Irell trio launches litigation boutique

By Matthew Belloni

We're not sure if it's the economy or just a little restlessness, but it seems there's been an uptick lately in firm-to-firm movement among entertainment lawyers. Today brings news that litigator Richard Kendall (left) and two colleagues from LA's Irell & Manella are branching out on their own with a new litigation boutique.

Kendall is joined by Laura Brill and Robert Klieger, and the firm (Kendall Brill & Klieger) will focus on intellectual property and complex contract, commercial and constitutional disputes. They've handled studio-side cases for clients like Paramount, CBS and big sibling Viacom, and the firm's announcement release includes glowing quotes from Viacom general counsel Michael Fricklas and CBS Television general counsel Jonathan Anschell. Should be interesting to see if the Viacom-related work follows the trio to the new firm.