Power Lawyers 2025: Meet Hollywood’s Top 100 Attorneys

Corporate

DLA Piper 

Loyola Law School 

Ara is the consigliere who advised Peaky Blinders boss Caryn Mandabach through the sale of her production company to Banijay U.K. for an undisclosed but presumably enormous sum of money (“More than enough to support my future efforts,” Mandabach said at the time), a deal that includes the company’s recently announced Peaky Blinders movie for Netflix. He also represented Korean company CJ ENM — which produced 2019’s Oscar best picture winner Parasite — in its recent deal with Apple TV+ to make a new K-pop competition show to be executive produced by Lionel Richie and star Psy and Megan Thee Stallion.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

NYU School of Law

Without Auerbach, David Corenswet wouldn’t be leaping tall buildings in a single bound. He’s the attorney who inked the deal for the 31-year-old actor to play Superman in James Gunn’s reboot of the OG superhero franchise. He also inked Corenswet’s deal to star in Skydance’s upcoming football drama Mr. Irrelevant. Other clients include James Marsden, Mia Goth and Natasha Rothwell. Lately, he’s been looking overseas for fresh clients. “There is so much extraordinary storytelling coming out of the U.K.,” he says, name-dropping his latest, Mia McKenna-Bruce, who last year won BAFTA’s rising star award for her role in the British coming-of-age movie How to Have Sex.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Harvard Law School 

After a fierce bidding war, Austen helped negotiate a reported $20 million payday for client Zach Cregger to write and direct a Resident Evil reboot for New Line and Warner Bros. That’s not the only franchise this attorney helps steer. His client Simon Kinberg is booked to write and produce a new Star Wars trilogy, produce a Star Trek reboot and create a new Running Man adaptation starring Glen Powell and Josh Brolin. Austen also reps Seth MacFarlane, currently hard at work on season two of Ted, as well as a new Ted animated series.

Talent

Ziffren Brittenham 

UCLA

Bahat locked in client Ben Affleck’s deal to star in Joe Carnahan’s upcoming Netflix crime thriller RIP, in which Affleck will co-star along with his old buddy (and fellow Dunkin’ DunKing) Matt Damon. Client Stephanie Hsu is literally killing it on Peacock’s dark comedy Laid, while Bahat renegotiated client Rose McIver’s deal for Ghosts on CBS (it just received a two-season pickup) as well as Maude Apatow’s deal to return for a final season of Euphoria and to shoot and produce Poetic License, her directorial debut.

Litigation

Bird Marella 

University of Michigan

Remember when Sam Altman tried to use Scarlett Johansson’s voice for his OpenAI chatbot without her permission? Berlinski was the attorney who took her words out of ChatGPT’s mouth. He also represents Brad Pitt in his ongoing tug-of-war with ex-wife Angelina Jolie over ownership of Château Miraval, their much wrestled-over French winery.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Harvard Law School 

After client Daniel Day-Lewis changed his mind about retirement — he departed the screen after 2017’s Phantom Thread — Bernstein was there to help seal a deal for the 67-year-old actor’s return with Anemone, a father-son relationship drama for Focus Features that Lewis co-wrote with his own 26-year-old son, Ronan Day-Lewis. Client Margot Robbie, meanwhile, will be roaming the moors as Catherine in Wuthering Heights, which her company, LuckyChap, is producing as part of its new first-look deal with Warner Bros. And client Carey Mulligan, now a Prada ambassador, just signed on to star opposite Oscar Isaac in season two of Netflix’s Beef.

Talent

Del Shaw 

Columbia Law School 

Bobb has said that his parents gave him only two career choices growing up — doctor or lawyer. He chose wisely. He recently closed a deal for David Oyelowo to star in and executive produce the soon-to-stream Apple TV+ comedy Government Cheese. He also secured a pact for writer-producer Sascha Penn to make Mark Wahlberg’s crime thriller By Any Means and handled actress Amandla Stenberg’s deal with Paramount to star in Children of Blood and Bone, an adaptation of the hit YA novel by Tomi Adeyemi.

Litigation

The Buzbee Law Firm 

University of Houston Law Center

When he’s not on his ranch feeding baby back ribs to his alligator, this colorful Texas attorney, a former Marine captain, is hunkered down at his Houston penthouse office, representing more than 40 clients who have filed sexual assault cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs. Sure, he raised some eyebrows — and drew some comparisons to Saul Goodman — when he prominently displayed his 1-800 hotline number during a press conference. But there’s no denying his Diddy lawsuits have made him one of the most talked-about lawyers in the industry. “Dozens of other victims have been coming forward to speak their truth,” he says. “Makes me proud to be a lawyer.”

Talent

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Southwestern Law School

Influencers need lawyers, too. And Chatham represents some of the biggest, like entrepreneur turned wrestler Logan Paul (combined following: 100 million). Chatham put together Paul’s new docuseries for Max, Paul American, and has sealed deals for other YouTube stars like Alan Chikin Chow (57 million-plus subscribers) and Dhar Mann (74 million followers). 

Litigation

Bird Marella 

STANFORD LAW SCHOOL

As a former ballerina, Cherlow’s litigation prowess is always “en pointe.” She has made a name for herself representing client Brad Pitt, alongside entertainment powerhouse Berlinski, on Pitt’s high-profile and drawn-out litigation against Angelina Jolie and others over the French winery Château Miraval. In a win for Pitt, the court denied Jolie’s motion to dismiss in November, allowing the case to proceed.

Talent

Lichter Grossman

University of California Hastings College of the Law

Clark’s clients Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo spent this past season picking up so many trophies for executive producing Shogun — multiple Golden Globes, WGA, Critics Choice, SAG and Spirit awards — they practically needed a U-Haul to lug them all home. Meanwhile, clients George Clooney and Grant Heslov — whose Wolfs took about a week to become the most viewed original film ever on Apple TV + — just debuted on Broadway with their stage version of Good Night, and Good Luck, currently the hottest (and, at $800, one of the most expensive) tickets in town. 

Talent

Schreck Rose

Harvard Law School

Client Colman Domingo just pulled off something few other thespians could, and we don’t mean that mustard yellow Valentino suit he wore with metallic Louboutin boots to the Critics Choice Awards. He’s the first to nab back-to-back best actor nominations (this year for Sing Sing, last year for Rustin) since Denzel Washington did it in 2017 and 2018. Over the past year, Dapello negotiated the deal for Domingo to play Joe Jackson in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Michael Jackson biopic as well as his deals to co-star with Glen Powell and Josh Brolin in Paramount’s Running Man remake and for a role in Steven Spielberg’s still-untitled UFO movie for Universal. Client Beau Willimon is about to co-write a new Star Wars feature with James Mangold.

Corporate

Sheppard Mullin

Georgetown University Law Center

You think Beast Games is challenging? Try being the show’s lawyer. Darwell negotiated the development and production agreements for the reality series — produced and hosted by the biggest social media star on the planet, MrBeast — which went on to become one of Amazon’s most successful unscripted shows ever. He also negotiated Amazon’s acquisition of Ben Affleck’s Accountant sequel, the rights to a doc on tennis champion Roger Federer, and the producer agreement for Reese Witherspoon for Amazon’s rom-com You’re Cordially Invited. 

Talent

Granderson Des Rochers LLP

Howard University School of Law

He negotiated Richard Gadd’s post-Baby Reindeer first-look deal with Netflix, brokered Zendaya’s starring role opposite Robert Pattinson in A24’s upcoming rom-com The Drama (as well as her multiyear ambassadorship with athletic company On) and helped Tony-winning writer-producer Jeremy O. Harris with his deal to produce Apple’s The Wives, an upcoming Real Housewives-inspired murder-mystery starring Jennifer Lawrence. 

Corporate

Paul Hastings LLP

Harvard Law School 

This past year, he advised Indian Paintbrush in its acquisition of two pillars of cinematic history — The Criterion Collection and Janus Films — while also helping Netflix’s Amy Paquette and Elliott Kleinberg form their own boutique consulting firm, NextWave. 

Corporate

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

UCLA School of Law

Now we know why he called it Mint. Epstein helped client Ryan Reynolds sell his startup cell company, Mint Mobile, to T-Mobile for a we-can-definitely-hear-you-now sum of $1.35 billion. Epstein also brokered Creative Music Group’s $165 million investment from Flexpoint Ford and has been working with Pharrell Williams’ consumer brand, Humanrace, on securing some fresh growth capital from One Luxury Group.

Talent

Lichter Grossman

Harvard Law School 

His clients’ projects range from dark, creepy gothic (he brokered Lily-Rose Depp’s deal to star in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, which has turned out to be surprisingly popular for a violent period piece, grossing nearly $100 million) to light, cheery gothic (Marc Webb’s deal to direct Disney’s Snow White, which has been less popular, opening at a sleepy $43 million). Not sure if client Dev Patel’s trippy directorial debut, Monkey Man, counts as gothic, but it grossed about $35 million while generating a barrelful of buzz during awards season. 

Talent

Hansen Jacobson 

UCLA School of Law

He brokered no fewer than five deals just for Alan Ritchson in the past year, including Netflix’s War Machine and Amazon’s Man With the Bag, along with another season of Reacher and a Reacher spinoff, Neagley. But Fox squeezed in some deals for other clients as well, like Emerald Fennell’s to write and direct Margot Robbie’s Wuthering Heights adaptation and Ted Lasso alum Brett Goldstein’s to write and star opposite Jennifer Lopez in a Netflix rom-com called Office Romance, which starts production in April. 

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

University of Pennsylvania 

Speaking of Ted Lasso, this Fox (married to Dan) just negotiated a new deal for Brendan Hunt for his return as executive producer on a fourth season of the series that put Apple TV+ on the map. Repping funnywomen seems to be something of a specialty: Fox also negotiates for Saturday Night Live castmember Sarah Sherman (and Michael Che) as well as former co-star Kate McKinnon, and did the deal for Ali Wong’s award-hoovering Netflix stand-up special. She also reps social media star Hannah Berner, co-host (with Paige DeSorbo) of the hugely popular Giggly Squad podcast and live shows. 

Talent

McKuin Frankel & Whitehead

UCLA School of Law

Client Joanna Calo, showrunner for The Bear, snagged 23 Emmy nominations in 2024, setting a new world record in the comedy category (it ultimately won 11 — not a record but still impressive). Last year, Frankel also negotiated on behalf of Moana co-writer Jared Bush, ironing out the details of her new job as chief creative officer at Walt Disney Animation. He also steered deals for Brad Ingelsby (for Task, the Mare of Easttown creator’s much-anticipated next thriller for HBO) and Alan Yang, the Master of None and Loot writer (for an overall at Warner TV). 

Litigation

Liner Freedman

University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law

Justin Baldoni’s mouthpiece in his headline-grabbing legal battle with Blake Lively is one of the most cutthroat attorneys in town — even he calls himself a “pit bull.” Freedman’s approach on behalf of the It Ends With Us director is indeed aggressive, filing a $400 million suit against Lively for extortion and defamation (and, for good measure, suing The New York Times for defamation). On the other side of the legal spectrum, he also represents 24 relatives petitioning for the release of the Menendez brothers, a case that grabbed some recent headlines after a new Netflix series raised so many doubts about their 1996 conviction that even Kim Kardashian was posting about it.

Corporate

Proskauer 

Georgetown Law

As key adviser to TGL — the futuristic golf championship masterminded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports — Freeman has been driving the sale of ownership and operating rights for the new league’s inaugural six teams. When he’s not teeing up megadeals on the fairways, he’s keeping Warner Bros. Discovery in play with various corporate and commercial matters.

Talent

Greenberg Glusker

Columbia Law School 

In a way, he’s the most successful vehicle accident attorney in Hollywood. Without Galsor’s backing, Vin Diesel wouldn’t dream of getting behind the wheel of a 1970s Dodge Charger R/T for his Fast & Furious franchise, any more than Tom Cruise would dare hang on to the wing of a biplane for a Mission: Impossible movie or Chris Hemsworth would race a Dementus chariot through a desert hellscape for Furiosa. If it’s a movie involving something that moves really fast and ends up blowing up, chances are Galsor was there, inking the contracts. He reps some high-flying directors, too, like James Cameron and David Fincher.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

UC Berkeley 

He locked in an overall for Dan Fogelman, who continues to shape a pair of Hulu hits — serving as exec producer on Only Murders in the Building and showrunner on Paradise. Meanwhile, client Jennie Snyder Urman resurrected Matlock, this time with Kathy Bates taking on Andy Griffith’s old role, for Paramount+. Justified and Snowfall producer Dave Andron also secured a big overall with FX Productions, while client Patrick Macmanus prepares to delve into the mind of serial killer John Wayne Gacy for a Peacock limited series.

Talent

Yorn Levine

Loyola Law School

One of his clients is the creator of a wildly popular children’s show about an Australian puppy named Bluey (ask any 6-year-old). Another is the creator of a Korean thriller that became one of the most watched series in Netflix history (Squid Game — ask anyone). Gellman also represents Sam Wrench, who directed Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (maybe you’ve heard of it?) and recently inked Wrench’s deal to direct his first scripted feature for Amazon.

Talent

Goodman Genow 

Harvard Law School 

This agency is packed with enough top-notch attorneys to fill a power list all its own — like founding partners and previous Power 100 entries Carlos Goodman (who reps everyone from Darren Aronofsky to Jake Gyllenhaal) and Michael Schenkman (Christopher Nolan) — but we can’t squeeze the whole firm into these pages. So, this year, we’re giving Genow a spot because he handled some particularly buzzy deals, including Saltburn star Jacob Elordi’s to play the monster in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein reboot for Netflix as well as Heathcliff (opposite Margot Robbie’s Catherine) in Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation for Warner Bros. Genow also inked Domhnall Gleeson’s deal to star in Peacock’s upcoming The Office spinoff, Wes Ball’s deal to direct a Legend of Zelda feature at Sony (and another Planet of the Apes sequel at Disney), Patricia Arquette’s to star in the Murdaugh Murders limited series for Hulu, and Sheryl Lee Ralph’s renegotiation for Abbott Elementary.

Litigation

Geragos & Geragos

Loyola Law School 

He’s represented difficult clients over the years, everyone from Michael Jackson to Chris Brown to Sean “Diddy” Combs (his daughter, Teny, is now handling the rapper’s more recent troubles at a different firm). But his ongoing battle to free Erik and Lyle Menendez may well be the toughest nut so far. While the brothers still have a chance at ending their 30 years behind bars, L.A.’s new law-and-order DA, Nathan Hochman, has made Geragos’ job a lot more difficult. Another tricky client, Hunter Biden, pleaded guilty to felony tax offenses but avoided jail time thanks to a last-minute presidential pardon, while on the other side of the political aisle, he’s representing Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita in his libel suit against The Daily Beast. Geragos lost his own libel suit against the L.A. Times last year. 

Litigation

Paul Hastings

USC Gould School of Law

When Real Housewife of Atlanta’s NeNe Leakes came after Andy Cohen (and NBCUniversal) with a $100 million lawsuit and accusations of a hostile work environment and racial discrimination, it was Godley who, on the eve of arbitration, brokered a settlement. Godley also won a favorable settlement for Mobland — a blockchain cryptocurrency game — fending off claims of copyright infringement. “It’s hard to give a juicy quote when so much of what I do is confidential,” she says. “You just have to trust me — it’s interesting.” 

Corporate

Grubman Shire 

Fordham Law School

She specializes in getting music legends the biopics they think they deserve. Madonna, Elton John, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Shania Twain — they’ve all turned to Gottlieb to negotiate the rights to their life stories. She’s currently working with Britney Spears on a movie based on her memoir, The Woman in Me, that’s being developed at Universal with Wicked’s Jon M. Chu attached to direct. She also recently worked the deals for the Green Day-inspired comedy New Year’s Rev, about the band’s early days. “Celebrity biopics are akin to franchises in that they bring a quantifiable, bankable audience of fans loyal to the artist, which helps studios minimize risk,” she explains. “For example, my college-age daughter came home from Madonna’s recent Celebration Tour excited to learn about her life story.” 

Litigation

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

Harvard Law School

Gottlieb’s biggest client at the moment is It Ends With Us star Blake Lively, who — maybe you’ve heard? — is suing director Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment and retaliation. But he’s been involved in some other recent high-profile cases, including helping Drake sue Universal Music Group for defamation and harassment over Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning “Not Like Us” diss track (Gottlieb is alleging that the release and promotion of the song spread a “false and malicious narrative”). A former associate counsel in the Obama White House, Gottlieb has some non-Hollywood clients as well, like the two election workers who successfully sued Rudy Giuliani for defamation and were awarded $148.1 million.

Corporate

Akin 

Stanford Law School

One of the few female partners — and among the few senior Latina attorneys in private practice — she’s a power player in Hollywood’s finance game, brokering multimillion-dollar deals across town. This past year, she helped Comerica Bank arrange a multimillion-dollar credit deal, guided MRC through its JPMorgan-led revolving credit facility (and steered MRC’s financial strategies for a slate of future films, including All the Devils Are Here, All of You, Let’s Have Kids, The Gallerist, SpongeBob 4 and Wuthering Heights) and advised Anonymous Content with its East of Eden series. 

Corporate

Latham & Watkins

Boston College Law School

Hamill didn’t merely negotiate one of the most ground-shaking, game-changing deals of the year — he negotiated two of them. First, he was one of the attorneys on Skydance Media’s $28 billion merger with Paramount Global, which (when and if it gets approved by the Trump administration’s FTC) will mark the first time a major studio has changed hands since Disney purchased Fox in 2019. Second, Hamill handled Endeavor’s pending $13 billion sale to Silver Lake (the private equity company that’s been investing in the agency for years), taking the company private again after its brief, unfulfilling fling with going public. 

Litigation

Kellogg Hansen

Harvard Law School 

When Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox announced plans to team up to create mega sports streamer Venu, rival service Fubo turned to Hansen. In the bet-the-company litigation, the antitrust heavyweight secured a court order blocking the joint venture and undermining the legality of bundling requirements that eventually led to Disney’s decision to merge Hulu With Live TV with Fubo in a surprise deal that shook up the streaming TV business.

Talent

Sloane Offer 

University of Michigan Law School

Hartman negotiated Margaret Qualley’s deal for The Substance — literally the most skin-crawling performance of the year — as well as Stephen Amell’s to star in the Suits spinoff, Suits LA. Client Julia Garner may or may not be playing Madonna in the on-again, off-again biopic Who’s That Girl? (see Karen Gottlieb, left), but she and Madge turned heads at the Vanity Fair Oscar party this year, posing together in a series of look-alike selfies.

Corporate

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Georgetown LAw

He played a key role in the formation of Brahma AI, a $1.43 billion powerhouse born from the merger of AI-driven VFX company Metaphysic and global effects giant DNEG’s technology arm. He also helped negotiate the Chernin Group’s $40 million investment in audiochuck, the true-crime podcast empire built by Ashley Flowers.

Corporate

Barnes & Thornburg LLP

Georgetown LAW

She closed a staggering $1.2 billion in deals for Western Alliance Bank, Bank of Montreal, Code Entertainment, Magenta Light Studios and Peachtree Media over the past year. Among them: production loans for Hotel Tehran (starring Liam Neeson) and Bad Apples (Saoirse Ronan), financing for Deep Water (directed by Renny Harlin) and securing backing for Mongoose (another Neeson thriller), as well as U.S. distribution and financing for The Surfer (Nicolas Cage), Muzzle: City of Wolves (Aaron Eckhart) and Mary (Anthony Hopkins). 

Talent

Frankfurt Kurnit

Georgetown Law 

Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff (and presumably Sven) will be back, thanks to Hurwitz closing the deal for client Jennifer Lee to direct and write Frozen 3 and to write and exec produce Frozen 4. He also negotiated for writer and EP Tony McNamara to shepherd James and the Giant Peach to Netflix and to bring Avengelyne to the big screen for Warner Bros. 

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Southwestern Law School

Let’s start with Ortega, for whom Hynick has closed multiple deals, including a second season of Wednesday, a starring role in the adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s best-seller Klara and the Sun and a part in a still-untitled J.J. Abrams film at Warner Bros. He also reps Nicole Kidman, brokering her acting and producing deals for Babygirl (A24), Holland (Amazon), Scarpetta (Amazon and Blumhouse TV) and Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple). Then there’s Conclave director Edward Berger’s deal to direct The Ballad of a Small Player (Netflix) and The Barrier (20th Century Fox), as well as I Am Not Okay With This director Jonathan Entwistle’s to shoot a big-screen reboot of The Karate Kid.

Litigation

KHIKS

UC LAW San Francisco 

If you mess with Mattel, you mess with Iser, a lawyer not to be toyed with. He successfully defended the giant game and doll company from a $46 million lawsuit claiming Mattel stole the idea for a short-lived 2017 reality TV show called Toy Box (in which children judge various plaything inventions). Iser beat back Herrick Productions, a company owned by billionaire real estate developer Norton Herrick, convincing a jury that the idea for the show was “commonplace” and “floating around in the television and the toy industries for years.” 

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Columbia Law School

Client Pedro Pascal kept Jaime hopping last year. Along with season two of The Last of Us, there have been deals for a gig as Mister Fantastic in Marvel’s Fantastic Four and a part opposite Joaquin Phoenix in A24’s Western Eddington. She also has been busy making deals for Greta Lee, including ones to star in Louis Leterrier’s Netflix thriller 11817 (about a family trapped inside their house) and for a role opposite Willem Dafoe in Late Fame (about an obscure, middle-aged poet who suddenly becomes a thing). She managed to squeeze in a deal for new client Lexi Minetree, too, who’ll be starring in a Legally Blonde prequel series for Amazon. “The business may be a mess,” she says, channeling Elle Woods’ cheeriness, “but representing the clients is still just as fun.” 

Litigation

Davis Wright Tremaine

University of Michigan Law School 

Jampol finally won M. Night Shyamalan’s five-year Servant copyright battle, convincing a jury that the director did not steal his creepy idea for a TV show about a delusional mother caring for a doll as if it were a living infant from a 2013 indie feature called The Truth About Emanuel. He’s currently defending Showtime and Lionsgate in another copyright case, this one over whether Yellowjackets lifted plot points and characters from a 2015 survival film called Eden, which was also a story about a soccer team crashing in the wilderness and battling for survival.

Talent

JSSK

New York University School of Law

Maybe Tyler Perry’s next movie should be titled Madea Cashes a Check. This past year, Johnson secured a total of a billion dollars in various production commitments for Tyler Perry Studios. Among them: a multiyear, first-look series pact with Netflix, a deal involving eight films over four years as well as a slew of additional faith-based movies. He also negotiated the joint venture agreement between Skydance and brother-and-sister filmmaking phenom Andy and Barbara Muschietti — the sibs behind the $1 billion-grossing It movies — to create a horror division called Nocturna.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Whittier Law School

When California Gov. Gavin Newsom decided he wanted to dabble in podcasting, he turned to Kaller to set up the deal (Kaller had previously done the same for Pulitzer Prize winner Ronan Farrow). This past year, he also closed a deal with Lionsgate for The Rookie and The Recruit showrunner Alexi Hawley (who has a hostage-recovery drama called The Envoy that’s headed to Hulu), as well as pacts for Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger to co-write a Ryan Gosling feature for Amazon and a Jonas Brothers film for Disney. 

Corporate

Loeb & Loeb

California Western School of Law

When country superstars and A-list icons need an ace dealmaker, they call on Khalili. Morgan Wallen trusts him with his corporate and entertainment matters, while Carrie Underwood taps him for endorsement deals (like the launch of her latest health and wellness venture, which includes the fitness app fit52). Supermodel Cindy Crawford turned to him to launch her spicy new Casamigos Jalapeno Tequila. 

Talent

JSSK 

UC Davis School of Law

She renegotiated the Obamas’ deal with Netflix so that the former first couple’s production company, Higher Ground, could continue to deliver Oscar-winning documentaries about factories and biopics about civil rights activists, as well as Julia Roberts apocalyptic thrillers like Leave the World Behind. Other deals this year: Shawn Levy’s agreement to direct and produce a Star Wars film; Steve Carell’s to star in an untitled HBO series produced by Shrinking’s Bill Lawrence; The Queen’s Gambit scribe Scott Frank’s to write, direct and produce a new Netflix crime series called Department Q; and Sam Mendes and Neal Street’s to make four Beatles biopics at Sony.

Talent

Jackoway Austen 

USC Gould School of Law

She locked in Jim Carrey’s return for Sonic 3; renewed Samuel L. Jackson’s Capital One campaign and secured his fees for Fright Night; and also landed Will Ferrell’s Golf series for Netflix, his Amazon films (You’re Cordially Invited and Judgment Day), plus his PayPal campaign. Klein also secured Paul Rudd’s Anaconda deal and latest Marvel contract, along with Vince Vaughn’s role in Bad Monkey.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Loyola Law School

Jeremy Allen White keeps winning awards for his brooding chef on The Bear — the actor’s on his second consecutive Emmy and third consecutive Golden Globe — but the part that could really turn up the heat on his career is Bruce Springsteen in the much-anticipated biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere. Koch also did the deal for White to join the Star Wars franchise, in The Mandalorian & Grogu. And he closed an overall deal at HBO for Hacks co-creator Jen Statsky (who has won her own share of Emmys and Golden Globes) and deals for sisters Erin and Sara Foster for another season of their Netflix comedy Nobody Wants This. But his most personal deal this past year had to have been for his nephew, actor Cooper Koch, who picked up his first Golden Globe nom for his role in Netflix’s Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story.

Talent

JSSK

Harvard Law School

Her client Greta Gerwig is following up her Barbie bonanza with an adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia for Netflix. Client Angelina Jolie, meanwhile, recently finished shooting Stitches (originally titled Couture), in which she plays an American filmmaker in Paris during Fashion Week. Kole also reps Zac Efron, who’ll be playing both a Hollywood star and his own overzealous fan in A24’s Famous; Halle Berry, who’ll be starring opposite Chris Hemsworth in Amazon’s upcoming thriller Crime 10; and Riz Ahmed, who’ll be starring alongside Tom Cruise in an upcoming still-untitled film by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. 

Talent

Yorn Levine 

University of San Diego School of Law

Awards season was a roller coaster for Netflix’s transgender gangster musical Emilia Pérez, but in the end Krintzman’s client Zoe Saldaña ended up bringing home an Oscar for best supporting actress. Krintzman also brokered Liam Hemsworth’s deal for a leading role in the upcoming season of Netflix’s The Witcher, as well as one for rising star Hannah Einbinder to return for another season of HBO’s Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Hacks. Client Matthew McConaughey, meanwhile, signed deals for Paul Greengrass’ next film, The Lost Bus, as well as an upcoming comedy series with Woody Harrelson on Apple TV+. 

Talent

Gang Tyre

Yale Law School

Client Dwayne Johnson has been spending a lot of time in Hawaii lately — at least onscreen. First, Levin navigated his deal to reprise his voice role in Moana 2. Then she negotiated Johnson’s deal to star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming gangster drama about a mob boss fighting for control of the Pacific Islands. Client Regina King owes Levin a mahalo as well, for inking her pacts to star in Paramount’s adaptation of the YA best-seller Children of Blood and Bone and opposite Austin Butler in Darren Aronofsky’s next film, Caught Stealing, about a baseball player who gets tangled up in crime.

Talent

Yorn Levine 

Harvard Law School

He helped client Stephen Curry transition from point guard to comedic actor with his deal to star in the Peacock comedy Throwback (produced through Curry’s production company, Unanimous Media). Producer Bill Lawrence leaned on Levine to iron out his deals with Apple TV+ for Bad Monkey and for a still-untitled project at HBO that’s said to have Steve Carell attached. On the film front, he also negotiated Aziz Ansari’s deal to direct and star — alongside Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves and Keke Palmer — in Lionsgate’s comedy Good Fortune.

Talent

Jackoway Austen 

Southwestern Law School

Client Sophie Thatcher certainly caught critics’ attention with her turn as a kidnapped Mormon missionary trading theological insights with Hugh Grant in Heretic. Another young client, Mike Faist, will likely make some noise as well, starring in James Dean’s old role in Netflix’s new series adaptation of East of Eden. LeVine also put together the deals for Octavia Spencer to star in a new big-screen adaptation of Death of a Salesman and for Ariana DeBose’s role opposite Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis in Amazon’s upcoming thriller Scarpetta.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

NYU School of law

Despite the fact that many high-profile TV creator overall deals went unrenewed last year, Mandelbaum is seeing a brighter outlook for 2025. “The year is shaping up to show that top-tier writers can still secure lucrative overalls — even if it’s just for development,” he says. Among the commitments he’s managed to secure: a new HBO overall for Zach Kanin (which includes the comedy The Chair Company), a fresh deal at Hulu for Bruce Miller’s The Handmaid’s Tale sequel, The Testaments (which just kicked off production), and a major opportunity for Sam Shaw to helm JFK, Netflix’s American spin on The Crown, which was just greenlit for a full season. 

Litigation

Paul Hastings 

University of Chicago Law School

Marenberg found himself in the middle of a food fight last year, representing YouTube superstar MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) in a $100 million breach of contract battle with Virtual Dining Concepts, the company behind the fast-food chain MrBeast Burgers. MrBeast sued first, trying to extricate himself from the restaurant, referencing consumer complaints about the burgers being “disgusting” and “inedible.” Marenberg, the consummate strategist, couldn’t help but add a personal touch to the proceedings. “I actually like and have a lot of respect for opposing counsel,” he says, “so I felt a bit guilty that at one deposition we catered their lunch by ordering from MrBeast Burger.”

Talent

Gang Tyre

UC Berkeley Law

Presumably, the negotiations took place in a hollowed-out volcano right next to a piranha-filled pond. Or else a boardroom in Beverly Hills. But wherever it happened, Marks was the one who orchestrated Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson’s sale to Amazon of their family company, EON, which has controlled the 007 IP since the character first sauntered onto the screen in 1962. Their payday was said to be something in the neighborhood of — pinkie to lip — one billion dollars. Marks also secured Demi Moore’s deal to star in The Substance, which earned her an Oscar best actress nomination, negotiated Taylor Sheridan’s Landman deal with Paramount and played a pivotal role in reviving the legendary J.Crew catalog.

Talent

McKuin Frankel Whitehead 

Harvard Law School

“It’s a prime moment for entrepreneurial clients,” says McKuin. “Artists have to make their own luck now more than ever.” His clients seem to be doing just that. Lily Gladstone is not only starring alongside Bryan Cranston in Lone Wolf but is also building a slate of original projects with multiple studios. Maisy Stella had a breakout year, delivering a standout performance in My Old Ass and wrapping a new film for Warner Bros., while Kristen Stewart has taken full creative control, writing and directing her debut feature, Chronology of Water, now in postproduction.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson 

Harvard Law School

He negotiated Issa Rae’s recent nine-figure overall deal with HBO (which includes still-unspecified film, TV and digital media projects) and renewed Kaley Cuoco’s deal with Warner Bros. TV, putting her to work as star and exec producer on Kansas City Star while continuing to oversee season two of Based on a True Story. Meigs remains clear-eyed about shifting industry dynamics: “Executives need to let go of their old-school broadcast exclusivity contracts,” he says. “The old rules just don’t apply anymore.”

Talent

Fox Rothschild

Georgetown Law

He’s helping to bring Pulitzer Prize-winning Monkey Boy to the screen for clients Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance while also securing a multiyear deal for their company — Bassett Vance Productions — to develop and produce comedy, drama, limited series and movies across Disney’s television platforms. After negotiating Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Oscar-winning role in The Holdovers, he lined up her next projects, including MRC’s The Gallerist, A24’s rom-com Eternity and a still-untitled Lionsgate action thriller.

Talent

Sloane Offer

UCLA School of Law

He’s known client Mike White for 30 years but still doesn’t have a clue where the already greenlit season four of The White Lotus will take place. “I’m sure it will be someplace exotic and beautiful,” he says, stating the obvious. Meanwhile, client Ryan Gosling, after his iconic turn as Ken in Barbie, is gearing up to star in the next Star Wars film, directed by Shawn Levy. And client Paul Giamatti? He’s heading back to Yorkshire, once again playing one of the Crawleys’ wealthy American relatives in Downton Abbey 3.

Corporate

Latham & Watkins

Harvard Law School

Alongside partner Justin Hamill, he’s advising Skydance Media on its game-changing merger with Paramount. He’s also guiding the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners through their $8 billion acquisition of National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global, thus putting David Ellison firmly in the driver’s seat of New Paramount, valued now at $28 billion. 

Talent

Gang Tyre 

UCLA School of Law

Passman negotiated Timothée Chalamet’s deal for Marty Supreme, the actor’s less folksy followup to A Complete Unknown in which he’ll star opposite Gwyneth Paltrow as a real-life 1950s ping-pong wizard who apparently had more going for him than a wicked topspin. “We have a lot of sex in this movie,” Paltrow recently revealed. Passman also negotiated Nicholas Galitzine’s He-Man contract for Masters of the Universe and Ridley Scott’s Bee Gees biopic for Paramount, as well as his postapocalyptic thriller Dog Stars for Disney.

Corporate

Covington & Burling LLP

UCLA School of Law

She helped Disney merge its Star India division with Reliance’s Viacom18 — an Indian media giant — in an $8.5 billion deal that opens up the subcontinent to a whole new world of American-style family entertainment. The deal provides the new combined company, which retains the name Viacom18, with exclusive distribution rights to Disney movies, and includes access to more than 30,000 Disney assets. 

Talent

Goodman Genow 

Stanford Law School

Her client Joseph Quinn just wrapped Fantastic Four, is already gearing up for Avengers 5 and has a starring role in Alex Garland’s soon-to-be-released Warfare, out April 11. Meanwhile, client Milly Alcock has moved on from House of the Dragon and is now flying high shooting a Supergirl feature and prepping for the debut of her limited series, Sirens, on Netflix. Client Leo Woodall, the breakout star from season two of The White Lotus, recently bedded Bridget Jones in Mad About the Boy and will next share screen time with Russell Crowe in Nuremberg, while fellow White Lotus-er (season one) Murray Bartlett is set to star opposite Nicole Kidman in the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers while also filming The Death of Robin Hood with Hugh Jackman. 

Litigation

Latham & Watkins

Georgetown Law

It didn’t take long for Baby Reindeer to become one of Netflix’s most watched shows, hitting 84.5 million views in just 91 days. It didn’t take much longer for the lawsuits to start flying, with Fiona Harvey — the putative model for the show’s super-clingy Martha — suing both Netflix and the series’ creator, Richard Gadd, claiming she’d been falsely portrayed as a sexual predator. Enter Putnam, who has a track record defending Netflix from this sort of thing, having successfully fought off similar claims leveled by free-diver Pipin Ferreras, who had alleged that the streamer’s 2022 film No Limit wrongly portrayed him as responsible for his late wife’s death. 

Talent

Hansen Jacobson 

Harvard Law School

He’s the go-to guy for top-tier showrunners, handling lucrative overalls for Parks and Rec creator Mike Schur at Universal and Curb Your Enthusiasm scribe Jeff Schaffer at HBO. He’s secured projects for Jenni Konner (Nobody Wants This), Michelle Nader (Shifting Gears), R. Scott Gemmill (The Pitt) and Bill Simmons (Celtics City). And he takes care of some actors, too, including Elisabeth Moss’ deal for Apple’s limited series Imperfect Women.

Talent

Myman Greenspan

Harvard Law School

Rosenberg’s gravity-defying moves in the music industry have clients like Ariana Grande soaring higher than, well, a winged monkey. For her portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch, Grande snagged both Oscar and Golden Globe noms, while the film itself smashed records, raking in more than $114 million its opening weekend, the biggest debut for a Broadway musical adaptation ever. Rosenberg also brokered a new publishing and record deal for Jennifer Lopez with BMG, inked a book publishing deal for John Legend’s children’s lullaby album My Favorite Dream and helped Legend, along with wife Chrissy Teigen, launch Kismet dog food.

Litigation

Greenberg Traurig

Boston College Law School

Rosengart, a former federal prosecutor with a history of tough courtroom battles, became a household name for his game-changing work with Britney Spears, freeing the troubled pop singer from her nearly 14-year-long conservatorship. After she was sprung, Spears took to Instagram, hailing Rosengart as “amazing.” His other high-profile clients include Steven Spielberg, Lena Dunham, Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Jelly Roll and Sean Penn, whom he recently defended in a case brought by the National Labor Relations Board accusing the Oscar-winning actor of sending a threatening letter to a staffer at CORE, Penn’s charity organization. Rosengart’s winning argument was that the letter was a “rallying cry,” not a threat.

Corporate

Gibson Dunn

NYU School of law

This lawyer will soon be responsible for more nightmares than anyone else in Hollywood (which is saying something). He represented Universal — the studio behind such horror classics as Frankenstein, The Exorcist, the Chucky movies and now Nosferatu — in its game-changing joint venture with Blumhouse Productions (Get Out, the Conjuring universe) and James Wan’s Atomic Monster (Insidious, Malignant). The deal, which resulted in a three-way ownership split, was hailed by Blumhouse founder Jason Blum as the moment when “the preeminent homes for horror are now under one roof.” 

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

UCLA School of law

Rush handled Ellen Pompeo’s deal for her starring role in the Hulu limited series Good American Family, marking a new chapter for the Grey’s Anatomy actress (one without scrubs). Rush also brokered a major deal for Lena Dunham, securing the sale of her film Good Sex to Netflix, and landed Kerry Washington a starring and producing role in Apple TV+’s Imperfect Women. She also closed financing for Die, My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and produced by Lawrence’s own company, Excellent Cadaver. “I’m grateful that, over the past year, the women I represent have not just been telling stories,” she says, “they’ve been rewriting the rules.”

Corporate

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Harvard Law School

Saeed, no stranger to billion-dollar power plays, counseled the special committee of Paramount Global’s board on its massive $28 billion merger with Skydance and advised the independent special committee of Endeavor Group Holdings on its $25 billion take-private acquisition by Silver Lake Management

Talent

Gang Tyre 

USC Gould School of Law

Pink, for one, places her complete trust in the wisdom of Salomon; he represented the singer in securing her record-breaking Summer Carnival tour, which grossed a whopping $693.8 million. He also counts Neil Diamond, Cher, Green Day, R.E.M., Camila Cabello, Phoebe Bridgers, Sofia Richie Grainge and many others among his clients. With more than $1 billion in deals under his belt, Salomon’s portfolio spans catalog sales, touring, merchandising, endorsements and record and publishing agreements. One standout deal: Randy Newman’s sale last year of his publishing and recorded music assets to Litmus Music. 

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Harvard LAw School

There are no hallways leading to nowhere in this attorney’s office. Sample secured Severance executive producer Dan Erickson’s overall deal with Apple, which includes another season of his and Ben Stiller’s trippy psychological thriller. He also closed the deal for director Grant Sputore to shoot the next Godzilla x Kong sequel as well as director Tony Yacenda’s to make Chad Powers, a Glen Powell football drama for 20th Television. Sample also locked in several deals for writer-producer Eric Heisserer, including a feature first-look deal at Sony and a television first-look deal at Legendary. Client Mike Makowsky (Bad Education) is writing and producing his next film for Amazon while wrapping up his limited series thriller Death by Lightning for Netflix. 

Litigation

Gibson Dunn

Stanford Law School

Samplin is defending NBCUniversal from a $100 million defamation suit filed by Sean Combs over Peacock’s unflattering 2022 Diddy doc Making of a Bad Boy (arguably the least of the rapper’s legal woes at the moment, given his upcoming federal criminal charges, but still). Samplin is also representing Warner Bros. TV, John Wells, Noah Wyle and R. Scott Gemmill in a lawsuit brought by the estate of Michael Crichton that claims the new Max medical series The Pitt is a rip-off of the late author’s concept for ER. Samplin’s argument is that the lawsuit is baseless since both shows share common elements of the medical genre. Says Samplin, “We’ve seen a rise in litigation over flimsy copyright or pseudo-copyright claims.”

Talent

Gang Tyre

Harvard Law School

He orchestrated the deals behind Billie Eilish’s hypnotic Hit Me Hard and Soft album and her sold-out 2024-25 worldwide tour while also representing her brother Finneas on his album For Cryin’ Out Loud. As if that weren’t enough, he also managed the logistics for Adele’s Las Vegas and Munich residencies and handled Green Day’s The Saviors Tour, which rocked stadiums across the globe.

Talent

JSSK

USC Gould School of Law

Client Selena Gomez was inescapable this past year — from her much-lauded role in Emilia Pérez to playing a sharp-eyed podcaster on the third season of Only Murders in the Building and even a budding chef on the HBO reality show Selena + Restaurant. Not to mention her gig as a cosmetics mogul, launching her own Rare Beauty makeup brand in 2020, which ensured Gomez’s billionaire status. Shapiro’s other clients include Emma Stone’s Fruit Tree production company (which just scored a first-look deal with Universal) and 16-time WWE champion and The Peacemaker star John Cena, who just signed a slew of deals for film and TV projects, as well as a farewell wrestling tour. 

Talent

Del Shaw 

Columbia Law School

Shaw led the charge in Lupita Nyong’o negotiations for a part in Christopher Nolan’s star-studded adaptation of The Odyssey, Homer’s 3,000-year-old Trojan War epic, in which she’ll share the battlefield with the likes of Tom Holland, Zendaya, Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway. Shaw also smoothed the way for Jurnee Smollett to step into the lead on the Apple TV+ original Firebug and also secured a deal for Nick Cannon — an insanely busy client — to host the podcast We Playin’ Spades with Wondery.

Corporate

Eisner LLP 

UC Berkley

He’s the lawyer who held the legal reins for Kevin Costner’s epic bet on Horizon: An American Saga. No, the planned four-part Western didn’t quite work out as hoped — part two likely won’t get released — but it was nevertheless one of the most ambitious undertakings of the year, involving a massive nine-figure financing deal and a complex production and distribution maze. Sherman recently moved from Reed Smith to Eisner LLP.

Talent

Grubman Shire 

GW Law

His boss literally is the Boss. Shire handles all of Bruce Springsteen’s audiovisual ventures, including Deliver Me From Nowhere, the biopic Fox and Disney are shooting with Scott Cooper directing and Jeremy Allen White in the lead. Shire also negotiated the recent Hulu documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, which started streaming in October. Other clients include Robert De Niro, Gayle King, Spike Lee, Bono and David Letterman.

Corporate

Fox Rothschild 

Cardozo School of Law

The force is strong with this one, at least when it comes to client Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. He brokered the deal for the Pakistani filmmaker and activist — who won a 2016 Oscar for a documentary short about honor killings in her homeland and then steered a series of super-popular Pakistani animated action movies — to become the first female director of a Star Wars film. Simon also negotiated the deals for Obaid-Chinoy’s Hulu doc on Diane von Furstenberg last year and on behalf of the Obamas’ Higher Ground company to produce live stage shows. 

Talent

JSSK

Cardozo School of Law

He’s keeping Glen Powell’s rising star right on course, negotiating the actor’s deals for Anyone but You, Twisters, Edgar Wright’s The Running Man remake and J.J. Abrams’ still-untitled next project for Warner Bros., as well as Powell’s upcoming Hulu comedy series Chad Powers (which Powell is also exec producing). Slewett has also secured Florence Pugh’s acting and producing pacts for her next project, Netflix’s East of Eden series, as well as writing and directing deals for client Lynne Ramsay on Jennifer Lawrence’s next film, Die, My Love. 

Talent

Sloane Offer 

UCLA School of Law

Talk about the art of the deal: Sloane negotiated Sebastian Stan’s contract to play Donald Trump in The Apprentice, a role that earned the actor an eight-minute standing ovation at Cannes (not to mention Golden Globe and BAFTA trophies and an Oscar nomination). Sloane also orchestrated the deal for Hugh Jackman’s live show at Radio City Music Hall, From New York, With Love, as well as Jackman’s much less musical turn as Wolverine in Deadpool & Wolverine. He also brokered Chris Pratt’s deal for The Electric State on Netflix. 

Talent

Goodman Genow

Loyola Law School

In the most meta deal of the year, Smelkinson brokered Suits creator Aaron Korsh’s new spinoff series, Suits LA, a slick new NBC show about the thrill-a-minute, adrenaline-pumping world of entertainment law in Hollywood. Meanwhile, client Oscar Isaac is taking on the most iconic mad scientist in cinematic history, portraying Victor Frankenstein in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming adaptation for Netflix.

Talent

Gang Tyre 

UCLA School of Law

Client Daniel Dae Kim is having a moment. The Lost and The Good Doctor star just landed a first-look deal at 20th Television, a role in a major soon-to-be-announced TV series and will be jetting off to Korea to star and executive produce Butterfly, a new spy thriller for Amazon. Snow also reps screenwriter Travis Braun, who after topping the Black List two years in a row is finally having one of his buzzy screenplays produced: Bad Boy, the story of a rescue dog who believes his new owner is a serial killer, is heading into production.

Litigation

Gibson Dunn

Penn Carey Law

The go-to counsel for such heavyweights as LeBron James and Bob Dylan, Snyder’s most pressing current case involves defending Andy Cohen from a lawsuit brought by Real Housewife Leah McSweeney alleging sex, gender and disability discrimination along with accusations of a hostile work environment and retaliation. He’s also representing up-and-coming management firm Range Media Partners against claims from CAA that it interfered with contracts and stole confidential information, as well as AMC in a profit participation dispute with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman.

Corporate

Akin 

Georgetown Law

Over the past year, Spicer has brokered financing and distribution agreements for hits like Severance, Nine Perfect Strangers, Flora and Son, Savant and Tokyo Vice. He also guided equity firm Alpha Wave Global through its investment in MrBeast’s Feastables snacks venture and assisted Konami Cross Media in talks around potential film and TV adaptations of its games (like Metal Gear Solid, which is already in the pipeline for an adaptation with Oscar Isaac). 

Litigation

Quinn Emanuel 

Harvard Law School

It took all of three days in a New Mexican courthouse for this powerhouse attorney to get the manslaughter charges dropped against Alec Baldwin in last year’s Rust trial (the prosecution withholding evidence in the accidental shooting case might have played a part, too). For a time, Spiro was defending New York Mayor Eric Adams against federal corruption charges, but those magically disappeared when Donald Trump was elected and Adams suddenly grew super concerned about undocumented migrants in Manhattan. 

Corporate

Simpson Thacher 

Cornell Law School

He didn’t pilot a Super Hornet jet or scale a high-rise in Dubai, but his lawyering for Paramount during the high-stakes $28 billion merger with Skydance — producers of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun and Mission: Impossible movies — was in some ways every bit as harrowing. Guiding the studio through the complex legal hurdles of the game-changing deal was, as The New York Times put it, “a drama worthy of a summer blockbuster.”

Litigation

Tacopina Seigel & DeOreo

Quinnipiac University School of Law 

On the morning of April 22, 2022, Rakim Mayers, the 33-year-old Harlem rapper better known as A$AP Rocky, returned to Los Angeles from a long vacation with his superstar girlfriend, Rihanna, in her home country of Barbados. After stepping off the private jet at LAX, Mayers was arrested by LAPD officers and thrown in jail. He was charged with two felony counts of assault for allegedly firing two shots that grazed the knuckles of Terrell Ephron, a former member of Mayers’ hip-hop collective A$AP Mob who went by A$AP Relli, during a scuffle at a West Hollywood parking garage the previous November. Out on bail, Mayers rejected a plea deal to serve just six months in prison, opting instead to fight the charges in court. Faced with a career-ending, life-shattering maximum sentence of 24 years, Mayers turned to a high-profile hometown lawyer known for successfully defending rappers and entertainers, including Michael Jackson, Foxy Brown, Meek Mill and members of the Wu-Tang Clan: the swaggering $2,000-an-hour New York litigator Joe Tacopina.

Read the full story here.

Corporate

Sidley Austin 

UC Law San Francisco 

He takes care of the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon business, shepherding deals for the old pals’ independent production company, Artists Equity. This past year, Thompson reeled in a senior secured JP Morgan credit facility — also known as a line of credit — which should give AE plenty of capital to grow on. He also brokered a multiyear deal for client Alex Cooper, with the Call Her Daddy star partnering with Nestlé to launch a women-focused hydration drink called, for some reason, Unwell. Thompson has done celebrity beverages before; he negotiated Molson’s $53 million purchase of ZOA Energy, the drink founded by Dwayne Johnson.  

Talent

Jackoway Austen 

UC Berkeley Law

Trattner sealed the deal for Scott Cooper to write, produce and direct Deliver Me From Nowhere, the Bruce Springsteen biopic about the making of his seminal 1982 album, Nebraska, with Jeremy Allen White starring as the Boss. He also negotiated Better Call Saul’s Giancarlo Esposito’s deal to star as Sidewinder in Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, as well as Oscar-nominated American Sniper writer Jason Hall’s new overall with Amazon. 

Talent

Hansen Jacobson 

Harvard Law School

This past year, this always busy attorney closed a deal for Charlize Theron to star in Netflix’s Apex, an action thriller about a mountain climber being stalked by a serial killer. He brokered Colin Farrell’s deal to play a petty gambler in Netflix’s adaptation of The Ballad of a Small Player; Leonardo DiCaprio’s to star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s thriller One Battle After Another; Jonathan Bailey’s to star in Jurassic World: Rebirth; Kirsten Dunst’s for Triangle of Sadness director Ruben Östlund’s follow-up, the intriguingly titled The Entertainment System Is Down, which also stars Keanu Reeves; and Elle Fanning’s gig in Apple TV+’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, in which she’ll be sharing screen time with Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfeiffer. 

Talent

Sloane Offer

USC Gould School of Law

Another busy talent lawyer, Weber spent the past year locking in Emily Blunt’s deal to star in Disney’s much-anticipated The Devil Wears Prada sequel (as well as Blunt’s still-mysterious role in Steven Spielberg’s still-untitled next film); Austin Butler’s for his part in Darren Aronofsky’s drama about a baseball player turned criminal, Caught Stealing; Henry Cavill’s for his role in the Highlander reboot at Amazon; and David Ayer’s to write, produce and direct Heart of the Beast for Brad Pitt at Paramount (about a special forces soldier and his retired combat dog).

Talent

Weinstein Senior 

California Western School of Law

He’s the guy who spearheaded the deal with Amazon for MrBeast’s Beast Games, the game show with 1,000 contestants and a $5 million prize that quickly became the streamer’s most watched unscripted show ever, grabbing 50 million views in just 25 days. Weinstein knows the genre: He also put together the deal for Extracted, the high-stakes survival competition over at Fox, produced by Sylvester Stallone.

Talent

Sloane Offer

NYU School of law

Weiser wrapped up multiple acting deals for Daisy Ridley this past year, including one for independent film The Last Resort, another with Warner Bros. for the small-town thriller Panic Carefully, still another for an Australian horror film titled We Bury the Dead, along with various TV projects and development deals, not to mention Ridley’s endorsement deal with Miu Miu, solidifying the star’s fashion icon status. For Nicholas Hoult, Weiser recently concluded a deal for the lead in How to Rob a Bank, as well as endorsement deals with Jaeger-LeCoultre and Burberry (solidifying his status as a fashion icon). Client Mahershala Ali, meanwhile, will star in a project called Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother at Orion.

Litigation

Venable 

Southwestern Law School

Client Katherine Heigl is in the middle of a real dogfight: Wellman is handling her lawsuit against a dog rescue organization that the actress claims has been spreading false and defamatory rumors about the Jason Heigl Foundation, the animal welfare charity that Heigl runs with her mother, named in memory of her brother. Wellman has also been repping a different sort of canine, Snoop Dogg, with various deals, most recently the buyout of his stake in the branded beverage Indoggo Gin, clearing the way for Snoop’s next spiritual venture, a cocktail with Dr. Dre called Gin & Juice.

Litigation

Wigdor LLP 

Catholic University Law School

His civil suit against Sean Combs (on behalf of singer Cassie Ventura) didn’t just settle in a day, it triggered the federal grand jury sex trafficking indictment that’ll be going to trial in May in New York. That criminal case will likely heavily reference the witness testimony Wigdor spearheaded during his civil court cross-examinations. Wigdor also represents Jane Roe, a client accusing country music star Garth Brooks of sexual assault, battery and rape.

Corporate

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Boston University School of Law

As AMC’s outside counsel, she helped devise the theater chain’s groundbreaking end-run deal for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert movie, in which AMC and the pop icon struck their own terms and left out the traditional film distribution middlemen. Yen also helped Kevin Hart set up his production company — Hartbeat — then spearheaded a $100 million capita infusion from private equity firm Arby Partners. She continues to have a hand in pretty much everything that happens at Hartbeat, from real estate purchases to employment issues to film financing.

Talent

Yorn Levine 

Tulane Law School

This former deputy DA used to put gang members behind bars; now he’s putting movie stars in dinosaur films, among other projects. This year, along with negotiating Scarlett Johansson’s deal to star in Jurassic Park: Rebirth, Yorn shepherded Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s deal with Netflix for two more seasons of the creepy Korean horror hit, ironed out the contract for Jason Sudeikis to return for season four on Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso and secured Jonah Hill’s writing, producing and acting deal for Outcome, an Apple movie he’ll be making with Keanu Reeves and Cameron Diaz.

Talent

Ziffren Brittenham 

Stanford Law School

In addition to negotiating deals for long-standing clients like Dick Wolf, Eddie Murphy and Darren Star, Zajfen represents hit directors like Gareth Edwards, who’ll be directing that above-mentioned Jurassic Park sequel starring Scarlett Johansson. He also did the deal for client Mark Mylod to executive produce and direct HBO’s in-the-works Harry Potter TV series; Hayley Atwell’s deal to star in Marvel’s Avengers 5 and 6; and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ to return as Morticia for season two of Netflix’s The Addams Family reboot, Wednesday.

Corporate

Paul Hastings

USC Gould School of Law 

She helped Media Capital Technologies nail down a multiyear financing deal with Lionsgate, securing a major investment in the studio’s film slate. She also advises Eastree Media, a newly formed U.K.-based fund acquiring film and TV assets, and represents MidCap Financial in the bankruptcy proceedings over Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.