See THR’s Power Lawyers 2015 List on THR.com
See Bryan Freedman’s THR’s Power Lawyers 2015 page on THR.com
Dry legal wonks? Hardly. Cyberattacks, nude iPhone photos, runaway agents, sex scandals — it’s all in a day’s work for this year’s crop of the industry’s most powerful lawyers.
This story first appeared in the May 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
If you want a friend in Washington, Harry Truman once advised, get a dog. If you want one in Hollywood, though, you should probably get a lawyer. Preferably one of the 100 listed here in THR‘s eighth annual Power Lawyers issue. When the biggest stars and highest-ranking execs find themselves in trouble (or want to cause some), these are the men and women they turn to in order to dig their way out (or in). And over the past year, there’s been enough trouble, along with dealmaking, to keep nearly all of L.A.’s top entertainment attorneys busy.
In the fall, for instance, after hackers uploaded tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails onto the Internet, it was lawyers who were called in to clean up the mess. When riffs from an old Marvin Gaye tune ended up in a song where they didn’t belong — that’d be Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke‘s “Blurred Lines” — it was the lawyers who made things better (or at least got a $7.3 million verdict for Gaye’s family). When naked pictures were stolen from celebrity iCloud accounts, or when a swarm of agents took flight from CAA to UTA, or when the family of a famous reggae singer wanted to license his name for a brand of pot, it was always the lawyers from this list who rode to the rescue. In this year’s issue, THR adds a slew of new names, poses some new questions (latest splurge, secret passion) and, as always, salutes all those on it for once again raising the bar.
A Pictoral list of THR’s Power Lawyers 2015 is displayed.
Tom K. Ara – Corporate
Karl Austen – Talent
Jake Bloom – Talent
Chrostiopher D. Brearton – Corporate
Skip Brittenham – Talent
Horld Borwn – Talent
John Burke – Corporate
Richard S. Busch – Litigator
Joseph Calabrese – Corporate
Lindsay Conner – Corporate
Melanie Cook – Talent
Robert Darwell – Corporate
Warren Dern – Talent
Scott Edelman – Litigator
David Eisman – Corporate
Craig Emanuel – Talent
Bonnie Eskenazi – Litigator
James Feldman – Talent
Patti Felker – Talent
Bert Fields – Litigator
Sam Fischer – Talent
Ruth Fisher – Corporate
David Fox – Talent
Russell Frackman – Litigator
Bryan Freedman – Litigator
Freedman & Taitelman
University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
WHY HE MATTERS: He’s the guy repping UTA against CAA’s claims that the agency illegally poached 11 agents during March’s big defection. In 2014, he helped several stars (he won’t name names) deal with the nude photo iCloud hack.
IF HE COULD SUE ANY FICTIONAL CHARACTER: “Vincent Chase from Entourage for commissions he owed Ari Gold.”
John Gatti – Litigator
Seth Gelblum – Talent
Harvey Geller – Litigator
Michael Gendler – Talent
Cliff Gilbert-Lurie – Talent
Patty Glaser – Litigator
Carlos Goodman – Talent
Josh Grode – Corporate
Allen Grubman – Talent
Tom Hansen – Talent
Alan Gergott – Talent
Barry Hirsch – Talent
Jim Jackoway – Talent
Craig Jacobson – Talent
Matthew Johnson – Talent
Neville Johnson – Litigator
Joel Katz – Talent
Martin Katz – Litigator
Bruce Keller – Litigator
Richard Kendall – Litigator
Howard King – Litigator
Dale Kinsella – Litigator
Deborah Klein – Talent
Ken Kleinberg – Talent
Michael Kump – Litigator
David Lande – Talent
Bob Lange – Talent
Linda Lichter – Talent
Steve Marenberg – Litigator
Kevin Masuda – Corporate
Mickey Mayerson – Corporate
Joel McKuin – Talent
Jon Moonves – Talent
Schuyler Moore – Corporate
Aaron Moss – Litigator
Bob Myman – Talent
Peter Nelson – Talent
Jeanne Newman – Talent
Peter Nichols – Talent
Robert Offer – Talent
Anthony Oncidi – Litigator
Charles Ortner – Litigator
Jodi Peikoff – Talent
Daniel Petrocelli – Litigator
Michael Plonsker – Litigator
Glenn Pomerantz – Litigator
Marvin Putnam – Litigator
Bruce Ramer – Talent
Ken Richman – Talent
Lawrence Rose – Talent
Nancy Rose – Talent
Matthew Rosengart – Litigator
Gretchen Rush – Talent
Kelli Sager – Litigator
Michael Schenkman – Talent
Ira Schreck – Talent
Robert Schwartz – Litigator
P.J. Shapiro – Talent
Nina Shaw – Talent
Martin Singer – Litigator
Jason Sloane – Talent
Larry Stein – Litigator
Richard L. Stone – Litigator
Matthew Thompson – Corporate
Bruce Tobey – Corporate
Fred Toczek – Talent
Steve Warren – Talent
David Weber – Talent
Howard Weitzman – Litigator
Alan Wertheimer – Talent
Alonzo Wickers – Litigator
Bryan Wolf – Talent
Kevin Yorn – Talent
Ken Ziffren – Talent
Susan Zuckerman Williams – Corporate
