Who are America's Top 100 Entertainment 'Power Lawyers'?
The Hollywood Reporter has just released its list of the top entertainment lawyers in America. Who do you recognize?
A lot of legal work is decidedly uncool. Sadly, there’s just not much sexiness in talking about your latest corporate bankruptcy case or major document review project.
But there are exceptions. Case in point: entertainment lawyers. How sweet would it be to represent celebrities? (Except if you had to work for train wrecks veteran rock stars like Courtney Love).
So, that being said, let’s take a look at the Hollywood Reporter’s newly released Power Lawyers 2012 list, which rounds up the top 100 entertainment attorneys in America.
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Maybe you know someone on the list?
Here’s how the Hollywood Reporter picked the winners:
To determine Hollywood’s 100 most influential attorneys (in alphabetical order), THR canvassed the biggest deals and cases of the past year. Lawyers were broken down into four categories — talent dealmakers, litigators, corporate dealmakers and “troubleshooters” (divorce or criminal matters) — and evaluated against their peers based on cases won/nature of deals closed as well as their reputation within the entertainment legal community. In-house studio, network or talent agency lawyers are not eligible (it’s too difficult to gauge influence within a corporate structure).
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At the top of this blogger’s badass list is Carlos Goodman, of Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman. Goodman represents Batman, err Christian Bale (not to mention Quentin Tarantino and Darren Aronofsky). The Hollywood Reporter has a few photos of the handsome attorney-client pair looking very suave.
A list like this, of course, would not be complete without Shawn Holley, who has the crucial (and no doubt challenging) job of representing Lindsay Lohan. The Reporter also has some very fashionable photos of the pair in LiLo’s dressing room.
Of course, you can’t have entertainment law without celebrity divorces. That’s why Bert Fields, the attorney handling the divorce settlement between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, is a shoo-in for the list.
There are numerous Gibson Dunn attorneys on the list, including Orin Snyder, who represents Mark Zuckerberg in the ongoing Paul Ceglia litigation. (Yay for technology celebrities!) I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Snyder on the phone, and even after a brief conversation, it’s easy to see why he made the cut.
David Lat’s knowledge of high-profile attorneys is admittedly more encyclopedic than mine, and he suggested shout-outs to these other star entertainment lawyers, some of whom we have covered before:
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– Ken Ziffren, the “dean of Hollywood lawyers.”
– Patricia Glaser, “one of Hollywood’s savviest operators, a relentless litigator with a no-nonsense attitude, and an impeccable record of success.”
– Kelli Sager of Davis Wright Tremaine, “the best-known First Amendment advocate on the West Coast.”
– Bruce Keller, of Debevoise & Plimpton, a litigator who specializes in high-profile IP fights, “including repping book publishers against Google over book scanning and the NFL to protect the league’s copyrights and trademarks.”
– Skip Brittenham, “the legendary Hollywood deal lawyer whose clients include Ridley and Tony Scott, [and] Eddie Murphy.”
Again, congratulations to all 100 attorneys on the list!
Power Lawyers 2012 [Hollywood Reporter]
