Best Lawyers in America for Entertainment and Sports Law
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Paul Kelly is a principal in the Boston office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has extensive experience in white collar criminal defense, internal investigations, NCAA enforcement investigations and infractions cases, and complex civil litigation. Paul chairs both the Collegiate and Professional Sports industry group and the White Collar and Government Enforcement resource group at the firm White Collar and Investigative Experience Paul is a trial attorney with substantial experience in both state a...
Charmaine D. Smith is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Entertainment Law - Music and Litigation - Intellectual Property. Charmaine D., who practices law in Atlanta, Georgia, has been recognized since 2017. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Charmaine D. 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...
Kevin Doherty practices in the area of insurance regulation and captive insurance. He serves as President of the Tennessee Captive Insurance Association, Inc., and he helped to rewrite the captive insurance law in Tennessee in 2011. Since that time, Tennessee has formed more than 200 captives and more than 500 related cells (more than 700 risk bearing entities) and become one of the leading domestic domiciles for captives. Mr. Doherty also practices music and entertainment law and represents ...
Irwin A. Kishner is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Sports Law. Irwin A., who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2021. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Irwin A. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Stanton (“Larry”) Stein is a partner and the head of Russ August & Kabat’s Media & Entertainment group. Larry’s clients include actors, writers, directors, producers, music artists, high-net-worth individuals, entertainment guilds, talent agencies, personal and business management companies, independent production companies, and video game companies. Larry is widely known in the entertainment industry for his work taking on Hollywood studios. Throughout the las...
For more than two decades, Robert J. Labate has maintained an active litigation practice in corporate restructuring and transactional media and entertainment law. Mr. Labate has been an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University School of Law for many years, where he teaches two courses reflecting his practices: "Corporate Workouts and Restructuring" and "The Law of Film and Television Production." For the past five years, Mr. Labate has served as chair of the Public and Charitable Service C...
Roger Arar focuses his goal-oriented practice on film and television development, finance, production, distribution and talent. He provides strategic counsel to television networks, film and television production companies, independent studios and distribution companies, as well as individual producers, actors, writers, directors and investors. He is passionate about structuring deals for his clients that maximize results. Roger takes a thoughtful and efficient approach to transactions involv...
Bradley I. Ruskin is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Commercial Litigation and Sports Law. Bradley I., who practices law in New York, New York, has been recognized since 2007. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Bradley I. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Julia R. Haye’s entertainment practice includes successful resolution, at trial and in arbitration, of complex business disputes involving profit participation, motion picture production and distribution, rights ownership, copyright and trademark infringement, idea submission, and other entertainment-related conflicts and contractual disputes. Her counsel and interests encompass every genre of entertainment and media, including studio and independent motion pictures, television, music, ...
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Stanley H. Wakshlag earned his B.A., magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University in 1974 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1978. Stanley’s practice has concentrated on class action litigation, securities litigation, director and officer representation, complex business litigation, deceptive trade practices, Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement proceedings, professional malpractice matters, and litigation with the...
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.