Three Entertainment Law Veterans Launch New Hollywood Firm

There's a new entertainment litigation firm in town.

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Charles Harder, Douglas Mirell and Jeffrey Abrams have joined forces to launch Harder, Mirell & Abrams LLP in Century City, bringing with them a prominent list of celebrity clients. Harder and Abrams come from the Wolf Rifkin firm, where they've been working together for the past five years, and Mirell departs from Loeb & Loeb after a whopping 32 years.

Harder was named by The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 as a "Power Lawyer" and is the editor of Entertainment Litigation, published by Oxford University Press. He's been particularly noted for work in the First Amendment and privacy realms.

Among the recent cases he has handled is the lawsuit brought by George Clooney and Julia Roberts against two audio-visual companies; Clint Eastwood's litigation against a furniture maker; Sandra Bullock's fight against a watchmaker; and Hulk Hogan's $100 million lawsuit against Gawker. A graduate of Loyola Law School in 1996, the attorney also represents Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson, Claire Danes and Lena Dunham.

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Mirell is a publicity rights expert with strength in First Amendment and intellectual property. He's remembered by many as being the one during the O.J. Simpson trial to argue against "gag order" for trial participants and the sealing of coroner’s records and other court documents.

He has represented many clients and estates including Woody Allen, Marilyn Monroe LLC, the rights holders for Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. Among his defenses was The Franklin Mint against the Princess Diana estate. He also has authored amicus curiae briefs in various appellate courts for the Motion Picture Association of America.

Abrams spent a decade at Wolf Rifkin. He also was formerly general counsel of Global Icons and sees himself as entrepreneurial-minded covering business tort issues as well as First Amendment ones.

He has represented various producers, actors, writers, directors, rights owners and celebrities in profit participation cases. He has also represented Steven Spielberg in a merchandising lawsuit and Curtis Hansen, Robert Simonds, Andy Licht, Peter Radar, Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik in idea submission cases.

Also joining the new firm are attorneys Dilan Esper, Sarah Luppen and Kimber McKinney. Two more lawyers are expected to be joining in April.