Best Lawyers in America for Entertainment and Sports Law
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State
Robert E Freeman is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Sports Law. Robert E, who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2020. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Robert E is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Timothy L. Warnock is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Entertainment Law - Music and Litigation - Intellectual Property. Timothy L., who practices law in Nashville, Tennessee, has been recognized since 2008. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Timothy L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Hayden Goldblatt is a partner and Co-Chair of the firm's Entertainment Group, where he focuses on motion picture, television, and digital media work. Mr. Goldblatt has wide-ranging experience in all areas of entertainment and media, representing producers, writers, directors, documentary filmmakers, actors, comedians, financiers, and independent distributors. He has negotiated complex single picture and slate multi-party financings both on behalf of producers and financiers, as well as struct...
Jeffrey L. Kessler is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Antitrust Law, Commercial Litigation, Litigation - Antitrust and Sports Law. Jeffrey L., who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2006. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jeffrey L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Some of the most prominent companies in the entertainment business turn to Joel Weiner to handle disputes across a broad range of subject matter. With nearly 30 years of litigation experience and vast industry knowledge, he has been trusted by companies like NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Endemol Shine Group, Telemundo and Excel Sports Management with high-profile lawsuits involving series, films and other valuable entertainment properties. The entertainment industry is a magnet f...
Bonnie E. Eskenazi is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Entertainment Law - Motion Pictures and Television, Entertainment Law - Music and Litigation - Intellectual Property. Bonnie E., who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2007. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Bonnie E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal pract...
Jason Karlov is the Entertainment, Media and Sports Practice Group Chair at Barnes & Thornburg. He represents a variety of clients in the music, entertainment, live events, advertising and technology industries. Client highlights include individuals, such as Bob Dylan, as well as institutions that work and invest in entertainment and technology, including such well-known brands as, Feld Entertainment, UrbanOne, Twitch, Beachbody and throughout the Olympic Movement since 1998, He also acts...
Andrew Hurwitz is a partner and Co-Chair of the Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit and a founding partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office. He represents award-winning entertainment talent and owners of intellectual property and is widely considered one of the nation’s top film and television industry lawyers. Mr. Hurwitz provides a full range of transactional and advisory services to clients in the motion picture, television, and digital rights businesses. He has negotiated ...
Over more than 35 years of practice, David Halberstadter, the firm's deputy general counsel, has established a reputation among leading entertainment companies as a no-nonsense advisor and talented litigator. When other options fail, he aggressively pursues and defends lawsuits, with a focus on intellectual property-related disputes. Across all his work, clients value David's clear thinking, strategic wisdom and practical business sense. David represents motion picture studios, production com...
Monika Tashman is a Manatt Entertainment partner in the firm’s New York City office. With a broad-based practice spanning over 25 years in the music and entertainment industries, she advises and provides creative, pragmatic solutions for clients at the intersection of entertainment and innovation—from independent artists and record labels to new media entrepreneurs and emerging technology companies—aiming to strategically expand and transform their organizations, business mo...
Steven B. Smith is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Sports Law. Steven B., who practices law in Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been recognized since 2022. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Steven B. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Steven S. Sidman is a deeply experienced, highly regarded transactional attorney dealing in the business of pop culture. His practice focuses on the modern entertainment, food & beverage/hospitality, lifestyle/branding, and sports industries. For nearly 28 years, Steve has provided sophisticated, insightful, front-line legal advice and business affairs counsel to highly creative talent and high-profile individuals and corporate entities, along with their various entrepreneurial ventures. ...
Julie M. Murray is a partner in the Entertainment Group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, who specializes in representing clients in the television, documentary, digital, comedy, and branded content industries. She offers clients full service legal representation, handling all transactions from the development of a concept through delivery of the final cut, including the negotiation of network and financing agreements, distribution agreements, content licensing deals (domestic and interna...
Chad Fitzgerald is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation, Entertainment Law - Motion Pictures and Television and Litigation - Intellectual Property. Chad, who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Chad is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.