Jessica Bina - S 2015
Courtesy Latham & WatkinsLatham & Watkins continues to expand its Los Angeles-based entertainment practice.
Litigator Jessica Stebbins Bina has joined the firm’s Century City office. She will be a partner in the litigation department and will represent corporations in entertainment and other industries.
She’s the latest hire for Latham from local rival O’Melveny & Myers. In a coup in November, dealmakers Joe Calabrese and Chris Brearton left O’Melveny for Latham with four attorneys (Calabrese now chairs the firm’s entertainment, sports and media practice). Litigator Marvin Putnam joined Latham in June from O’Melveny (following the departures of two other O’Melveny trial lawyers to Irell & Manella).
Stebbins Bina worked with Putnam on several key cases in entertainment. They defended concert promoter AEG Live in the $2-billion wrongful death suit from Michael Jackson‘s family, prevailing and then preserving the verdict on appeal, and they represented Crusader Entertainment in the complex dispute with Clive Cussler over the unsuccessful 2005 film of the novelist’s Sahara.
Said Calabrese in a statement, “Jessica has a unique combination of intelligence, technical skill and personality that makes her a tremendous colleague and a highly effective litigator who brings clarity to complicated issues in written briefs and at trial. Latham’s interdisciplinary approach recognizes the diverse challenges faced by our clients, such as the global scope of their businesses and advances in technology, which pose ever-evolving legal demands. In this light, a lawyer of Jessica’s caliber is an invaluable asset to our clients and our firm.”
In other entertainment law news…
—Brad Small has joined Greenberg Glusker, where he previously worked as an associate, as a partner in the entertainment law group. He comes to Greenberg from The Weinstein Company, where he was exec vp TV business and legal affairs and worked on deals including the aborted sale of the company’s TV division to ITV. He follows music lawyers William Hochberg and Mitchell Manger, who joined the firm in June. Said Greenberg Glusker entertainment group chair Matt Galsor in a statement, “As more A-list talent look to television and streaming services, such as Hulu and Netflix, Brad’s experience from his private practice, as well as his time at The Weinstein Company, will benefit our clients tremendously. Brad is one of the best TV lawyers in town and a great guy on top of it.” Prior to working at TWC, Small was a talent attorney at Manatt Phelps & Phillips and Bloom Hergott, with clients including Eva Longoria, Megan Fox and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
—Jonathan Turner has joined Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp from the firm he founded, Epstein Turner Weiss, and will be a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. He specializes in entertainment industry labor law and previously was staff counsel for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and corporate labor and employment counsel for Twentieth Century Fox, and he’s a member of the California Minority Counsel Program and the National Association of Minority & Women Owned Law Firms. His hire follows former general counsel of the National Music Publishers Association Jay Rosenthal joining the firm‘s Washington, D.C. office.
—Wan-Mo Kang of Fox Rothschild has been named Regional President of the U.S. East Branch of the World Association of Hallyu Studies, which focuses on “K-Pop” (“Hallyu” in Korean), a Korean pop cultural movement best known for music but including fashion, theater and other media. In his practice, the partner in Fox Rothschild’s Princeton office represents Korean companies on mergers and acquisitions, contracts and other business in the United States.
To submit entertainment law hires, promotions, publications and other news, email Austin.Siegemund-Broka@THR.com.
