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A Conversation With...

A Conversation With...

By The Biederman Institute at Southwestern Law School

Influential members of the Entertainment, Sports, & Media Law industries discuss their careers and hot-button issues. You will hear top-notch entertainment, sports, and media lawyers and experts share their journeys and provide insights in conversation style panel discussions with Q&A. This interview series is produced thanks to the generous support of the Golden Globe Foundation.
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A Conversation with Kenneth Wu

A Conversation With...Aug 27, 2021

00:00
01:00:24
A Conversation With Ken Basin

A Conversation With Ken Basin

Ken Basin is the Global Head of Business Operations (Film/TV) for Riot Games, where he manages all aspects of operations, strategy, business affairs, and production for the new and growing film and television division of Riot Games, the publisher of blockbuster video games such as League of Legends and Valorant, and producer of the 2021 worldwide hit series Arcane, based on its League of Legends franchise. Recognized by Variety as one of “Hollywood’s New Leaders” and by The Hollywood Reporter in its annual “Next Gen Executives” (“35 Under 35”) feature, Ken has previously worked in senior Business Affairs roles at Paramount Television StudiosSony Pictures Television, and Amazon Studios. Ken is also a published scholar on copyright law, adjunct professor of Entertainment and Media Law at Harvard Law School, and the author of The Business of Television, a comprehensive overview of the business, financial, and legal structure of the U.S. television industry that has been adopted as a leading reference guide by practitioners and as an educational text by universities across the country. Ken provides valuable insights into being in-house counsel at a major studio or venturing into the dynamic world of gaming.

Mar 15, 202401:07:01
A Conversation With Henry Lydiate

A Conversation With Henry Lydiate

Southwestern Law School's head of the Entertainment, Media, and Sports Law Institute, Orly Ravid, speaks to Henry Lydiate, a renowned London-based International Art Lawyer who has specialized in the law relating to visual art and design for over 35 years. A founding partner of The Henry Lydiate Partnership LLP—an international art business consultancy, Henry Lydiate showcases a lifelong commitment to the arts and the support of creative arts practitioners and cultural organizations through innovation, people development, and co-creation.  Professor Lydiate also designs and delivers international legal and art business modules for Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Southwestern Law School's London Study Abroad Program. In this episode, Henry Lydiate discusses what it takes to be an art lawyer, the challenges of using existing IP law to apply to visual art, the explosive rise of AI-derived art, and how best to represent clients and protect their art.

Mar 13, 202454:27
A Conversation With Erika Kirkwood

A Conversation With Erika Kirkwood

In this episode, Southwestern Law School's head of the Entertainment, Media, and Sports Law Institute, Orly Ravid, speaks to Erika Kirkwood, executive Vice President and Head of Business Affairs at Paramount Television Studios (PTVS), about Erika’s journey from doing litigation to being a studio entertainment business affairs executive.

Erika has been a pivotal figure in the entertainment industry, successfully spearheading negotiations for acclaimed projects such as The Offer, Home Before Dark, Defending Jacob, Before, Maniac, and Looking for Alaska. Erika discusses her instrumental role in guild negotiations alongside Paramount's labor team and her careful approach to complex circumstances, utilizing her keen insight into the intersection of media and law.

Nov 09, 202331:06
A Conversation With Kenneth Trujillo-Jamison
Aug 25, 202352:23
A Conversation With Carolyn Forrest

A Conversation With Carolyn Forrest

Meet Carolyn Forrest, the EVP and General Counsel of Tubi, Inc. and a prominent entertainment and media lawyer. She leads Tubi's legal team, comprised of twenty lawyers and six paraprofessionals.

She oversees all legal matters for Tubi and advises on corporate compliance, data privacy, content acquisition, distribution and production, sales, growth, marketing, intellectual property, and employment matters.

Carolyn began her career at Skadden Arps Meagher and Flom as a corporate litigation associate after clerking with the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Carolyn served as chair of the American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law and chairperson of its Governing Committee. She also serves on the board of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. She is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law and Princeton University.

Apr 07, 202301:02:42
A Conversation With...Two Theatre Lawyers

A Conversation With...Two Theatre Lawyers

Hear from two exceptional entertainment transactional lawyers operating in the theatrical space, Emily Lawson – Associate, Lazarus & Harris LLP, and Stephen Pidcock – Senior Associate, Clintons. They discuss their careers, the fundamentals of practicing law in the theatre and live performance industry and the latest trends in live stage theatre productions and related deals and contracts.
Nov 30, 202201:14:18
A Conversation With...Dr. Michael Epstein

A Conversation With...Dr. Michael Epstein

Biederman Institute director Orly Ravid talks with Dr. Epstein about the fragility of Sierra Leone’s democracy, the country’s struggle to create laws guaranteeing a free press, and its citizens’ widespread concern that election-related fake news may lead to unrest, extremism and even violence.

Nov 30, 202201:00:32
A Conversation with Ina Fichman

A Conversation with Ina Fichman

Meet acclaimed, Montreal-based producer Ina Fichman. Her most recently produced documentary film, The Fire of Love, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and enjoyed the biggest distribution deal for a documentary out of the festival, selling to National Geographic for a reported mid-seven-figure pricetag.

Ina Fichman is president and Producer at Intuitive Pictures, a Montreal-based company dedicated to producing quality film, television, and interactive productions. She works with some of the world’s finest creators: writers, directors, “idea people” in developing innovative projects that have a broad audience appeal. Ina has produced award-winning documentary and fiction films for television and theatrical release for over twenty-five years.

Her filmography includes:

  • The feature film Mabul (The Flood), directed by Guy Nattiv, was featured at the Berlinale and winner of best feature film at the Haifa Film Festival.
  • The alternative drama, Family Motel, was screened in theatres in Canada and the U.S.

Feature documentary productions such as:

  • Blue Box (Doc Aviv, Dukufest International)
  • The Gig is Up (Hot Docs, CPH:DOX)
  • Laila at the Bridge (CPH:DOX, DOC NYC, Hot Docs),
  • The Olso Diaries (Sundance Film Festival, Hot Docs, Emmy nominated)
  • Inside Lehman Brothers (Hot Docs, DOC NYC).
  • Fire of Love (Sundance Film Festival)

Ina also produced the acclaimed mini-series Black Coffee, the Gemini Award-winning Undying Love, International Documentary Association (IDA) nominated Being Dorothy, and Partly Private which was awarded a prize at the Tribecca Festival. Ina has produced the documentary and interactive platform Dead Sea Living (ARTE, SRC) and the transmedia project T-Shirt Stories(Canal D/Bell New Media Fund).

May 20, 202250:30
A Conversation with Anita Surendran

A Conversation with Anita Surendran

Anita Surendran, partner at Granderson Des Rochers LLP and co-chair of the firm’s Film & TV group, represents individual and corporate clients in the film, television, and digital media industries. Anita has served as production and/or distribution counsel on over 150 productions within the independent film space and also as outside counsel for various studios and networks, including A24, Netflix, and Amazon. She continues to expand her practice with a focus on established and emerging clients. Some notable clients include Mary J. Blige, Taylour Paige, Jesse Williams, Pastel Pictures, Square Peg, Mass Appeal. She also services many of the firm’s music clients, such as J Balvin, Neyo, Bernie Taupin, and Harvey Mason Jr.

Nov 19, 202146:40
A Conversation with Priyanka Khimani

A Conversation with Priyanka Khimani

Priyanka Khimani is one of India’s leading entertainment, music, and intellectual property rights experts. Best known for her unmatched commercial and legal acumen in the Indian entertainment sector, she represents a glowing roster of Indian and international stakeholders and talent. Her clientele is studded with some of the most celebrated names in film, television, and music, including international record labels, publishers, distribution companies, studios, content streaming and social media platforms, Emmy-nominated filmmakers and showrunners, as well as Oscar and Grammy winners, among others.

Nov 11, 202149:34
A Conversation with Kenneth Wu

A Conversation with Kenneth Wu

Kenneth Wu is the SVP of Business and Legal Affairs for the acclaimed management and film, TV and commercial production company Anonymous Content. A high-level transactional attorney, Wu is a versatile leader with experience handling high-profile scripted and non-scripted projects across feature film, television and new media. A savvy deal negotiator with extensive contract drafting experience, and a seasoned production attorney, he has a solid reputation as a fair dealer and great problem-solver.

In his current role, Wu has established the business and legal affairs team for the new Anonymous Content Studio and supervises the company’s team of lawyers in creating and setting policy, deal parameters and general business strategy across the company’s film, television and new media departments, including scripted, non-scripted, documentaries and branded content projects such as the upcoming film SWAN SONG (Apple TV+), starring Mahershala Ali, Glenn Close, and Awkwafina; George Clooney’s THE MIDNIGHT SKY (Netflix); Defending Jacob (Apple TV+), Home Before Dark (Apple TV+) and the Hailee Steinfeld series DICKINSON (Apple TV+), both of which are in production on a third season; and EYES ON THE PRIZE (HBO). Wu also liaises with Anonymous Content’s international divisions, including UK production house Chapter One with agencies Casarotto Ramsay and United Agents, which will be producing the limited series 39 STEPS starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and Anonymous Content Nordic, where he worked on the negotiation for the series “STORIES FROM EARTH,” recently greenlit for Apple TV+.

Other accomplishments at Anonymous Content include negotiating co-production templates with outside studios, license agreement with broadcasters and distributors, overall and first look deals; creating a library of scripted and unscripted long forms: writer agreements for screenplays and pilot scripts; film and pilot director agreements; option purchases of rights/formats; talent test options agreements; participant agreements; shopping agreements; various production releases; and union/non-union crew deal memos. Wu has also served as a general counsel for Anonymous Content on various corporate legal matters, including negotiating employee contracts for managers-producers, providing legal support for human resources and coordinating with outside counsels on litigation matters.

Prior to joining Anonymous Content in 2015, Wu was a business and legal affairs consultant for clients including Machinima, Inc., Sony Pictures Television Business Affairs, Sony Pictures Television, Legal Affairs and L. Plummer Media. He also previously worked as Director of U.S. Business Affairs for Sony Pictures Television, where he renegotiated the “Sharks” on “Shark Tank” and “Beyond The Tank” and as counsel for BBC Worldwide Productions, where he managed production legal issues on scripted and non-scripted shows including “Dancing With The Stars” and “Top Gear America.”

Wu is a graduate of the SCALE Program at Southwestern Law School. He received his M.A. in International Relations from University of Southern California and his B.A. in Political Science from University of California, Santa Barbara. He played the violin for the UCSB Symphony and was the Assistant Coach to the Men’s Tennis Team. He is fluent in both Mandarin and Taiwanese dialect.

*Please note that the audio was recorded over a Zoom webinar and may have some playback issues.

Slideshow presentation for the podcast can be found here along with additional documents.

http://videolibrary.swlaw.edu/biederman/podcast/

Aug 27, 202101:00:24
A Conversation with Mark Hiraide on Equity Crowdfunding

A Conversation with Mark Hiraide on Equity Crowdfunding

*Please note that the audio was recorded over a Zoom webinar and may have some playback issues.

Slideshow presentation for the podcast can be found here along with additional documents.

http://videolibrary.swlaw.edu/biederman/podcast/

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The presentation will address best practices with respect to most common financing of motion pictures and series in the entertainment industry and also the newer possibility of equity crowdfunding which is gaining popularity. Mark Hiraide will discuss the recent amendments to the SEC's equity crowdfunding rules and the changing landscape for early-stage financing generally.

Mark T. Hiraide works in the highly specialized and complex area of the law having to do with business finance and raising capital. He represents entrepreneurs, startups, publicly traded companies, directors and officers, broker-dealers, investment bankers, investment advisers and accountants in civil litigation relating to securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and investment management.

He counsels public exchange-listed and private companies and their boards of directors, including special committees and senior management, on issues including corporate governance, discharge of fiduciary duties, internal investigations and Securities and Exchange Commission compliance. He represents companies in transactions including securities private placements and public offerings. And he defends parties in civil litigation, government regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings, and represents defrauded investors.

He is an authority on the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. Mr. Hiraide testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee looking into the law designed to help startups raise money. He is the author of a book on crowdfunding just published by Thomson Reuters. And he is working with the California Legislature to pass a state crowdfunding law he drafted.

Mr. Hiraide offers unique insight and perspective to his clients because of his former position as an SEC attorney and because he has handled both business transactions and courtroom litigation during his three decades as a corporate and securities lawyer.

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Thank you to The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their generous support of the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute.

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For more info check out the Southwestern Law School Website here at https://www.swlaw.edu/

Looking to Contact the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute?

Tel:213-738-6602

Email: institute@swlaw.edu

Feb 19, 202158:15
A Conversation with Neville Johnson

A Conversation with Neville Johnson

*Please note that the audio was recorded over a Zoom webinar and may have some playback issues.

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Johnson & Johnson LLP, based in Beverly Hills, California, specializes in complex litigation with a particular emphasis on entertainment, privacy, defamation, consumer issues, and class actions, as well as transactional matters.

Neville L. Johnson, a graduate U.C. Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa) and Southwestern Law School, has tried over 28 civil jury trials and many bench trials and arbitrations.  He is a member of the invitation-only American Board of Trial Advocates, on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles (CAALA), the Board of Directors of the national public interest organization Public Justice, and the Board of the Beverly Hills Bar Association (“BHBA”) (2013-2015, and 2020-2022). Johnson is a long-time member of the invitation-only Los Angeles Copyright Society. He was Chair of the Entertainment Law Section of the BHBA from 2009 to 2011. He has appeared in courts throughout the United States.

Mr. Johnson has practiced entertainment law and IP law since 1975. Mr. Johnson has represented many well-known celebrities and entertainment concerns. The firm does extensive “net profit” work in the film and televisions industry, right of publicity [including in February 2021, the largest right of publicity jury verdict ($9.6 Million and $7 Million in attorneys fees) in the history of the United States], copyright infringement and idea-theft, breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and other business torts. He and his firm have been lead counsel in many class actions, including pioneering class actions in the entertainment industry against the entertainment unions, major record companies and motion picture companies.

Mr. Johnson has been designated a “SuperLawyer” (top 5% as voted by colleagues) numerous times and has been chosen to vet and approve nominations. In 2020 SuperLawyer and his peers named him one of the top 100 lawyers in Southern California (the only entertainment attorney on the list). He was designated one of the Hollywood 100 “Power Lawyers” by the Hollywood Reporter every year since 2008, usually one of four litigators typically on the plaintiffs’ side. In 2020, he was moved to a new permanent category, “Legal Legend.”  In 2020 he was Alumnus of the Year by the Biederman Entertainment Law Institute at Southwestern Law School.  Variety many times named him one of the top entertainment lawyers. Mr. Johnson was lead trial and appellate counsel in the precedent-setting case of Sanders v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., 20 Cal. 4th 907 (1999), which established the right of privacy in the workplace and is studied in the leading case book on torts and the two casebooks on entertainment law.  Editor and Publisher magazine wrote that he “is one of the most dangerous media plaintiff lawyers in the United States.”

Since 2012, Neville and Douglas Johnson have taught  Entertainment and Media Litigation as Adjunct Professors at Southwestern School of Law. Since 2011 he has moderated the panel on ethical issues for the annual Year in Review for the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

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Thank you to The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their generous support of the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute.

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For more info check out the Southwestern Law School Website here at https://www.swlaw.edu/

Looking to Contact the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute?

Email: institute@swlaw.edu

Dec 15, 202044:15
Judith Finell's - Whose Song is it Anyway?

Judith Finell's - Whose Song is it Anyway?

*Please note that the audio was recorded over a Zoom webinar and may have some playback issues.

Slideshow presentation for the podcast can be found here.

Whose Song is it Anyway?.pdf

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Judith Finell is a musicologist and the president of Judith Finell Music Services Inc., a music consulting firm in New York and Los Angeles, founded 25 years ago in New York. Since then, she has served as consultant and expert witness involving music copyright infringement, advised on artist career and project development, and a wide variety of music industry topics. Recently, Ms. Finell was honored to be the 2018 commencement speaker at UCLA’s Herb Albert School of Music. She was also interviewed by NBC/Universal for a 2018 documentary entitled “The Universality of Music,” in which she discussed the ways in which she sees music as being an international language that can bridge cultural barriers that spoken language does not.

Judith Finell was the testifying expert for the Marvin Gaye family in the milestone “Blurred Lines” case in Federal Court. She has testified in many other notable copyright infringement trials over the past 20 years. She and her team of musicologists regularly advise HBO, Lionsgate, Grey Advertising, CBS, Warner, Disney, and Sony Pictures on musical works for their commercials, films, and television series. Ms. Finell also frequently advises attorneys, advertising agencies, entertainment and recording companies, publishing firms, and musicians, addressing copyright issues, including those arising from digital sampling, electronic technology, and Internet musical usage.

Ms. Finell was invited to teach forensic musicology at UCLA in 2018, where she continues to teach the only such course in the country. She holds an M.A. degree in musicology from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. from UCLA in piano performance. She has written numerous articles and a book in the area of contemporary music and copyright infringement and has appeared in trials on Court TV and before the American Intellectual Property Law Association. She is a trustee of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., and has appeared as a guest lecturer at the law schools of Harvard University, UCLA, Stanford, Columbia, Vanderbilt, George Washington, NYU, and Fordham, as well as the Beverly Hills Bar Assn., LA Copyright Society, and the Association of Independent Music Publishers. She may be reached either by e-mail at judi@jfmusicservices.comor by telephone at (310) 301-3338

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Thank you to The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their generous support of the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute.

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For more info check out the Southwestern Law School Website here at https://www.swlaw.edu/

Looking to Contact the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute?

Tel:213-738-6602

Email: institute@swlaw.edu

Oct 19, 202001:50:17
A Conversation with Nina Shaw

A Conversation with Nina Shaw

Nina Shaw is a founding partner in the entertainment law firm of Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano. Her practice is in the television, motion picture, and live stage area. A native New Yorker, Nina was born and raised in Harlem and The Bronx, educated in the New York City public school system and is a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School. Among her clients are successful and award-winning actors, writers, producers and directors as well as entrepreneurs and entertainment executives. She began her legal career in the Entertainment Department of the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers.

Nina is a Variety Dealmaker Impact honoree and has been named repeatedly to The Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment Power 100” list. She is a recipient of the WIF Crystal Award, and in 2013 was named Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by the Beverly Hills Bar Association. Most recently, she was honored by Essence Magazine with its 2016 Black Women in Hollywood Power Award, and also in 2016 Nina was profiled in the New York Times: “She’s the Hollywood Power Behind Those Seeking a Voice.” In 2019 Nina received Columbia Law School’s prestigious Medal for Excellence Award, the Athena Film Festival Athena Award and the NAACP LDF National Equal Justice Award.

Nina has a long-standing commitment to the education of children and in particular is an advocate for the education of girls and women. She is currently Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs. Additionally, Nina is among the founding organizers of Time’s Up.

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Thank you to The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their generous support of the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute.

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For more info check out the Southwestern Law School Website here at https://www.swlaw.edu/

Looking to Contact the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute?

Tel:213-738-6602

Email: institute@swlaw.edu

Sep 24, 202001:06:42
The Deepfakes Phenomenon

The Deepfakes Phenomenon

*Please note that the audio was recorded over a Zoom webinar and may have some playback issues.


Slideshow presentation for the podcast can be found here.

Deepfakes Phenomenon Presentation Slides.pdf

The entertainment industry has long had technology to digitally insert people into movies or to create and replace dialogue. Artificial intelligence now puts that technology in the hands of anyone with a reasonably powerful computer. As the technology becomes more accessible, alarms are being sounded ranging from the potential exploitation of celebrities, to new tools for fraud, to the potential to threaten safety and global security, and more.

This presentation by Danielle Van Lier will explore the deepfakes phenomenon by providing a brief introduction to the technology, including its positive, negative, and worst-case applications. It will focus on areas where deepfakes pose the most threat, including pornography and other unauthorized nudity, fake news, fraud and other business harms, as well as other malicious uses. The presentation will look at existing and proposed law and whether it is adequate to address deepfakes and will provide guidance about online platforms' policies and reporting mechanisms.

Professor Van Lier’s recent deepfakes article in Los Angleles Lawyer can be found here.

More about Professor Danielle Van Lier can be found here.

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Thank you to The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their generous support of the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute.

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For more info check out the Southwestern Law School Website here at https://www.swlaw.edu/

Looking to Contact the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute?

Tel:213-738-6602

Email: institute@swlaw.edu

Jul 02, 202001:18:36
Sandra Williams
May 28, 202001:05:34
Andrew Schwartzman

Andrew Schwartzman

May 12, 202001:02:36
Dina LaPolt

Dina LaPolt

Dina LaPolt, Esq. is the owner of LaPolt Law, P.C., a boutique transactional law firm specializing in intellectual property and entertainment law. LaPolt Law is the only music law firm of its stature founded and run by a sole female practitioner. Dina was intimately involved in legislative advocacy, cofounding the Songwriters of North America (SONA) and helping to spearhead the Music Modernization Act, a copyright bill signed into law on October 11, 2018. Notably, 

Dina earned recognition as the Recording Academy’s 2019 Entertainment Law Initiative’s Service Award recipient. Dina has also been honored with numerous industry accolades, including Billboard’s Power 100, Women in Music, and Top Music Lawyers, to name a few.

*Discussion led by Director Orly Ravid 

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Thank you to The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their generous support of the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute.

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For more info check out the Southwestern Law School Website here at https://www.swlaw.edu/

Looking to Contact the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute?

Tel:213-738-6602

Email: institute@swlaw.edu

May 06, 202054:18
Women in Sports Law

Women in Sports Law

Los Angeles has long been an iconic hub for sports and only continues to grow. With that growth requires the advisement of lawyers versed in sports law, and the opportunities to participate in the L.A. sports law movement. Learn about sports law from some of the key attorneys helping shape the sports landscape in Los Angeles. Topics include immigration, eSports, legal issues surrounding the Olympic Movement, and agency representation.

Panelist Members:

  • Maidie Oliveau - Counsel, Arent Fox
  • Catherine Haight - Founder/Managing Partner Haight Law Group
  • Alanna Frisby Hernandez - SVP Legal, Team Sports Wasserman Media Group
  • Discussion led by Lindsay Brandon and Lauren Brock, Law Offices of Howard L. Jacobs

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Thank you to The Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their generous support of the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute.

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For more info check out the Southwestern Law School Website here at https://www.swlaw.edu/

Looking to Contact the Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute?

Tel:213-738-6602

Email: institute@swlaw.edu

May 04, 202058:28