’re really looking very closely at the insurance and indemnification. Those kinds of things, which are important in any contract, become super important in this kind of contract,” she notes. Page also works on matters including workplace discrimination and sexual harassment, placing her at the vanguard of the #MeToo movement when her client’s HR claim helped the New York Times report its 2017 exposé on the sexual abuse committed by the now-convicted Harvey Weinstein.

Best advice: “For women in general — this is not universal — but I encourage them to ask for more than they think they could get, partially because I see the contracts that the guys are getting and the guys are still getting paid more,” she says.

Sam Roseme
Partner

Roseme joined Reed Smith from King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano in September 2025 and quickly made an impact, brokering various media deals for private equity clients and film and TV pacts for Kesha. At his previous firm, he notably repped Spinal Tap in all aspects of the band’s mockumentary sequel.

Perpetual motion: “In one hundred-some-odd years of Hollywood, I don’t know if there’s ever been a period where anything is just remaining the same,” he says.

Stanton “Larry” Stein
Partner

Ashley R. Yeargan
Partner

Bennett A. Bigman
Partner

Stein represents actor and director Timothy Busfield, who is facing sexual misconduct allegations from child actors from his recent Fox drama series “The Cleaning Lady.” The trio also represent Drake in various civil and IP matters and “Bar Rescue” host Jon Taffner in an impersonation case. They are also well regarded for their expertise in profit participation fights, with Stein leading the charge in the 2000s with path-breaking suits on vertical integration claims from producer Steven Bochco against Fox and the creators of “Home Improvement” against Disney/ABC, among others. “We’re very pragmatic, we’re litigators, but we’re also very knowledgeable in the industry, so we always look for a business resolution first,” Stein says.

Know your market: “We’ve refused, pretty much, to represent companies. Now we’re doing a little bit of work for some companies, which is not competitive with our talent practice,” Stein says.

Dan Schnapp
Partner

Robb Klein
Partner

Aerin Snow
Partner

Robert Darwell
Partner

Ramela Ohanian
Partner

Aaron Campbell
Partner

Nicolas Urdinola
Partner

Joe Ireland
Associate

Schnapp, Klein, Snow and Ireland worked on the Village Roadshow bankruptcy, whose library sold to Alcon for $417.5 million, and repped Anthem Sports & Entertainment in its sale of Gravitas Ventures to Shout! Studios, among other deals. Snow says that in spite of the volatility of the last several years, “There’s been a ton of uptick in library sales generally. That seems to be an area where, outside of traditional M&A, people are still making really interesting moves.” While Amazon is major client of the film, Darwell and his team (Ohanian, Campbell, Urdinola) relish their global outlook. “We cover 12 different languages,” he says, noting work with Spain’s Secuoya Studios and France’s Gaumont. For Amazon, they did the renewal deal for Seasons 2 and 3 of “Beast Games.” “That was a bold move by Amazon to take someone who’s been successful on YouTube and see if it could have a life on their on their platform.” Work on employment, union and guild issues regarding microdramas is also a big trend for the firm.

Tiebreaker: “When I interview people for our team, I like people that have worked in the service industry— they work so well in our group. … I mean, my best training for this job was being a waiter,” says Darwell.

Rollin Ransom
Partner

Randi Singer
Partner

Nima Mohebbi
Partner

Natali Wyson
Partner

Luke Ashworth
Partner

Matthew Thompson
Partner

Russell Weiss
Partner

Evie Whiting
Partner

Emily Zipperstein
Partner

U.S. college football athletes can now expect to get paid for the use of their name, image and likeness following Sidley — working with the NCAA and the Power Five conferences —negotiating a pair of class action settlements worth $2.78 billion in damages, allowing universities to share direct revenues with student athletes through licensing payments. Another big Sidley Austin litigation was defending Universal Music Group from a defamation lawsuit launched by Drake, dismissed by the U.S. District Court and presently on 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Sidley’s transactions team engaged in a number of deals with the Warner Music Group including the formation of a $1.2 billion joint venture with Bain Capital to purchase recorded and music publishing catalogs, and a controlling stake in Tempo Music Investments for premium music rights of A-list talent. Sidley also represented a consortium of investors in a $1 billion-valued joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery to acquire all their music copyrights across film and TV. “Close to 400,000 copyrights were dropped into a new vehicle that we bought a controlling interest in; one of the largest music deals ever,” reports Thompson.

Grateful: “I’m the black sheep of a musical family and the fact that I’ve been able to incorporate music into the practice of law has been extraordinary for me,” says Ransom.

David Hernand
Partner

Hernand’s status is best illustrated by his work on a deal that didn’t happen: repping Moelis & Co. as financial advisor to Netflix in its proposed $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. He also helped broker Shamrock Capital’s sale of Excel Sports Management to Goldman Sachs for nearly $1 billion.

AI is coming for the lawyers: “Our services involve a lot of moving of paper, drafting and negotiating and revising, and a lot of that process will be automated in the future,” he says.

Michael Weinstein
Partner

Weinstein is renowned for his aggressive defense of celebrities, from Lizzo (hostile work environment claims) to Oliver Stone (extortion/defamation matter). He’s also been involved in international intrigue as of late, collaborating with Indian authorities to pull off a sting that shut down fake web sites being used to extort a Russian billionaire.

Leashing the inner pit bull: “To be honest, more often than not you can get things done by just by being professional and not over asserting yourself,” he says.

David Eisman
Partner

Glen Mastroberte
Partner

Hailey Bieber is one rich woman, thanks to Eisman and Mastroberte arranging the sales of her her skincare and cosmetics line Rhode to e.l.f. Beauty for a cool $1 billion. The duo were also responsible for shepherding Virgin Music Group’s acquisition of Downtown Music for $775 million and oversaw the sale of Warner Music Group’s Songkick to Suno.

Personal motto: “Time is not your friend,” says Eisman.

Jill Ratner
Exec VP, general counsel

A onetime member of UCLA women’s varsity soccer team, Ratner carried her competitive spirit to SPE, where she recently oversaw litigation with CBS that helped bring the global distribution rights of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” back to Sony, and spearheaded the legal strategy behind SPE’s landmark worldwide Pay-1 movie distribution deal with Netflix.

Lessons from the pitch: “It’s as complete a team sport being an in-house lawyer as it is playing a college sport,” she says.

Samantha Spector
Founder, partner

With a background in aviation, it’s no surprise that Spector is used to working with high-flyers. Her clients include Jenna Dewan, “Real Housewife” Dorit Kemsley and Donovan Michaels (aka David Armstrong) in his divorce from David Geffen. She notes that “divorce planning,” when one party consults an attorney up to a year in advance of pulling the plug on their marriage to work out how to protect their assets, is becoming increasingly common.

Keep it real: Although clients might ask for them, some settlement terms are deemed “so extreme the court can’t uphold them,” Spector says. “There is no ‘bad boy’ clause. There is no ‘hey if you cheat 10 times’ kind of thing. They’re void against public policy and they’re not going to be upheld.”

Marc Toberoff
Founding partner

Toberoff is steeped in the world of AI as lead counsel for Elon Musk in Musk v. Altman, OpenAI and Microsoft — the case is going to a phase I trial starting April 27, 2026 — and preserved Musk’s antitrust claims against OpenAI and Microsoft for a phase II trial. In the Wild West world of AI, this case should have a major impact on the rules currently being written (and rewritten) surrounding tech. In 2025, as he did for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Toberoff was instrumental in helping a number of rights-driven movies get made, including “Predator: Badlands,” “Crystal Lake,” TV series “Friday the 13th” and “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

Paul Bernstein
Partner

Jim Nelson
Partner

Kristen Ruisi
Partner

Lee Brenner
Partner

David Fink
Partner

Michael Garfinkel
Partner

Max Wellman
Partner

Justin Behnam
Associate

Venable’s transactional team tackled a wide range of M&A and investment deals on behalf of the firm’s many multihyphenate industry stars such as Peyton Manning, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and their family and NBA great Stephen Curry. Manning’s Omaha Prods. received a strategic investment from Patrick Whitesell’s investment venture WTSL. The firm guided digital talent agency Silver Tribe Media through its acquisition by the TPG-backed Initial Group. On the litigation front, the group dealt with scores of problems for celebrities, including Snoop Dogg, related to talent, licensing and sponsorship deals.

Advice to younger self: Young lawyers should avoid becoming too tightly wound in the heat of battle on a case. “It’s not personal. All this stuff is going on for the other side too. As a young lawyer, that used to really get to me and really upset me, and I did take it personally. Now, I obviously want to win, and I’m competitive, but I also understand the other side’s motives a little bit more,” Garfinkel says.

Paul Randle
Global head of business affairs

Ever since he joined Vice in London nine months ago, Randle has been charged with an expansion mandate. He’s helped structure a consortium with banker Western Alliance in partnership with Fortress Investment for a $75 million revolving production facility that will help Vice reach its content investment target. Deals struck include Season 4 of hit “Gangs of London,” and a partnership with Starbreeze Entertainment to bring video game “Payday” to auds via film and TV rights.

Overrated: “Precedents and conventions at any time, but particularly during an industrial revolution,” he says.

Steve Chung
General counsel, Disney Entertainment Television, Streaming and Global Technology

When he was young, Chung’s mother told him he’d make a good lawyer, and it appears she was right. In the past year, he’s done everything from broker a 10-year global deal bringing the Grammys to Disney beginning in 2027, to ensure the fairness of the record-breaking audience vote for this season of “Dancing With the Stars.”

Advice to younger self: “The biggest risk that you can take is to not take any,” he says.

Paige Olson
General counsel

A 30-year Mouse House vet, Olson proved she’s still hip to the cool new tech when she played a key role in closing Disney’s pioneering agreement with OpenAI, which would have allowed fans to incorporate more than 200 of the company’s iconic charactersinto short-form Sora videos. But then OpenAI abruptly pulled the plug on Sora.

Talk of the town: “There’s rarely a conversation that doesn’t somehow factor AI into it.”

Tom Ara
Partner

David Markman
Partner

David Yohai
Partner

Benjamin Marks
Partner

Yehudah Buchweitz
Partner

The firm repped Domain Capital in connection with the Village Roadshow bankruptcy, and represented Warner Bros. in litigation matters. Lawyers active in IP, entertainment and sports handled everything from F1 branded content partnerships for Keanu Reeves and Terry Crews to the sale of Premier League rights in Korea, as well as other deals for CJ ENM, CAA and UTA. Buchweitz is credited with helping CBS beat back an aggressive challenge from Sony Pictures Entertainment to claim distribution rights to the enduring TV game shows “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy.”

Construction zone: The past 12 months have been defined by three pillars, says Ara: “Consolidation, innovation and restructuring. In terms of innovation, top of mind for us on every single deal and every client is the impact of artificial intelligence.”

Todd Weinstein
Co-founder, partner

Tara Senior
Co-founder, partner

Mitch Federer
Partner

The firm specializes in representing stars in the creator economy, including Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. The firm focuses on transactional deals related to all manner of TV, film and digital production. “We also have the luxury of representing some of the biggest creators in the world, and we sit as a bridge to help legacy [Hollywood] move into digital,” Weinstein says. Senior emphasizes that the firm sees itself as a partner with clients in getting their creative visions greenlit. “We’re coming together to create. This is not litigation. This is production. This is creation,” she says. “And so we really want everyone to feel like they got a great deal and that they’re looking forward to working together.”

Matt Sugarman
Partner

A voracious reader, Sugarman has a knack for knowing which books will adapt well to the screen and enjoys helping authors land big deals. He recently repped SenLinYu in a record-setting seven-figure deal selling film rights to her fantasy novel “Alchemised” to Legendary, and secured a groundbreaking deal for author Brandon Sanderson’s “Cosmere” book series with Apple TV.

Passé: “Yellers and screamers, the people who think that’s the effective way to do business. People are realizing you get more done by being friendly with the person you’re negotiating with,” he notes.

Alex Weingarten
Partner

Michael Gottlieb
Partner

Tamerlin Godley
Partner

Alan Epstein
Partner

Andrew Kramer
Partner

Thomas Baxter
Partner

Steve Hurdle
Partner

Weingarten, Gottlieb and Godley lead the well-rounded litigation team. The firm has stayed busy representing Blake Lively in her legal battle with Justin Baldoni, and apparel firm Pacsun in its dispute with Warner Music Group. The transactional team has been equally busy in the thick of cutting-edge cases that reflect the contractual and rights-use issues of the AI era, from copyright protection to global piracy to licensing, consumer products, catalog sales and brand partnerships.

Shrinking: The trend toward industry consolidation in the heart of Hollywood is being felt, Godley says. “It impacts the type of litigation that folks are willing to do. There’s just so many headwinds for our institutional clients right now that there’s a lot of advising and there’s a lot of helping people to make good decisions.”

Julie Haffner
Head of business affairs, motion pictures and WME Independent

When Haffner joined WME from Netflix in May 2024, it was a homecoming for the attorney who had done a pre-law school stint as an assistant at its corporate predecessor, the William Morris Agency. In recent months, she’s lent her legal might to deals ranging from Guillermo Del Toro’s renegotiated Netflix pact to the auction-style sale of “Nappy,” starring Dwayne Johnson, to Disney.

The long goodbye: “I guess I’ll retire when the entertainment industry stops changing,” she notes.

Kevin Yorn
Partner

Jared Levine
Partner

Kristi Eddington
Partner

Cary Dobkin
Partner

David Krintzman
Partner

Gregg Gellman
Partner

Helping marquee clients navigate AI was of top importance this year. The firm obtained a landmark federal trademark designation for Matthew McConaughey for his voice and likeness in a partnership with AI audio firm ElevenLabs. They harnessed the heat around endorsement and brand pacts for Hailey Bieber (DKNY, Chase Sapphire) and Zoe Saldaña (Cartier, YSL and T-Mobile), while also overseeing major movie and TV deals with Scarlett Johansson, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence and Steph Curry.

Sign of the times: “The smartest deals we’re structuring go well beyond traditional studio packages. They’re multidimensional, blending content, equity and brand partnerships. Clients like Snoop, McConaughey, Colin, and Sudeikis are engaging in ways that extend far beyond on-screen roles. Tech companies like Anthropic, ElevenLabs and Function Health are creating real opportunities to build lasting equity in companies shaping culture and markets,” says Kevin Yorn.

Julian Zajfen
Partner

Ben Rubinfeld
Partner

Dean Bahat
Partner

Looking around, you wouldn’t see a ton of reasons for talent reps to be optimistic right now. But Bahat sees a bright future, in part thanks to new technology, which he argues could dramatically lower the costs of production. “There is a direct correlation between cost control and appetite for creative risk,” he says. “I think we’ll be able to make movies that completely blow audiences’ minds for a fraction of the price that we’ve been able to do that historically.”

Digital future: The firm is scaling up its roster of digital creators while it continues to double down on TV and film stars. “I would just urge anyone young to not be disillusioned by what they read in the trades and understand that this is an incredibly exciting and dynamic business,” Bahat says.

Nick Coffman
Executive in the motion picture business affairs and books departments

Born in New York to an American father and an Australian mother, Coffman grew up Down Under. After abandoning plans to be a human rights and refugee lawyer, he found his way to the U.S. and the world of entertainment at CAA, where in recent months, he’s brokered deals for everyone from Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (“Tis So Sweet”) to Bill Pullman (“Spaceballs 2”).

Travel tips: “The food in Australia is next level … the beaches are phenomenal,” but look out for “the bats, the insects and all the critters,” he warns.

Madison White
Associate, business affairs

White thinks about the long term when negotiating for her clients. For skincare influencer Yuri Lee’s brand partnership deal with Biodance, that meant using specific language that protected her name while ensuring her commission could grow along with new distribution channels for her product. White also helped astronaut and content creator Kellie Gerardi sign onto a campaign, making her “godmother” to Royal Caribbean’s new ship, Star of the Seas.

Ripe for a comeback: “Midnight release parties for new books.”

Danielle Weiss
Partner

Weiss spent 2025, her first full year as partner, working alongside name partner Rick Genow on matters concerning Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever product line and nonprofit Archewell Foundation/Archewell Prods. But she also enjoys guiding younger clients like Milo Manheim, who booked a lead role in Disney’s new live-action version of “Tangled.”

Passé: “A couple of years ago, we thought NFTs were the biggest thing on the planet, and now it’s not even a blip on the radar.”

Juliet Sobel
Associate

Sobel repped Shout! Factory in its acquisition of content including the film libraries of FilmRise, Millennium Media and Gravitas Ventures, and Miles Davis’ estate in the sale of the jazz icon’s catalog. “Catalogs and libraries offer more predictable revenue streams and built-in audiences,” Sobel says. She also does pro bono work related to causes including refugee asylum.

Helping hand: Pro bono work “allows me to use my legal skills to make a tangible impact on families’ day-to-day lives,” she says.

Arielle Matza
Associate

Samantha Sheft
Associate

Matza led on LeBron James’ deal with Mattel to create the first athlete-inspired Ken doll (known as a “Kenbassador”), which involved “very substantial approvals” on every aspect of the doll from clothes to accessories (the figure was so popular there was even a second production run after the first sold out). Sheft was part of the team that negotiated singer Audrey Nuna’s “KPop Demon Hunters” deal, making her officially “the coolest aunt ever” when the Netflix movie exploded across the world last summer. “We did a whole group [Halloween] costume,” she says. “Which is the first time that’s happened for me on a deal.”

Hair-raising clauses: “I have had to deal with wig budgets, which is something in my prior life I did not know existed,” says Sheft, while Matza adds that provision of “ear-wigs” — a wireless earpiece to receive lines — has also come up in negotiations more than once.

James Goacher
Senior director of legal affairs and business development

Goacher’s skill for developing creative ways to open up new markets paid off big time in 2025, as IMAX opened 166 new locations across 16 countries. He increased productivity with Buddy, a homegrown AI program used to help with productivity tasks — always cautioning staff to double-check that all information is correct.

Survival tactic: “Walking meditation. It does two things at once: you get exercise, and you also get the mental health benefit,” he says.

Ruth Paul
Associate

New Zealand-reared Paul did a two-year stint as a news anchor in Jakarta, Indonesia, before entering law school. Today, she cuts deals for everything from film and TV to podcasts and endorsements and assists partners with marquee clients like Chloé Zhao and Benny Safdie.

Cold, hard truth: “It’s about not only advocating for your client, but also being able to go to your client and tell them, ‘This deal sucks. Maybe walk away.’”

Justin Reid
Associate

Reid works with creatives, studios and shingles, including Amazon MGM Studios (negotiated with Jon M. Chu, Sydney Sweeney, Story Kitchen and Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick for the adaptation of the video game “Split Fiction”), Gaumont and Meta in complex production negotiations. “Studios are really starting to focus more on how much value they can get out of a certain project,” he notes.

Best client advice: “Focus on building long-term intellectual property,” he says.

Daniel Weissman
Associate

Weissman still drums in funk and jam bands, but he long ago gave up his rock star dreams for the life of a transactional attorney. In recent months, he’s advised Endeavor on its $13 billion sale to Silver Lake, and Silver Lake on its pending $55 Billion acquisition of Electronic Arts.

Survival tactic: “Even if people are trying to make you stay up all night and work around the clock to do these deals, get a couple hours of sleep a night,” says Weissman.