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Counsel Concerns
Virtual reality media company Jaunt Inc. has hired Matthew Zinn as its first general counsel and corporate secretary. Zinn previously worked for TiVo as its general counsel, senior vice-president, chief privacy officer and corporate secretary. TiVo was acquired by Rovi Corp. in September 2016. (Rovi changed its name to TiVo.) Zinn said he helped with the Rovi transition through January of this year. He then took a few months off before deciding to join Jaunt VR. Jaunt has produced VR content including a 360-degree view of a Paul McCartney concert, a VR short with Danny DeVito and the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cast, and VR commercials for brands like Google, Mattel and Budweiser. Its investors include media giants like The Walt Disney Co., Google Ventures, Axel Springer and The Madison Square Co., among others.
George Kliavkoff, Jaunt president and CEO, said in a statement that Zinn “brings a wealth of experience to Jaunt, not only in the legal realm, but from a business perspective as well. His extensive experience with both established and emerging media companies is a perfect match for Jaunt, as we continue to witness the rapid growth of VR and the related evolving mediums.”
— Stephanie Forshee
DLA Piper has acquired Liner LLP, a Los Angeles-based boutique firm focused on clients in real estate, entertainment, new media and private equity restructuring. Liner is a relatively young firm, founded in 1996, with an entrepreneurial business model that at one point included about 15% of the firm's work being handled on an alternative or contingency fee basis. It is well-known for its entertainment industry practice, which has represented clients including Miramax Film Corp., Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Hilton Grand Vacations Co. Partner Angela Agrusa also successfully defended Bill Cosby in a defamation case brought by Renita Hill, who alleged she was defamed by Cosby as he fought her public accusation that he assaulted her decades earlier.
The deal boosts DLA's Piper's presence in Los Angeles, where it says it will now be one of the city's 15 largest law firms. Previously, the firm was named Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor, though name partner Joshua Grode moved to Irell & Manella along with five other Liner lawyers in 2014.
— Roy Strom
Prominent entertainment attorney Schuyler “Sky” M. Moore has joined Greenberg Glusker as a partner in its entertainment practice. Widely regarded as a go-to adviser for sophisticated film, television and new media financing deals, Moore comes to Greenberg Glusker from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan's Los Angeles office, where he began his legal career 25 years ago.
Moore will bring his team to Greenberg Glusker, including colleagues Sally C. James, who joins as counsel, and Ryan D. Webb, who joins as an associate. Moore (who is a long-time member of the Board of Contributing Editors of Entertainment Law & Finance) represents a broad spectrum of clients, including producers, sales agents, distributors and financiers, and he has handled some of the largest transactions in Hollywood. They include Hemisphere's alliance with Sony and Paramount, China's Hunan Group deal with Lionsgate, and the major investment by India's Reliance in DreamWorks. In recent years, Moore has developed a niche practice in Hollywood-China partnerships, representing Alibaba Pictures, Pegasus Media Group and Leomus Pictures.
— Todd Cunningham
Freund & Brackey, a small entertainment law firm based in Beverly Hills, appears to have closed. The firm's website home page reads: “Thank you for 25 great years.” Name partner Thomas Brackey is now affiliated with a new firm called Blue Water Law in Santa Monica, according to his listing with The State Bar of California. Records show Blue Water Law was incorporated in January. Brackey did not return a request for comment. Nor did five of his other Freund & Brackey colleagues, some of whom had gone on to other firms or taken in-house jobs.
Freund & Brackey advised Ted Field's Radar Pictures in a dispute earlier this year over Jumanji, an upcoming 3-D remake of the 1995 film of the same name. The firm also counseled Fields last year in suit related to a bridge loan for Kickboxer: Vengeance. According to a 2001 story by the Los Angeles Times about a bankruptcy trustee's suit against the firm, Freund & Brackey's clients have included Ozzy Osbourne's former band members and rap duo Tha Dogg Pound. See, http://lat.ms/2vWYcw8. The firm also represented a plaintiff who sued singer and songwriter The Weeknd for copyright infringement in late 2015. See, http://bit.ly/2eKNDsI. Freund & Brackey appears on a list of unsecured creditors in the recent Chapter 7 bankruptcy case in Los Angeles of Premiere Medical Management Group LLC. Court filings show Freund & Brackey is owed $300,000 by the debtor, a multispecialty medical group based in Burbank, CA.
— Rebecca Cohen
Chinese firm Haiwen & Partner has recruited a fifth partner in its newly launched Hong Kong office. Film and entertainment law specialist Zhou Jian has joined from Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., where she was a Hong Kong-based in-house counsel advising on production, distribution and investments in China. Zhou joined Sony Pictures in 2016 and before that practiced with Covington & Burling in Beijing for seven years, advising on film and television licensing, distribution and transactions.
— Anna Zhang
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