• Marc Agnifilo, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Teny Geragos

  

  Agnifilo Intrater (Litigation)

  After securing a partial acquittal for Combs — obtaining not guilty verdicts on the most serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking — Agnifilo and Geragos are defending Weinstein for allegedly raping an aspiring actress in a Manhattan hotel in 2013. It’s a case heading to court for a third time after charges in the first trial were reversed and then there was a mistrial. Meanwhile, Friedman Agnifilo is representing Mangione in state and federal cases stemming from the 2024 shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. She’s already scored significant early victories for the 27-year-old Ivy League graduate, getting the death penalty taken off the table in the federal case and the terrorism charges dismissed in state court.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

  GERAGOS ”Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. Growing up, I watched my dad represent people that society had already condemned. Scout’s experience felt similar to mine, and living it gave me the strength and the passion to do what I do every single day.”

• Brian Ascher

  

  Gibson Dunn (Litigation)

  As never-ending as a zombie’s hunger, disputes over profit participation tied to The Walking Dead continue on, with Ascher securing significant victories for AMC Networks in the multihundred-million-dollar litigation, including the court rejecting breach of contract claims brought by the show’s executive producers. Away from the undead, Ascher recently won an important federal appeal for Bob Dylan, obtaining sanctions against two attorneys who handled a lawsuit against the singer-songwriter that they and their client ultimately abandoned.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? “Vinny Gambini from My Cousin Vinny. Like his fiancé, my wife is much smarter and more likable than me, and if I could get her on the stand as an expert witness as he did, I’d have a better chance in every case!”

• Julian Azran

  

  Latham & Watkins (Corporate)

  Mediawan — behind such hits as F1 and Slow Horses — has Azran to thank for assisting in the French studio’s acquisition of North Road. And when Initial Group recognized that YouTube creator content had become big business, Azran stepped in to negotiate the acquisition of Silver Tribe Media by the TPG-backed company, further expanding their reach.

  AFTER THE BIG MEDIAWAN WIN, I CELEBRATED … “with Champagne at Entre Nous, the wine bar in Brooklyn I am a partner of, while taking calls outside.”

• Jonathan Bach and Alexandra Shapiro

  

  Shapiro Arato Bach (Litigation)

  With Lively and Justin Baldoni set to face off in a Manhattan courtroom, Bach and Shapiro (among others) have already made victorious inroads defending Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios against Lively’s allegations about the production of the film It Ends With Us. In advance of trial, the court dismissed Lively’s sexual harassment claims, ruling that the actress was an independent contractor, not an employee, which precluded her federal claims. That isn’t their only major battle this year: Shapiro, with Bach an integral part of the defense, led in securing acquittals for Combs on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, and she’s still attempting to throw out the remaining conviction, arguing on appeal that Combs’ 50-month imprisonment was unconstitutional, among other violations.

  AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED …

  BACH “by going to my home in the Canadian Rockies for relaxation, cooking, hiking and biking. I cross-examined Don Henley about his claim that his handwritten notes to the lyrics of “Hotel California” had been stolen, [and won] for rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz.”

• Alexia Bedat and Doug Nevin

  

  Klaris (Talent)

  Podcast junkie? There’s a good chance you’re hooked on one of Bedat’s clients’ pods. She reps some of the biggest names, from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Audio and Brad Pitt’s Plan B to Malcolm Gladwell’s Pushkin Industries, as well as high-profile executives including Parcast founder Max Cutler. Among her notable deals, she negotiated IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, Fela Kuti: Fear No Man and Higher Ground and Headgum’s The Outfit. Nevin dominated the Broadway season, serving as counsel on nine productions — from breakout hits Purpose and John Proctor Is the Villain to the revival of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald — his slate collectively earning 20 Tony nominations.

• Daniel Benge

  

  Fox Rothschild (Talent)

  The legal doctor for docs, Benge represented director Alexandria Stapleton, brokering the deals with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Netflix that paved the way for viral limited docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning. Not only did he lock in highly competitive access to key subjects, Benge secured the rights to use that video — the footage of Combs ranting as he strategizes with his lawyers while under federal investigation, which Combs is threatening to sue over. He also negotiated licensing deals for Oscar-winning director Ben Proudfoot’s documentary The Eyes of Ghana (executive produced by the Obamas) and repped the Netflix short The Baddest Speechwriter of All, about Clarence B. Jones writing for Martin Luther King Jr. and directed by Steph Curry and Proudfoot.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? “Miranda Hobbes, before she abdicated to Brooklyn.”

• Matthew Bruno

  

  Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (Litigation)

  The final chapter of the It Ends With Us showdown is heading to a Manhattan courtroom where Lively will face off against Baldoni with her claim that his Wayfarer production company promoted a retaliatory smear campaign against her. Bruno, joined by fellow partner Esra Hudson, was deeply involved in pretrial discovery, preparing for and taking key depositions and arguing for sanctions against Wayfarer.

  AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED … “the birth of my son, who was born the same day that the court issued its dismissal of Wayfarer’s $400 million lawsuit against Ms. Lively and Mr. [Ryan] Reynolds.”

• Carolyn Casselman, Elizabeth McNamara and Rachel Strom

  

  Davis Wright Tremaine (Talent & Litigation)

  Versatility defines this attorney trio. Casselman is the firm’s go-to Broadway pro, representing many nonprofit theaters that are cultural institutions — including Atlantic Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature Theatre and Second Stage — as well as producers and financiers that in total garnered 33 nominations during the 2025 Tony season. An expert in high-profile First Amendment cases, McNamara is repping Penguin Random House and authors Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner in President Trump’s defamation suit arising from their book Lucky Loser; CBS’ 60 Minutes in Trump’s action over the interview of Kamala Harris; and Bob Woodward and Simon & Schuster in a roughly $50 million copyright lawsuit filed by Trump over recorded interviews conducted during his first term for Woodward’s book, Rage. Strom served as lead counsel for Netflix in its defense of the acclaimed docuseries Inventing Anna, the story of fake German heiress Anna “Delvey” Sorokin, and led a team that overturned, in less than 24 hours, an injunction that would have blocked Lifetime from distributing Where Is Wendy Williams? Strom’s work drew global attention to the campaign to free Williams from her restrictive guardianship.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? McNamara: “Diane Lockhart on The Good Wife.”

• Marcie Cleary and Julie Murray

  

  Frankfurt Kurnit (Talent)

  The Tale of Silyan, about rescuing an injured stork in Macedonia, moved audiences and won prizes across festivals; Murray negotiated distribution with Nat Geo and Dogwood to ensure the film found the wider audience it deserved. She also drove Netflix’s and director Angus Wall’s deal for the Eddie Murphy doc and handled the agreement with Netflix along with all talent and above-the-line agreements — including filmmaker Martina Radwan — for One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5. Drama is never far away with Real Housewives, and Cleary kept the antics high by negotiating the deal for Sai de Silva to return to the New York cohort and appear on The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

  CLEARY “Adrian Boseman (played by Delroy Lindo) on CBS/Paramount+’s The Good Fight. He was a masterful strategist.”

  HOW HAS AI CHANGED THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS?

  MURRAY ”In a lot of ways, AI has made the job harder because we need to protect chain-of-title and ensure that facts are true. We are having daily conversations with clients about best practices and copyright concerns to help them understand the potential pitfalls and legal risks.”

• Shellie Freedman

  

  Kirkland & Ellis (Corporate)

  Freedman was part of the team advising Warner Bros. Discovery on strategies that ultimately led to its plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies in a tax-free transaction. Its Streaming & Studios company will consist of Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group, DC Studios, HBO and Max, along with their legendary film and television libraries, while Global Networks will cover entertainment, sports and global news television (including CNN), TNT Sports in the U.S., Discovery and Bleacher Report. Freedman also played a key role in WBD securing a temporary, staggering $17.5 billion loan to shore up its balance sheet and buy back prior debt before splitting.

  AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED … “with a good meal with my family after a big win for Virgin Music Group in closing its acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings. Step two is usually to get outside or to the climbing gym. There’s something about being on the wall or on a bike that makes a win sink in.”

• Karen Gottlieb, Peter Grant and Robert Strent

  

  Grubman Shire (Talent)

  These powerhouses handle a number of mononymous celebs: Madonna, Sting and Nas are repped by Gottlieb (who also oversaw legalities with the Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes), and she works with Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson in their development and production projects. Grant advises iconic New York names in iconic projects: De Niro in Focker-in-Law, Lady Gaga in The Devil Wears Prada 2 and NBC correspondent Martha Stewart in the Winter Olympics. Strent not only brokered Lizzo’s deal to star as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in an Amazon MGM movie, which she is attached to produce, but also Shamrock Capital’s partnership with Netflix to reboot Star Search and the deal for Evan Gershkovich, the journalist held in Russia on espionage charges, whose upcoming memoir will be adapted into a feature for Amazon MGM/United Artists.

• Phillip Hill

  

  Covington & Burling (Litigation)

  Winning a copyright infringement case at the federal level may not be as impossible as surviving the life and death stakes of Squid Game, but it’s close! Hill did the former on behalf of Netflix and creator-director Hwang Dong-hyuk, securing dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a Bollywood director who claimed the show infringed on his feature by showing the court that the works were not substantially similar. Hill also represents PBS before the Copyright Royalty Board relating to the distribution of $900 million in copyright royalties.

• Michael Isselin & Stacy Marcus

  

  DLA Piper (Corporate)

  Marcus and Isselin’s work for the Joint Policy Committee, representing advertisers and advertising agencies, was a key reason the 2025 negotiations delivered the first major SAG-AFTRA contract without a strike, all while also providing significant market-setting updates, including groundbreaking AI provisions that allow the creation and use of digital replicas and synthetic performers and the consent and compensation frameworks that enable innovation. The deal also included the extension of the influencer waiver, which offers union coverage for creators who generate branded content on social media.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

  MARCUS “Olivia Pope, the preeminent fixer.”

  ISSELIN “Harvey Specter — never met a deal he couldn’t close.”

• David Manella & Anne Kennedy McGuire

  

  Loeb & Loeb (Talent)

  McGuire, who works alongside THR Legal Legend Marc Chamlin, handles deals across docudramas, competition series, dating formats, chat podcasts and network specials, including the docuseries Murder 101, which premiered at Sundance. She also advises Oprah Winfrey and her company, Harpo, on The Oprah Podcast. Her partner Manella is regarded as one of Broadway’s preeminent legal minds, providing counsel to such marquee productions as Good Night, and Good Luck (starring George Clooney), the West End’s Clarkston (starring Heartstoppers‘ Joe Locke) and Julio Torres’ off-Broadway sensation Color Theories, among many others.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

  MCGUIRE “Elle Woods. She was smart, determined and knew how to get things done while caring and advocating fiercely for those she represented.”

  HOW HAS AI CHANGED THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS?

  MANELLA “AI has made it significantly easier to pull and incorporate precedent into my work, streamlining contract drafting by allowing quick access to relevant templates and language.”

• Susan Mindell & Conrad M. Rippy

  

  Levine Plotkin (Talent)

  Theater audiences have Rippy to thank for structuring Sean Hayes’ deals to reprise his Tony-winning performance in Good Night, Oscar in London and his solo show The Unknown at Studio Seaview in New York. On Broadway, Rippy is helping keep seats filled by advising Universal Theatrical Group on its long-running hit Death Becomes Her, and off-Broadway, repping the upcoming John Legend and Lynn Nottage musical Imitation of Life at The Shed. Meanwhile, his partner Mindell is making her own mark — representing lead producer Eva Price and Titanique, the hilarious musical lighting up Broadway this spring, and lead producer Bill Diggins and the Broadway-bound CrazySexyCool: The TLC Musical, set to premiere this year at Arena Stage.

  WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

  MINDELL “Jack McCoy (Law & Order) and Nicola Walker (The Split).”

• Nicole Page

  

  Reavis Page Jump (Talent)

  When Alex Honnold embarked on his live televised, free solo climb of a massive skyscraper with no rope, no net and no room for error, more than 6 million people tuned in to watch as Skyscraper Live was livestreamed on Netflix. For Page, who has represented Honnold for more than a decade, getting his deals right was imperative with his life on the line. If that’s not enough adrenaline-fueled entertainment, Page and her team also represent Words + Pictures on numerous high-octane productions including NASCAR: The Daytona 500 (Amazon), Miracle: The Boys of ’80, about the U.S. hockey team’s trouncing of the Soviets at the 1980 Olympics, and Hulk Hogan: Real American (both on Netflix).

  AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED … “with a good night’s sleep once I knew Alex Honnold was safe following his epic live, free solo climb.”

• Jonathan Pollack

  

  Yorn Levine (Talent)

  “When Matthew McConaughey presciently asked me how he could be protected against AI misuse over two years ago, we carefully crafted a business and legal strategy together,” Pollack says. “The goal was to provide a mechanism where folks might legally license his voice and likeness for AI uses while at the same time creating guard rails to protect illegal uses of the same.” Pollack, alongside partner Kevin Yorn, was integral in securing McConaughey’s first-of-its-kind federal trademark for his likeness. With other A-list clients, he recently ironed out soundtrack deals for Scarlett Johansson for her performance with Jeff Goldblum of “The Best Is Yet to Come” and for Zoe Saldaña for singing on Emilia Pérez.

• Josh Sandler

  

  Granderson Des Rochers (Talent)

  Pete Davidson has been wasting no time reinventing himself, and Sandler has been by his side helping to make it happen, negotiating the deal to host The Pete Davidson Show, one of Netflix’s first original podcasts, and securing his starring role in Doug Liman’s feature Killing Satoshi, about the creation of Bitcoin. After a competitive bidding war, Sandler also closed the deal for Dean Fleischer Camp to direct the follow-up to his box office hit, the Lilo & Stitch reboot. Sandler also represents Abbott Elementary star Janelle James, Tony winner Lena Hall (co-starring on Apple’s Your Friends and Neighbors) and Taylor Ortega, who acts alongside Dan Levy in his Big Mistakes crime comedy on Netflix.

  HOW HAS AI CHANGED HOW YOU DO BUSINESS? “It’s made parts of the day-to-day more efficient, but the core of the job is still human judgment, relationships and protecting clients’ interests. And those things are as important as ever given the new issues the technology raises.”

• Tara Senior

  

  Weinstein Senior (Talent)

  With 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million grand prize, the largest single prize ever awarded on television, Senior has much to oversee in managing production legalities for Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson’s Beast Games. Senior also structures high-profile deals for clients, including Lisa Vanderpump, notably handling arrangements for Vanderpump Rules season 12 with Bravo as well as Fox’s Extracted, starring Sylvester Stallone, and NBC’s On Brand With Jimmy Fallon.

• Matthew Syrkin

  

  O’Melveny & Myers (Corporate)

  From Paramount Skydance, SkyShowtime and Liberty Media to Samsung, Meta and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s LA28, Syrkin has been the counsel of choice for businesses navigating the intersecting worlds of media, technology, sports and entertainment. He helped SkyShowtime — the streaming joint venture of Comcast and Paramount Skydance — bring Yellowstone, Tulsa King, The Day of the Jackal, Wicked and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning to more than 20 markets across Europe and advised SkyShowtime on its distribution deals across all platforms, including Apple, Google and Samsung. He also counseled Meta on the business strategy behind the rollout of its next-generation Horizon TV platform for VR entertainment.

• Douglas Wigdor

  

  Wigdor LLP (Litigation)

  All eyes were on client Cassie Ventura as she bravely took the stand last summer and testified in the federal sexual assault and sex trafficking lawsuit against Combs. It was Wigdor’s filing of her lawsuit that served as a catalyst for widespread public scrutiny and a grand jury investigation that resulted in the full-blown federal trial. Wigdor continued to support Ventura as she testified during the criminal trial, delivering statements on her behalf to the media and standing in visible solidarity with her and other victims. Wigdor also represents Julia Ormond in her lawsuit against Weinstein and corporate defendants, ultimately reaching a settlement with Miramax and Disney and defeating CAA’s motion to dismiss.

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