Staffing Roundup: Promotions at Sony, NBC, Starz

Some recent entertainment law moves:

• Corii Berg has been tapped by Sony Pictures Television to be senior executive vp business affairs after the company consolidated its domestic and international business affairs divisions. Berg (right) was most recently executive vp and deputy general counsel at Sony Pictures Entertainment, heading the company's corporate legal affairs group. He joined SPE in 1995 and has been promoted several times since coming aboard.
• Inge Van Herle has been promoted to senior vp business affairs for NBC Universal Domestic TV Distribution. Van Herle recently played an integral role in the division's pacts for syndication of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "Deal or No Deal" and will continue to oversee business affairs for first-run production and distribution.
• Starz Entertainment elevated Michelle Parker to senior vp business and legal affairs. Parker acts as the lead attorney for all new media and technology matters for the Starz pay television business and Starz Media. She was formerly a vp in the distribution group and joined the company in 2005.
• Litigator Suann MacIsaac (right) has joined Santa Monica's Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert as a partner. MacIsaac, previously a partner with Greenberg Glusker, specializes in video game litigation and has represented Ubisoft and game developer Spark Unlimited. 
• Channing Johnson has joined Loeb & Loeb's Los Angeles office as a partner in the firm's entertainment group. Johnson, formerly a co-founding partner of the LA office of Akin Gump, advises a variety of companies on dealmaking including financing and distribution agreements.

Which entertainment law firms will be next to merge?

By Eriq Gardner

In the wake of this year's consolidation of  the William Morris and Endeavor agencies, are entertainment law boutiques next?

Yesterday, New York-based Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz announced it is merging with music business firm Serling Rooks Ferrara McKoy & Wrob. 

Both firms come into their marriage with a stellar client roster. Frankfurt Kurnit represents the Tribeca Film Festival, Aaron Sorkin, Dean Koontz, John Goldman, among many others. Serling Rooks represents Lady Gaga, Fallout Boy, John Mayer, Ozzy Osbourne, and Moby.

The deal may be a sign of things to come.

Last week, the National Law Journal published an article bemoaning the state of the entertainment industry, highlighting how fees and other compensation have declined as studios clamp down on costs. We've covered this chilling environment before, so we're not surprised.

Craig Emanuel, chairman of Loeb & Loeb’s Los Angeles entertainment department and talent practice group, thinks that small firms have a challenging road ahead of them to stay independent.

“I do think that in the next 24 months you are going to see more consolidation of law firms, whether it’s in the form of boutiques getting together or individuals from boutiques joining larger firms,” said Emanuel in the NLJ article. "Like in any business in a depressed time, finding a way to share overhead with somebody else becomes a critical factor."

Video game publishers escalate fight for their rights

By Eriq Gardner

The Electronic Software Association looks to be getting a little more aggressive in sticking up for its rights.

The trade association for game publishers has filed a lawsuit in Illinois District Court against the Chicago Transit Authority for refusing to run advertisements on video games rated "Mature 17+" or "Adults Only 18+." ESA claims that CTA's prohibition on certain computer and video game advertisements is a violation of free speech guarantees under the First Amendment.

The Chicago Transit Authority banned advertisements relating to adult-oriented games in January. Video game blog Kotaku points out that CTA's ordinance doesn't prohibit advertisements on R-rated movies, mature TV shows or music.

The lawsuit comes a day after ESA announced a new head of government relations. The trade association has hired Erik Huey, a former partner at Kilpatrick Stockton as its new senior vp. Huey (pictured) has contributed to policy debates involving domestic film production, digital theft of copyright content, and preserving artists' First Amendment rights.

Google legal eagle flies to Twitter

By Eriq Gardner

This one's not entirely shocking. Twitter has poached Google's Alexander Macgillivray to be its general counsel.

Macgillivray served as deputy general counsel for products and intellectual property at Google. At the company, the 36-year-old lawyer was involved in crafting the settlement with book publishers and authors and was part of the team fighting big copyright lawsuits, including Viacom's claims against YouTube.

Twitter hasn't gotten into as much legal trouble so far. 

St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sued Twitter earlier this year for trademark infringement after an impersonator made comments using La Russa's name. The case was later settled. Twitter has also been on the periphery of a defamation battle involving Courtney Love, although the service itself was not a defendant in that lawsuit.

However, it's fair to say that Twitter will be seeing more legal action soon. For instance, Twitter users are increasingly using the service to share music and share videos with each other. The development of Twitter apps has been a little slow, but if the company plans to build out its network, open it to developers, and realize the full potential of micro-blogging, having a seasoned lawyer like Macgillivray on board makes sense.

Staffing Roundup: Dreier alums land at Hiscock & Barclay, Blank Rome; Sheppard Mullin nabs Loeb music specialist

Some recent entertainment law moves:

• New York's Hiscock & Barclay has formed a sports and entertainment practice that will be headed by partners Thomas Mandelbaum (right) and Robert Lanza. Mandelbaum joins the firm from the recently disbanded Dreier, LLC, where he was co-chair of the firm's entertainment practice. Lanza represents a significant amount of professional sports teams and athletes and is former general counsel of the National Basketball Association Players Association. Also joining the firm and its new practice group is Monika Tashman, also formerly of Dreier.
• Also on the Dreier front, former partners in the LA office Lawrence Hinkle and Andrew Kim have joined Liner Yankelevitz alum Glen Rothstein to start an entertainment practice for Blank Rome in Los Angeles.
  
• Kenneth Anderson has joined the New York office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton as a special counsel in the firm's entertainment, media, and technology practice group. Anderson joins from Loeb & Loeb, where he spent 17 years handling business and legal affairs and supervising litigation for recording artists, composers, producers, independent record companies, and others within the music industry. 
• Lev Ginsburg has joined McKuin Frankel Whitehead as a partner. The talent dealmaker reps actors, writers and directors. He jumps from Hansen Jacobsen Teller Hoberman Newman Warren & Richman.
• Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps has brought Mark Vega aboard as of counsel. A former general counsel at Omelet, a Los Angeles-based advertising and marketing agency, Vega joins the LA office and will advise clients on entertainment, marketing, advertising, and mew media matters. 

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.

Staffing Roundup: New hires at Kirkland, Glaser Weil and Stroock & Stroock

Three entertainment law firms have been beefing up their staffs:

• Kirkland & Ellis has announced that Dale Cendali has joined the firm as a partner in New York. Cendali (pictured) is a well-respected IP litigator who has represented J.K. Rowling, Fox and Victoria's Secret. Formerly with O'Melveny & Myers, she's currently repping the Associated Press in that fair use case against Shepard Fairey over the Obama poster. Kirkland also added Claudia Ray and Diana Torres as partners.  
• John Mason has joined LA's Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs Howard & Shapiro as a partner. Mason, a long-time fixture in the music biz, was named  "Entertainment Lawyer of the Year" by Billboard and in 2000 was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, where he continues to serve as a member.
• LA litigator John Gatti has moved from Greenberg Traurig to Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, where he will head the firm's entertainment practice. Gatti recently repped Alan Ladd, Jr. in his well-publicized profits case against Warner Bros.  

Time Warner IP Lawyer Joins Chadbourne & Park

Charles Fish has joined the Chadbourne & Parke firm as counsel in the New York intellectual property practice.

Fish comes from Time Warner, where he he was vp and chief patent counsel in the company's legal division. He handled corporate patent strategy and operations, including litigation, risk analysis, licensing and procurement for Time Warner properties including AOL, HBO, Time Inc., Time Warner Cable, Turner Broadcasting/CNN, Warner Bros. and Warner Music. 

Fish also has contributed a number of influential U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs.

As for Chadbourne & Parke, they've recently made a move in intellectual property, having recently added John Squires, former chief IP officer  for Goldman Sachs, to co-chair the firm's group.

NBC-Uni TV Group promotes 4 in legal affairs

NBC Universal Television Group delivered some good news to four lawyers today, adding a new senior team member and promoting three others.

• Laura Black Dawson joins the group as senior vp, legal affairs. Dawson comes from GE, where she was general counsel of the company's equipment services group. She will now oversee legal work on talent contracts and license agreements.
  

• In addition, Shelly Tremain was promoted to senior vp, legal affairs. Tremain looks after the studio's reality programming.

• Michelle Vesecky and Jeff Evans were both promoted to vp, legal affairs. Vesecky has worked on digital rights and Evans has provided support on major television projects. Both will report to Dawson.

Staffing Roundup: RIAA taps Sony BMG for new SVP

Some news on the staffing front:

• The Recording Industry Association of America has hired Jennifer Pariser as senior vp of litigation and legal affairs. She comes to the RIAA after serving as associate general counsel at Sony BMG, where she was the primary liaison between the label and the industry's trade group. Pariser will oversee litigation and report to RIAA general counsel Steven Marks. She replaces Ken Doroshow, who recently left to become general counsel of the Entertainment Software Association.

• New York's Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz has added Phyllis Kaufman as a partner in the firm's entertainment group. Prior to joining Frankfurt Kurnit, Kaufman was a principal at New York-based Fish & Richardson, where she chaired the media and entertainment group.

• New York-based Gray Krauss has promoted André Des Rochers to partner. Rochers came to the firm in 2005 after handling corporate transaction matters at Shearman & Sterling. He now represents producers, writers, directors, and production companies.