Best Lawyers in America for Entertainment Law - Music
Stephen E. Tsoneff is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Entertainment Law - Motion Pictures and Television. Stephen E., who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2024. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Stephen E. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
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 ...
Jean Ward is counsel to our Entertainment Group. She is one of New York’s best-known theatre lawyers, with over 30 years’ experience representing producers, authors, film companies and other stage rights holders, not-for-profit theatre companies, theatre owners, creative personnel, and investors. She is recognized in the 2023-2025 editions of Best Lawyers in America for Entertainment Law – Theatre and is listed as a “Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers magazine. She n...
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.
Steven Marenberg is the Chair of the firm’s Entertainment and Media Litigation Group and the Chair of the Century City Litigation Group. Mr. Marenberg’s practice encompasses a wide range of commercial litigation matters in various industries, with particular concentrations in the areas of entertainment-related litigation, technology-related disputes, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property litigation, and antitrust and business tort disputes. His clients have included...
Anthony J. Dreyer is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Sports Law. Anthony J., 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 Anthony J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Michael Hobel is recognized as a leading authority in the legal profession on entertainment transactions across digital, television and film. Described by clients as "a tremendous thought partner who provides practical, sophisticated advice," Michael is trusted by entertainment and media companies to represent them on deals involving some of the entertainment industry’s most successful properties for more than 25 years. As the head of Katten's Entertainment and Media Practice, Michael h...
Jeffrey Hunt practices in the area of commercial litigation, with particular emphasis on First Amendment, media, and intellectual property law. Mr. Hunt has more than 20 years’ experience litigating complex commercial cases involving a wide variety of industries and legal issues, including copyright, trademark, and patent enforcement actions; injunctions; securities litigation; enforcement of non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure covenants for employers, foreign litigati...
Areas of Concentration Negotiation of complex content agreements with record companies, music publishing companies, music publishing rights organizations, motion picture studios, television networks, and various independent content providers and aggregators, and related strategic counseling (including with respect to electronic sell-through, subscription, streaming, ad-supported, mobile and other cutting-edge business models) Negotiation of all varieties of agreements with musical composition...
Jonathan Steinsapir is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Entertainment Law - Motion Pictures and Television, Entertainment Law - Music and Litigation - Intellectual Property. Jonathan, who practices law in Los Angeles, California, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Jonathan is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
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.
Andrew J. Velcoff focuses his practice on entertainment, intellectual property and media law. His practice includes a wide range of institutional and individual entertainment and media clients, including broadcast and cable networks, film and television production companies, marketing companies, on screen talent, writers, and other clients involved in the development, production, acquisition, financing, marketing and distribution of content for motion pictures, television, video, the Internet...
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.