Hollywood Legal Hires: Top Attorney Publishes Historical Romance Novel

When he’s not defending Tom Cruise or Donald Sterling’s ex-wife, one of Hollywood’s preeminent lawyers spends his time writing historical fiction.

Now Bert Fields has published his first historical novel, Destiny: A Novel of Napoleon & Josephine. The book is inspired by the real-life romance of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor and military leader, and his Creole lover and eventually wife Josephine de Beauharnais. Their relationship withstood wars and affairs over 15 years.

Fields is working on a follow-up, according to publisher Marmont Lane. The historical novel is the new publishing house’s first book.

It’s the Greenberg Glusker partner’s first novel under his own name, but he’s written two legal thrillers, The Lawyer’s Tale and The Sunset Bomber, under the pen name D. Lawrence Kincaid.

His other works are non-fiction. He’s a history buff and has written a book on whether King Richard III was a serial murderer, and he was at one point writing a book on Queen Elizabeth I. In 2005 he published Players: The Mysterious Identity of William Shakespeare, which concerns whether the Bard of Avon really wrote the famous plays credited to him.

In other entertainment law news…

• Kinsella Weitzman has hired a trio of associates from other firms. Nick Soltman has joined from Munger Tolles & Olsen, where his work included representing the NFL in suits brought by former players over alleged brain damage due to concussions. He’ll work on some of Kinsella Weitzman’s highest-profile matters, including the Estate of Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber’s legal issues. The firm has tapped Katherine Kleindienst and Joshua Rosenberg from O’Melveny & Myers, and they’ll work on the fraud claims against Legendary Pictures over Godzilla, the Kardashians’ legal issues and the Jackson Estate.
• Hansen Jacobson has named Katherine McClure a partner. A former associate for Robert Darwell at Sheppard Mullin, she’s practiced with Hansen Jacobson for five years, representing actors, writers, directors and producers in film, TV and new media. She graduated from New York University and USC Law School.
• Loeb & Loeb has expanded its entertainment practice in New York with two new hires: Michael Maizner will serve as senior counsel and Carol Kaplan as partner. Kaplan will focus on live theater, but her practice will include other media and technology and intellectual property disputes. She joins the firm from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp and has previously served as senior counsel at MTV Networks, working in Nickelodeon’s business and legal affairs department. “Carol is the full package – bringing considerable experience in theater, film and TV, including valuable in-house perspective from working on the client side,” the firm’s entertainment chair Craig Emanuel said in a statement.
  Maizner, previously senior counsel at Kauff McGuire & Margolis, will specialize in entertainment labor issues. “His strong background handling a variety of guild and union and other labor matters within the entertainment and advertising industries enhances our labor practice,” Emanuel said.

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