Top Hollywood Lawyers 2026

Corporate

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Loyola Law School

Ara has a knack for showing up when valuable screen assets are changing hands. During Village Roadshow Entertainment’s Chapter 11 restructuring, he advised Domain Capital Group on its ownership rights to the company’s catalog — which includes everything from The Matrix to Mad Max — and on the catalog’s sale to Alcon Entertainment. He also advised the investor consortium behind Angry Birds 3 on its Paramount distribution pact and guided Peaky Blinders producer Caryn Mandabach in the sale of her production company to Banijay U.K.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

NYU School of Law

What do Superman, Frankenstein and Homer have in common? This lawyer. Auerbach handled David Corenswet’s deal for James Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow and steered Mia Goth into Guillermo del Toro’s Mary Shelley adaptation, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Shawn Levy’s Star Wars movie opposite Ryan Gosling. Client James Marsden, meanwhile, landed Avengers: Doomsday and season two of Apple TV’s Your Friends and Neighbors, while Mia McKenna-Bruce and Bo Bragason, respectively, scored plum roles in Sam Mendes’ Beatles film and The Legend of Zelda.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Harvard Law School

Even Austen was a bit surprised by the deal he landed for Zach Cregger: a reported $20 million payday to write, direct and produce Sony’s Resident Evil reboot. “I’ve never heard of a third-time director get this kind of deal,” Austen says. Elsewhere on his roster, Eddie Redmayne signed on to star opposite Julia Roberts in Panic Carefully and return for season two of The Day of the Jackal, while Austen also pulled off a tidy bit of client-to-client matchmaking, setting up Carlton Cuse to adapt Dan Brown’s The Secret of Secrets for Netflix.

Talent

Ziffren Brittenham LLP 

UCLA School of Law

Matt Damon spent months starving and chiseling his body to his high school weight to play Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated The Odyssey. Getting him paid for it was considerably less grueling for Bahat and partner Brian Lazarus. Bahat also locked in Mae Martin’s deal to create and star in Wayward, bundled with a Netflix first-look, and (with partner Ben Rubinfeld) closed Danielle Deadwyler’s pact to star on HBO’s Rooster, playing a poetry professor opposite Steve Carell.

Litigation

Bird Marella 

University of Michigan

In the epic battle between exes Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie over ownership of Château Miraval, Berlinski scored a key win for Pitt — obtaining a court order forcing Jolie to hand over documents she’d withheld on privilege grounds. The case is now set for trial in L.A. Superior Court in February 2027. Berlinski is also the DGA’s go-to counsel for U.S. arbitration, handling its most complex residuals matters, including self-dealing claims spanning thousands of films and TV series.

Talent

Jackoway Austen 

Harvard Law School

When Ryan Murphy needed someone to fill Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s Calvins, it was Bernstein who tailored the deal — landing Sarah Pidgeon the starring role in Love Story before sending her straight into Honeymoon With Harry opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Kevin Costner. Bernstein also closed Margot Robbie’s deal to star in Warner Bros.’ Ocean’s Eleven prequel alongside Bradley Cooper. Client Tessa Thompson was nominated for a Golden Globe for Hedda, Carey Mulligan received a BAFTA nod for The Ballad of Wallis Island and Britt Lower took home an Emmy for Severance. Bernstein also brokered Mulligan’s deal to star opposite Oscar Isaac in season two of Beef and landed Judi Dench a memoir deal with Penguin Books.

Litigation

Gibson Dunn 

University of San Diego

As co-chair of Gibson Dunn’s First Amendment and Free Expression Practice Group, Boutrous has built a reputation for going to the mat for media freedoms. He scored a win for NPR, blocking President Trump’s executive order defunding public broadcasting, and is repping The New York Times in its lawsuit against the Pentagon’s new press credentialing policy. On the defamation front, he’s defending NBCUniversal against Sean “Diddy” Combs’ $100 million suit and Warner Bros. in novel “implied defamation” litigation over the Quiet on Set docuseries. He’s also defending Warner Bros. TV against claims that The Pitt is a derivative work of ER.

Talent

Ziffren Brittenham 

Fordham School of Law

Thirty years after Speed, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves are finally sharing the screen again — this time for a still-untitled romantic thriller, presumably not involving runaway buses. Clare and partner Cliff Gilbert-Lurie negotiated Bullock’s deal, while Clare also closed Robin Wright’s pact to star in, write, direct and executive produce The Girlfriend, a psychological thriller for Amazon, and locked in Emma Watts’ producing deal on Ebenezer — which marks Johnny Depp’s return to big studio movies post-Amber Heard trial. 

Talent

Lichter Grossman 

UC Hastings College of Law

Clark handled the deals for T-Street partners Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman on Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, which hit No. 1 on Netflix, and Poker Face, which returned to Peacock for a second season. T-Street also has an untitled AI thriller with Joseph Gordon-Levitt attached to direct, plus Johnson’s next sci-fi feature, in the pipeline. Elsewhere on Clark’s roster, Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo are deep into Shogun season two, while Smokehouse partners George Clooney and Grant Heslov wrapped season two of The Agency for Paramount+. Clooney still has In Love opposite Annette Bening — and Ocean’s 14 — ahead of him.

Talent

Cohen Gardner 

UCLA School of Law

While Michelle Yeoh was finally getting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February — which somehow took four-plus decades of acting — Cohen was plotting her next moves: Amazon’s Blade Runner 2099 and The Surgeon, an action thriller she’ll also executive produce. Oscar-winning client Ke Huy Quan, meantime, voiced the villainous Gary De’Snake in Zootopia 2, and Eydie Faye landed writing and producing gigs on Camp Rock 3 and Zombies 5 for Disney+. Fun fact: As a child actor, Cohen played Chunk in The Goonies.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Duke University School of Law

Cooper landed Severance standout Tramell Tillman a contract in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, closed Sean Kaufman’s breakout deal on Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty and helped Sean Evans, host of the interview series Hot Ones, buy First We Feast back from BuzzFeed in an $82.5 million investor deal. He also brokered the deal for Stalter to star in her hilarious show Too Much on Netflix.

Talent

Gendler, Kelly & Cunningham

Stanford Law School

When Only Murders in the Building co-creator John Hoffman was putting together his deal with Apple for a Siegfried & Roy biopic — with Oscar nominees Jude Law and Andrew Garfield playing the bedazzled Las Vegas lion tamers — he handed the whip and chair to his trusted attorney. Cunningham also manages the full slate for David E. Kelley, including Presumed Innocent season two — now an anthology, with Rachel Brosnahan stepping in for Jake Gyllenhaal, currently filming in L.A. — and secured Jenny Han’s deal to write, direct and produce a Summer I Turned Pretty film sequel. He also handles Al Gough and Miles Millar’s deals for Wednesday season three, which kicked off production in February.

Talent

Schreck Rose 

Harvard Law School

Colman Domingo alone could keep a small law firm busy. Over the past year, Dapello negotiated the two-time Oscar nominee’s deal to play Joe Jackson in Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic, then closed his deals for the thriller Dead Man’s Wire, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and upcoming seasons of Euphoria. He has other clients, too — like Ang Lee, whose deal for Gold Mountain, a tale of two orphaned Chinese American siblings navigating the California Gold Rush, Dapello helped seal.

Corporate

Sheppard Mullin

Georgetown University Law Center

Darwell’s work for Amazon MGM Studios has helped keep some very big wheels turning. He brokered the studio’s multiyear film partnership with former Netflix film chief Scott Stuber, a deal that includes a first-look component and revives the storied United Artists banner under the Amazon MGM umbrella. The partnership is already generating projects, including a much-discussed Lance Armstrong biopic starring Austin Butler. Darwell also advised on seasons two and three of Beast Games and secured the renewal of screenwriter Geneva Robertson-Dworet’s overall deal with the studio that includes the hit postapocalyptic series Fallout.

Talent

Granderson Des Rochers, LLP 

Howard University School of Law

Des Rochers has been helping steer Zendaya through three very different Hollywood lanes at once. He negotiated her return as Chani in the next Dune installment, her reprisal of MJ in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and her role opposite Robert Pattinson in A24’s The Drama. He also handled director Kristoffer Borgli’s deal to make The Drama; Jeremy Saulnier’s deal to write, direct and produce A24’s October; and locked in Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd’s role in the HBO limited series Half Man.

Corporate

Paul Hastings LLP 

Harvard Law School

From Oscar bait to body parts, Deutsch covered the full spectrum this year. He assisted Content Partners in acquiring a stake in the Saw franchise library alongside producer Mark Burg and Blumhouse, with an extended Lionsgate distribution deal attached. Then Deutsch worked with Participant Media — the company behind best   picture winners Spotlight and Green Book, among others — on the sale of its film library to Content Partners. He also helped director Marc Forster (World War Z, Monster’s Ball) and producing partner Renée Wolfe capitalize and launch their new production and financing company, World Wide Word.

Corporate

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP 

UCLA School of Law

First, he helped Ryan Reynolds sell gin, closing the $610 million sale of Aviation American in 2020. Then he helped him sell phones, negotiating the $1.35 billion sale of Mint Mobile to T-Mobile in 2023. Now, Epstein is helping Reynolds put the band back together, brokering the buyback of Maximum Effort Marketing from ad-tech company MNTN and reuniting it with Reynolds’ film and TV studio under one roof. Reynolds isn’t Epstein’s only entrepreneurial client: He also handles business affairs for Pharrell Williams and Kate Hudson; helped launch Faraway Road Productions, the company behind Fauda; and advised Tom Brady and Fox Sports on a strategic investment in Brady’s entertainment and marketing studio, Shadow Lion.

Talent

Lichter Grossman 

Harvard Law School

Most lawyers try to avoid conflicts of interest. Feldman has one — between parties with the same last name. He’s been repping both Safdie brothers through their recent creative split, which means he was in the room when Josh’s solo debut Marty Supreme racked up nine Oscar nominations and presumably also in the room when Benny’s The Smashing Machine tanked at the box office, grossing just $21 million against a reported $50 million budget. He also handles Jeff Probst, back for Survivor’s landmark 50th season.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson 

UCLA School of Law

Sometimes lawyers represent brothers who aren’t feuding. Fox reps Jacobi and Noah Jupe, both of whom had breakout roles in Chloé Zhao’s Shakespeare tragedy Hamnet. He also negotiated Emerald Fennell’s deal to write and direct Wuthering Heights — the bodice-ripping Margot Robbie-Jacob Elordi adaptation that has grossed $236 million despite mixed reviews — along with a new overall deal for Fennell at MRC. And he closed Brett Goldstein’s return to Ted Lasso as Roy Kent, plus Goldstein’s deal for Escorted, the new Prime Video series he’s creating and starring in.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson 

University of Pennsylvania Law School

A lot of couples try not to bring work home. The Foxes have a tougher time with that than most. Melissa — married to Dan (see above) — reps Will Tracy, who earned an adapted screenplay Oscar nomination for Yorgos Lanthimos’ dark thriller Bugonia. She also reps Tim Robinson, who co-created and stars on HBO’s The Chair Company, the comedy-thriller about a man unraveling a corporate conspiracy, as well as Robinson’s collaborator Zach Kanin. Other clients include Ali Wong and Michael Che, with Fox recently negotiating his return to the SNL desk.

Talent

McKuin Frankel Whitehead 

UCLA School of Law

Frankel and partner Scott Whitehead put together Jared Bush’s deal for Zootopia 2 — which went on to become the highest-grossing animated film in history. He also secured an extended Illumination deal for Matt Fogel, writer of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. But you don’t have to be able to draw to get on Frankel’s roster. He also reps The Bear showrunner Joanna Calo, Pachinko creator Soo Hugh and Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby.

Litigation

Liner Freedman 

McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific

When does it end with It Ends With Us? Freedman has been the most visible attorney in the Baldoni-Lively saga since day one — filing Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit against Lively (dismissed in June, though Lively’s pared down retaliation suit against Baldoni heads to trial in May) — while simultaneously facing a malpractice suit from the estate of a dying screenwriter who claims Freedman dumped him to take the more lucrative Baldoni case. Most recently, text messages surfaced placing Freedman in the middle of an alleged plot by Rebel Wilson’s PR team to smear a film producer as “the new Heidi Fleiss.” Away from the headlines, he won the CAA/Range Media Partners equity case at trial (now on appeal), which if upheld could reshape how agents and managers leave their employers. 

Talent

Greenberg Glusker 

Columbia Law School

Tom Cruise. James Cameron. Chris Hemsworth. Tom Hanks. David Fincher. Ron Howard. This lawyer’s office is packed with more Hollywood A-listers than the Vanity Fair Oscar party (and presumably he’s got better lighting). Galsor structured the Russo brothers’ deals for Avengers: Doomsday (Christmas 2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars, now in production. Their Netflix sci-fi epic The Electric State arrived in March to rather less heroic reviews — but with a lineup like that, one $320 million misfire barely registers.

Talent

Cohen Gardner 

University of Virginia School of Law

Ryan Coogler walked into Hollywood with a laughable wish list: final cut, first-dollar gross and copyright reversion in 25 years. With help from WME’s Dan Limerick and Coogler’s manager Charles D. King, Gardner got him all three — at Warner Bros., the one studio willing to play ball — then watched Sinners earn Coogler an Oscar for best original screenplay while grossing nearly $370 million on a $90 million budget. Gardner has repped Coogler since Fruitvale Station premiered at Sundance in 2013, which suggests either extraordinary loyalty or extraordinary foresight. Probably both. He also closed Coogler’s deals for Hulu’s X-Files reboot pilot and Doppelgänger at Skydance.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson 

UC Berkeley

Political thrillers, postapocalyptic sci-fi, dragon-rider fantasy, prestige soap — Gellman’s roster reads like a streaming service’s entire drama slate. He reps The Diplomat creator Debora Cahn, whose Keri Russell political thriller is now three seasons deep on Netflix with a fourth greenlit, and Dan Fogelman, whose Hulu thriller Paradise is already heading into a third season. Meredith Averill, meanwhile, has been tapped as showrunner on Amazon’s massively anticipated Fourth Wing adaptation. 

Talent

Yorn Levine 

Loyola Law School

Gellman’s deals this year ran from Hawaiian mobsters to stand-up loudmouths to the NBA desk. He negotiated one of the largest feature writing deals in film history for client Nick Bilton, who will script the untitled Hawaii-set crime film at 20th Century directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, then closed Bilton’s deal to co-author a nonfiction book with Johnson on the same syndicate. Gellman also sealed Tony Hinchcliffe’s eight-figure Netflix live-events deal built around Kill Tony and Kenny Smith’s eight-figure deal to stay with Inside the NBA while adding new programming for Turner and Disney.

Talent

Goodman Genow 

Harvard Law

Not every lawyer can say he reps both a monster and a duchess — though in Genow’s case, the monster may have had the better year. Client Jacob Elordi, who disappeared under 42 prosthetic appliances to play the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, lumbered away with his first Oscar nomination. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, saw her Netflix partnership go up in smoke in March, even as her lifestyle brand As Ever — maker of jams, honey, teas, etc. — took off. Client Roy Lee, meanwhile, produced or executive produced 11 films in 2025 alone, including A Minecraft Movie and Weapons.

Talent

Ginsburg Daniels Kallis LLP 

UCLA School of Law

Ginsburg negotiated the multiyear broadcast deal that put Nikki Glaser behind the Golden Globes podium two years running — she’s the first woman ever to host the show solo — and closed the competitive sale of two scripted features for Glaser to write, produce and star in. He put together Nate Bargatze’s deal to host the Emmys and to star in, co-write and produce The Breadwinner, the Sony family comedy directed by fellow Ginsburg client Eric Appel, now set for theaters in May.

Talent

Yorn Levine 

Loyola Law School

Nine months before Goodell closed the deal for Connor Storrie to co-star on Heated Rivalry, the actor was waiting tables at Laurel Grill in Culver City — and nearly got fired for messing up an order the same day he found out he’d booked the role. Since the queer hockey romance became one of HBO’s biggest recent hits and turned Storrie into one of the most talked-about new faces in Hollywood, Goodell has been skating fast to keep up: multiple endorsement deals, an SNL hosting gig, a renegotiation on Heated Rivalry itself, an A24 film and a just-announced guest spot on Criminal Minds: Evolution.

Talent

Goodman Genow 

UCLA School of Law

Goodman negotiated David Heyman’s deal to produce the next James Bond film for Amazon MGM — the one Denis Villeneuve, also a Goodman client, was hired to direct. He also handled Quentin Tarantino’s deal to license his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood spinoff screenplay to Netflix, which David Fincher helmed and Brad Pitt stars in — one of the most anticipated films of 2026. Co-repping Jacob Elordi alongside partner Richard Genow, Goodman watched his client earn a supporting actor Oscar nomination for playing the Creature in Frankenstein, star opposite Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights and return to Euphoria for its long-awaited third season — all in the span of a few months.

Litigation

Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Harvard Law School

If there is a messier, more overexposed Hollywood fight than It Ends With Us, Michael Gottlieb has yet to bill for it. Representing Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, he won dismissal of Justin Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit, a major victory in a case still hurtling toward a May 18 trial. He’s also representing Drake in his appeal against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” after the rapper accused his own label of profiting from and aggressively promoting a diss track he says defamed him.

Talent

Sloane Offer

University of Michigan Law School

Hartman had a front-row seat to one of the year’s more unusual Hollywood success stories: Client Jennifer Garner saw her children’s food company, Once Upon a Farm, go public at a valuation of nearly $845 million. Hartman also had a busy year on the more traditional entertainment front, negotiating deals for Daredevil: Born Again showrunner Dario Scardapane, Spider-Noir co-developer Steve Lightfoot and The Boys star Jack Quaid. His roster also includes Rooney Mara and Margaret Qualley.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

USC Gould School of Law

Jason Voorhees and Laura Ingalls are not natural scene partners, but both helped make Hedges’ year. He secured a deal for client Michael Lennox to direct and executive produce Crystal Lake, the Friday the 13th prequel series. He also reps Rebecca Sonnenshine, whose Netflix reboot of Little House on the Prairie scored a second-season renewal before the first had premiered (she’s also set to write the sequel to her breakout hit The Housemaid). Hedges also secured Lennox’s deal to direct and executive produce Legacy of Spies, based on the John le Carré novel.

Corporate

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Georgetown University Law Center

Hernand’s recent deal sheet points less to legacy Hollywood than to what comes next, whatever that may be. He assisted former Paramount Pictures co-CEO Brian Robbins in launching Big Shot Pictures, the startup built in January to develop animated franchises on YouTube before moving them into traditional longform entertainment. He also led Netflix’s March acquisition of Ben Affleck’s AI production-tools company InterPositive, the streamer’s first deal after it walked away from the Warner Bros. bidding war, and represented Moelis as financial adviser to Netflix in that fight.

Litigation

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

UCLA School of Law

Hudson already has one major It Ends With Us victory on the board. Serving as lead counsel for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds in their fight with Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and related parties, she helped defeat Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit, which was dismissed in June. She remains at the center of the still-raging dispute as Lively’s case heads toward a May 18 trial.  

Corporate

Barnes & Thornburg

Georgetown University Law Center

Nobody goes to the movies thinking about production loans. But without lawyers like Hunt, Johnny Depp does not get his comeback vehicle Day Drinker; Florian Zeller does not get Bunker made with Paul Dano, Javier Bardem and Patrick Schwarzenegger; and Liam Neeson does not go barreling into Ice Road 2. Working through clients Natixis Coficiné and Code Entertainment, Hunt helped line up the financing that got those projects moving. Over the past year, according to the firm, she handled nearly $1.5 billion in distribution, production, financing and tax-credit matters.

Talent

Frankfurt Kurnit

Georgetown University Law Center

Hurwitz’s year swung from Superman to slovenly spies. He brokered James Gunn’s deal to write, direct and produce Man of Tomorrow for DC and Warner Bros. He also reps Mick Herron, whose Slow Horses empire kept growing as the author received the CWA Diamond Dagger, crime writing’s highest honor. In between, Hurwitz secured Tony McNamara’s deal to write and showrun Disney+’s Mosquito, based on his play, with Nicholas Hoult and Daisy Edgar-Jones set to star.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Southwestern School of Law

When you rep a client like Nicole Kidman — who seems to have a new streaming series every 20 minutes — you don’t get a lot of down time. In the past year, Hynick put together the actress’ deals for Practical Magic 2, Discretion and Scarpetta. He also kept busy with Jenna Ortega, securing her roles in The Gallerist, J.J. Abrams’ The Great Beyond and Klara and the Sun. His roster also includes Cristin Milioti, Edward Berger and Hannah Waddingham.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Columbia Law School

Having already shepherded Pedro Pascal through zombies and Grogu, Jaime spent the past year steering him toward prestige fare. Along with The Last of Us and The Mandalorian & Grogu, Pascal lined up Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth and Todd Haynes’ De Noche. Jaime also sealed a Dior partnership for Greta Lee, helped land Nico Parker’s deals in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Osgood Perkins’ The Young People, secured Charly Clive a contract for HBO’s The Rooster and closed Halina Reijn’s next A24 feature, Please, starring Gracie Abrams.

Litigation

Davis Wright Tremaine

University of Michigan Law School

Plane crashes, it turns out, are not copyrightable. Jampol spent part of the year making exactly that point, securing a copyright win for Paramount and Lionsgate in the Yellowjackets case by defeating claims that the series lifted from the 2015 survival film Eden. He’s also defending Neon, WME, Dave Franco, Alison Brie and writer Michael Shanks in the Together dispute, in which StudioFest alleges the horror film was taken from its screenplay Better Half.

Talent

JSSK

NYU School of Law

When Brian Robbins stepped down from Paramount and set up Big Shot Pictures, Johnson helped get the venture off the ground, including hammering out its first-look and co-financing deal with Sony. He also negotiated Idris Elba’s return as the dangerously obsessive John Luther in Netflix’s next Luther film and sealed Sacha Baron Cohen’s deal to lead the Netflix romantic comedy Ladies First.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Whittier Law School

You can’t say Kaller’s client list lacks range — he reps a long-overdue Emmy winner, a buzzy showrunner, a Netflix psycho and the governor of California. Katherine LaNasa finally won her first Emmy for The Pitt after 30 years in the business. Rebecca Sonnenshine, whom he co-reps with Duncan Hedges, is showrunning Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie reboot while writing The Housemaid and its sequel. Penn Badgley wrapped You and signed on for Amazon’s You Deserve Each Other. Gavin Newsom is in the mix too, as a podcaster if not governor.

Litigation

Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP

UCLA School of Law

South Park, blacklist claims and COVID mandates made for a pretty eclectic year in court. Kelly is lead counsel for Paramount Skydance in Warner Bros. Discovery’s lawsuit over HBO Max’s supposedly exclusive South Park rights. He also represented CAA in the Main Justice case, helping knock a $25 million dispute down to a reported $500,000 settlement after writer John Musero claimed the agency failed to shop his TV pilot and then effectively blacklisted him by placing him on internal “underperforming” lists. And Kelly successfully defended Lionsgate in a suit by a former Starz actor who refused to take a required COVID-19 vaccine.

Talent

JSSK

UC Davis School of Law

Before Maggie Kang could collect an Oscar for KPop Demon Hunters, Kirk had already put the sequel deal to bed. Kirk also handled Tom Hiddleston’s contracts for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers 6, leaving Loki free to worry about the multiverse, not the paperwork. Elsewhere on her roster, Steve Carell signed on to play a college professor on HBO’s Rooster while Shawn Levy kept one foot in the galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: Starfighter.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

USC Gould School of Law

Klein spent the year bringing proven commodities back for more. She negotiated Jim Carrey’s return as Dr. Ivo Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 4, lined up Vince Vaughn for season two of Bad Monkey and handled Paul Rudd’s deals for the musical Power Ballad and upcoming Marvel projects. She also brokered Will Ferrell’s starring role in Amazon’s Judgement Day, in which he plays a reality judge taken hostage by Zac Efron, as well as his lead turn in the Netflix golf comedy The Hawk.

Talent

Yorn Levine

Loyola

Kohner’s year included one very large pair of twins: He negotiated the Duffer brothers’ reported $100 million Paramount pact, even as their Netflix pipeline stayed full with The Boroughs and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. He also secured Meaghan Oppenheimer an overall deal with 20th Television on the heels of Tell Me Lies, landed Francesca Sloane an overall deal with HBO (where she’ll showrun the long-awaited third season of Big Little Lies) and brokered the feature rights and writing deal for client Jaime Oliveira’s High Side, the Timothée Chalamet-James Mangold reunion that sparked a bidding war.  

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Loyola Law School

From The Bear to Bruce Springsteen to Zuckerberg-adjacent mayhem, Koch had a pretty good year with Jeremy Allen White alone. The actor picked up Golden Globe nominations for The Bear and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, then lined up a starring role in Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, the follow-up to The Social Network. Koch’s clients Jen Statsky and Erin Foster had awards season heat, while Erin and Sara Foster were part of the Emmy-nominated producing team behind Nobody Wants This. Amanda Marsalis also earned an Emmy nomination and won a DGA award for directing The Pitt, while Elisabeth Moss signed on to executive produce and guest star on Hulu’s The Testaments.

Talent

JSSK

Harvard Law School

After the Oscar-winning success of KPop Demon Hunters, Kole quickly helped keep the momentum going, with client Chris Appelhans signing on to co-direct the sequel. She also handled Josh O’Connor’s deal for Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, while powerhouse clients David Leitch and Kelly McCormick continued gearing up Gears of War and Greta Gerwig pressed ahead on her long-awaited Chronicles of Narnia adaptation. Angelina Jolie, meanwhile, pivots from the fashion drama Couture — which opened in France in February and is due in the U.S. this year — to the drug-world thriller Sunny.

Talent

Yorn Levine

University of San Diego School of Law

All right, all right, all right: Krintzman had a hand in bringing Matthew McConaughey back to the rom-com lane, brokering the actor’s deal to star opposite Zoe Saldaña in Netflix’s Positano. And after a bidding war, he also lined up McConaughey to play opposite another client, Cole Hauser, as brothers in an untitled Nic Pizzolatto project for Skydance Sports and Netflix. In between, Krintzman negotiated Hauser’s return as Rip Wheeler in the Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch.

Talent

Ziffren Brittenham

Georgetown University Law Center

NBC had been itching for an Office sequel since the show went off the air in 2013. With Lazarus’ help, it finally got one: The lawyer sealed the deal for client Greg Daniels on Peacock’s The Paper. Daniels also spent the year wrapping the fourth and final season of Upload and, with Mike Judge, overseeing the latest return of Beavis and Butt-Head — all deals negotiated by Lazarus. He also teamed with Dean Bahat on Matt Damon’s The Odyssey deal and handled June Diane Raphael’s moves into Legally Blonde prequel Elle and another season of The Morning Show.

Litigation

O’Melveny & Myers LLP

University of Michigan Law School

Lens has been cleaning up Top Gun: Maverick’s legal turbulence. She scored two recent wins for Paramount: first, an appeals court ruling that the sequel did not infringe the magazine article that inspired the 1986 original; then a second victory over a writer who claimed he had contributed scenes to the blockbuster and was owed credit and profits. Lens persuaded the court that the material he said he had written was itself an unauthorized derivative work and therefore not entitled to copyright protection.

Talent

Gang Tyre

Yale Law School

Levin handles both high-end prestige projects and popcorn tentpoles — often for the same clients. She secured Dwayne Johnson’s deals for what is expected to be the final Jumanji installment and Martin Scorsese’s Hawaii-set crime thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt. She also handled Bella Ramsey’s moves into the coming-of-age film Sunny Dancer and the final season of The Last of Us. Elsewhere on her roster, Samantha Morton joined Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Alicia Silverstone signed on for Irish Blood and Jasmin Savoy Brown lined up both Scream 7 and another season of Yellowjackets.

Talent

Yorn Levine

Harvard Law School

Levine’s year was heavy on extensions. He brokered Colin Jost’s latest Universal TV development deal while the SNL mainstay kept anchoring “Weekend Update,” helped Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon keep Pardon the Interruption going into its third decade with a three-year ESPN renewal, and engineered a renewal of Jordan Peele’s Universal feature development pact. Levine also put together Netflix’s broad new deal with Shane Gillis and John McKeever — covering film, series and unscripted projects, plus two new Gillis stand-up specials.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Southwestern

LeVine’s year stretched from the emergency room to Panem. Client Isa Briones broke through as Dr. Trinity Santos on The Pitt, while Whitney Peak lined up a very different kind of survival story as Lenore Dove Baird in The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, due in November. He also had a busy run with rising writer-director JT Mollner, brokering deals for The Long Walk, Skeletons and A24’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre TV adaptation. Elsewhere, LeVine handled the One Piece renegotiations for Iñaki Godoy and Emily Rudd alongside law partner Jeff Hynick, and Tim Federle’s deal to write the stage adaptation of The Greatest Showman. 

Corporate

Covington & Burling

NYU School of Law

Ludwin has one of the trickier antitrust jobs in town. As lead global regulatory counsel to Warner Bros. Discovery, he has been helping steer the company through scrutiny of Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition — a review that has already escalated to subpoenas and will have to run the gauntlet in the U.S. and Europe. Ludwin, a leader of Covington’s antitrust and sports practices, is also representing the U.S. Tennis Association in player-compensation litigation over media rights and tournament pay. 

Talent

Peikoff Mahan

Southwestern

In the past year, Mahan negotiated 23 roles for Cynthia Erivo — and that was just for one play. Erivo is now starring in a one-woman production of Dracula in London, somehow playing every part herself. Client Sadie Sink, meanwhile, has lined up a role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, while Nick Frost has signed on to play Hagrid on HBO’s new Harry Potter series. Ben Whishaw, for his part, is back opposite Keira Knightley on season two of Netflix’s Black Doves.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

NYU School of Law

Mandelbaum had a year full of returns. He secured Michael Patrick King’s HBO comeback with Lisa Kudrow in The Comeback and Rebecca Cutter’s return trip to Netflix after The Hunting Wives became the streamer’s No. 1 show and landed a second season. Bruce Miller, meanwhile, is not done with Gilead yet: The Testaments premieres April 8 on Hulu. Nathan Fillion also remains very much in business, with Mandelbaum handling his continuing Rookie matters — including the Rookie: North spinoff — as well as his ongoing role as Guy Gardner in the upcoming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow.

Talent

McKuin Frankel Whitehead LLP

Harvard Law School

In space, nobody can hear you negotiate. Nevertheless, McKuin keeps closing astronomical deals for such clients as Noah Hawley, whose Alien: Earth success led to a new overall pact that includes Far Cry and Fargo season six. Kristen Stewart is also headed skyward, set to play Sally Ride on Prime Video’s limited series The Challenger, after making her feature directorial debut with The Chronology of Water. Back on Earth, McKuin landed Lily Gladstone opposite Michael B. Jordan in the reimagined Thomas Crown Affair.

Litigation

Early Sullivan

UCLA School of Law

McRae has carved out a niche representing clients who think Hollywood has shortchanged them. He represented Copshop writer Kurt McLeod in his conflict-of-interest fight over the Gerard Butler film, a case that was revived on appeal before settling this year. McRae also represents Terrifier actress Catherine Corcoran in her claim that she has not received her proper share of the franchise’s profits, and publicity firm MPRM in its bitter lawsuit against rival 42West over the alleged poaching of top staff, clients and confidential information.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Harvard Law School

Thanks to Meigs, you may never look at a parking garage the same way again. He secured Issa Rae’s starring role in Ninian Doff’s comedic thriller Good People, Bad Things, about a woman trapped in a seemingly endless garage, along with Rae’s three-year first-look deal at Paramount covering film and television and a producing deal for the One of Them Days sequel. He also handled Kaley Cuoco’s deal to star in and executive produce Vanished, lined up Damson Idris for Paramount’s Children of Blood and Bone after F1: The Movie and helped Omar Benson Miller land his turn as Cornbread in Sinners.

Talent

Del Shaw Moonves

University of Virginia School of Law

Moonves keeps company with some of television’s most durable hitmakers. He secured an extended CBS deal for Robert and Michelle King, keeping the duo behind The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Elsbeth and the newly announced Cupertino in business with the studio they’ve called home since 2009. He also handled a busy stretch for Ray Romano, landing him the lead on HBO Max’s How to Survive Without Me and roles in Running Point and Disney’s Ice Age reboot. Elsewhere on his roster, Marc Cherry is bringing a new drama to Netflix while producer Deena Katz remains all over the reality landscape with The Traitors, The Masked Singer and Dancing With the Stars. Family footnote: Moonves is Les Moonves’ brother.

Corporate

Latham & Watkins

University of Pennsylvania

Nussbaum has had a hand in some of the year’s biggest dealmaking headaches. He helped advise Paramount Skydance on its proposed $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery while also representing an investor consortium that includes the Ellison family as an equity financing source in the deal. Elsewhere on Latham’s blockbuster board, he worked on Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of The Free Press, Skydance’s $8.4 billion merger with Paramount and National Amusements, Silver Lake’s pending $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts and Endeavor’s completed take-private by Silver Lake.

Talent

Sloane Offer

UCLA School of Law

Fresh off the box office success of Project Hail Mary, Offer kept Ryan Gosling in orbit, lining up Star Wars: Starfighter as the actor’s next trip to the cosmos. He also negotiated Tom Holland’s return for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Robert Pattinson’s return for The Batman Part II and Nicholas Hoult’s ongoing run as Lex Luthor after last year’s Superman. Elsewhere on his roster, Owen Cooper is headed to Tom Ford’s Cry to Heaven, Harris Dickinson is set to play John Lennon in Sam Mendes’ Beatles films and Daisy Edgar-Jones keeps piling up projects, including Mosquito and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

Corporate

Latham & Watkins

Harvard Law School

He’s the guy who keeps turning up whenever giant media empires are being stitched together. Offsay advised Paramount on Skydance’s $8.4 billion merger with the studio, then stayed in the mix for Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion tie-up with Warner Bros. Discovery. He also advised Mediawan on its acquisition of Peter Chernin’s North Road, Paramount Skydance on its $150 million purchase of The Free Press and Silver Lake, as part of a consortium, on the $55 billion Electronic Arts take-private.

Talent

Gang Tyre

UCLA School of Law

Passman had a hand in one of Timothée Chalamet’s busiest years, negotiating his deals for Marty Supreme and Dune 3. He also secured Ridley Scott’s postapocalyptic The Dog Stars, handled Billie Eilish’s Paramount distribution deal for her immersive 3D concert film co-directed with James Cameron, and brokered Riz Ahmed’s starring role in Bait, the James Bond-adjacent comedy that just dropped. Elsewhere on his roster, Nicholas Galitzine kept collecting projects, including Masters of the Universe, Red, White & Royal Blue 2 and The Sheep Detectives. 

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Loyola University New Orleans

When studios passed on Markiplier’s Iron Lung, Pastorek’s client simply turned to his 38 million YouTube subscribers and willed the movie into theaters. The strategy worked: The self-financed horror film opened on more than 4,000 screens and grossed roughly $17.8 million in its first weekend, on its way past $50 million worldwide. In the reality lane, Ariana Madix’s own on-camera love life may have flamed out, but her hosting career is going strong: Pastorek — who has repped her since season two of Vanderpump Rules — just renegotiated her deal to return for season eight of Love Island USA.

Litigation

Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Georgetown University Law Center

Pearl is representing CAA in its long-simmering legal war with Range Media Partners, a fight that could have real consequences for how Hollywood agencies and management firms do business. CAA alleges that Range violated the Talent Agencies Act by operating as an unlicensed talent agency and that former CAA agents walked out the door with valuable trade secrets. Range, in turn, has countersued, and the dispute has only gotten nastier with time. 

Talent

Goodman Genow

Stanford Law School

Popkin’s clients have been busy acquiring capes, superpowers and Beatles haircuts. Milly Alcock takes flight in Supergirl, the second feature in DC’s latest universe, while Joseph Quinn is juggling Marvel duties in the next two Avengers films as Johnny Storm even as he grows out his mop top to play George Harrison in Sam Mendes’ Beatles saga. Popkin also made the deal for Tom Rhys Harries to take the title role in DC’s Clayface, due in October.  

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Harvard Law School

From The Pitt to The Studio, Richman’s clients have had a habit of ending awards night onstage. R. Scott Gemmill took home the Emmy for best drama and the Golden Globe for The Pitt, while Peter Huyck and Alex Gregory did the same on the comedy side for The Studio. Richman also lined up Tracy Morgan for NBC’s The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, Zach Braff’s return to Scrubs, Mike Schur’s new Peacock comedy Dig with Amy Poehler, and Jeff Schaffer’s upcoming Larry David limited series for HBO.

Talent

Ziffren Brittenham

USC Gould School of Law

Two decades after the first Simpsons movie, Rubinfeld is helping bring Springfield back to the big screen, ironing out James L. Brooks’ deal to produce a sequel slated for 2027. He also continues to advise Jerry Bruckheimer across his sprawling film and TV empire, from Fire Country and Sheriff Country to the bidding war for the untitled UFO project that reunites Bruckheimer with Joseph Kosinski (for the third time after F1) and ultimately landed at Apple. Alongside Dean Bahat, Rubinfeld also locked in Danielle Deadwyler’s deals for HBO’s Rooster and Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

UCLA School of Law

When Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence decide to make a thriller, somebody has to put the deals together. Rush handled all three stars’ deals to make What Happens at Night, Apple’s eerie adoption drama set in a European town. She also negotiated Francis Lawrence’s return for Sunrise on the Reaping, his fifth trip into Hunger Games territory, and closed Reese Witherspoon’s deal for season five of The Morning Show.

Corporate

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Harvard Law School

Saeed has had a hand in some of the biggest corporate swings in recent years, representing Paramount Skydance in its pending $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount in its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance, which closed Aug. 7, 2025. Meanwhile, in a very different kind of billion-dollar deal, she represented Hailey Bieber in e.l.f. Beauty’s $1 billion acquisition of Bieber’s rhode.

Talent

Gang Tyre

USC Gould School of Law

When studios go looking for a marquee music collaboration, Salomon is often the lawyer they call. He reps a staggering roster that includes Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Stevie Wonder, Cher, Finneas and Oscar-winning Sinners composer Ludwig Göransson. This year, he also handled the sale of Quincy Jones’ catalog, Zac Brown’s Sphere residency and 2026 tour, and Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Grand National Tour. 

Talent

Jackoway Austen

Harvard Law School

Sample’s clients had a good year killing things, extending things and selling things straight to series. After Predator: Badlands became the highest-grossing film in the franchise’s history, Sample negotiated Patrick Aison’s next major writing deal at Paramount. He also secured Mike Makowsky’s next two series at A24 and Netflix following Death by Lightning, improved and extended JJ Bailey’s UTV overall deal for season two of The Hunting Party, and closed Chandler Baker’s deal to write and executive produce the upcoming Nicole Kidman-Elle Fanning series Discretion.

Litigation

Gibson Dunn

Stanford Law School

When Hollywood gets dragged into ugly fights over spinoffs, defamation and trade secrets, Samplin turns up in court. She has been leading the defense of Warner Bros. Television, John Wells Productions, R. Scott Gemmill and Noah Wyle in the Michael Crichton estate’s lawsuit claiming The Pitt is really an unauthorized ER offshoot. She also represents Warner Bros. Discovery and Sony in the fight over Quiet on Set, the docuseries about alleged abuse at Nickelodeon’s kids’ TV empire, and NBCUniversal and Peacock in Sean Combs’ $100 million suit over Making of a Bad Boy. She also helps lead Range Media’s war with CAA, in which the agency accuses Range of operating as an unlicensed talent agency and stealing trade secrets.

Litigation

Goodman Genow

UC Berkeley School of Law

Schenkman’s clients tend to think on a large scale. He negotiated Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas’ writing, directing and producing deal for The Odyssey, Michael Waldron’s overall deal at 20th Television after Chad Powers, and Bill Dubuque’s television pact with Fifth Season as the Ozark creator keeps building out projects including His & Hers. He also brokered Brad Bird’s writing and producing deal for Incredibles 3, Javier Bardem’s acting and executive producer deal for Apple’s latest pass through Cape Fear, Chad Feehan’s Paramount overall deal and Randall Einhorn’s directing and EP deal for Abbott Elementary.

Talent

Gang Tyre

Harvard Law School

Even before Ludwig Göransson cleaned up during awards season — winning Grammys, Golden Globes and an Oscar for his Sinners score — Schiffres was laying track for the composer’s future in Hollywood. He secured deals for Göransson (whom he shares with partner J. Eugene Salomon Jr.) to score Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Schiffres also handled Stevie Wonder’s U.K. tour, which wrapped with a sold-out Hyde Park show, and Billie Eilish’s sold-out 2024-25 world tour.

Talent

JSSK

USC

Emma Stone’s eerie turn in Bugonia earned her yet another Oscar nomination, but it was Shapiro’s other client, Jessie Buckley, who went home with the statue, winning best actress for Hamnet. Shapiro also negotiated Buckley’s deal for The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s glam-punk, neo-gothic Mrs. Frankenstein reboot. Then there’s Maggie Kang, whose KPop Demon Hunters won both best animated feature and best original song, with Shapiro structuring her Netflix deal across the growing franchise. He also brokered a slate of film deals for John Cena, including Matchbox, Little Brother and One Attempt Remaining.

Talent

Del Shaw Moonves

Columbia University Law School

Knife-throwers, frazzled chefs and animated fuzzballs all passed through Shaw’s office this year. Along with partner Chris Namba, she handled Ji-young Yoo’s breakout voice role as Zoey in KPop Demon Hunters and her return for the newly announced sequel as well as Yoo’s next K-pop feature at Paramount. She and partner Lily Tillers also helped guide Ayo Edebiri from The Bear to After the Hunt, Prodigies, the live-action Barney movie and a Broadway debut in Proof opposite Don Cheadle. Quinta Brunson, meanwhile, voiced Dr. Fuzzby in Zootopia 2 and lined up Par for the Course and The Cat in the Hat.

Talent

Grubman Shire

George Washington University Law School

Bruce Springsteen may be the Boss, but Shire handles the business, steering the pop star’s screen projects, including Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Shire also reps Jerry Seinfeld, Robert De Niro, Gayle King, Spike Lee, Madonna and LeBron James. And he put together Apple and Imagine Films’ deal for The Dynasty, the 10-part documentary series on the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl era.

Corporate

Fox Rothschild

Cardozo School of Law

Simon is likely the only lawyer on this list who represents a former zoo custodian. That’d be Austin Kolodney, who spent the strike surrounded by animals at the L.A. Zoo — and whose screenplay Dead Man’s Wire got picked up by Gus Van Sant and became a buzzy festival draw at Venice and Toronto. Simon also negotiated Jennifer Peedom’s deal on Tenzing, Apple’s Everest drama about Sherpa legend Tenzing Norgay, with Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe attached. He also reps two-time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, giving him a roster that runs from breakout writers to internationally recognized filmmakers.

Talent

JSSK

Cardozo School of Law

If lawyers could bill by awards nominations, Slewett would be (especially) rolling in cash this year. Michael B. Jordan won an Oscar for Sinners, while fellow Slewett clients Wunmi Mosaku and Wagner Moura landed their first Oscar nominations for Sinners and The Secret Agent, respectively. On the TV side, Glen Powell picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Chad Powers, Sterling K. Brown did the same for Paradise and Philip Barantini won an Emmy for directing Adolescence. Slewett also closed Jordan’s Thomas Crown Affair deal and Powell’s Judd Apatow country-music comedy.

Talent

Sloane Offer

UCLA School of Law

Bringing people back seems to be Sloane’s specialty. He negotiated Chris Evans’ return for Avengers: Doomsday, Anne Hathaway’s for The Devil Wears Prada 2, Tom Hardy’s for another season of MobLand,andMichael Fassbender’s for season two of The Agency and the Joseph Kennedy Sr. biopic he’ll be making with Netflix. 

Talent

Goodman Genow

Loyola Law School

Monsters, memoirs and comebacks — oh my! Smelkinson client Oscar Isaac earned a Golden Globe nomination for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, while Patrick Dempsey returned to network television in Memory of a Killer, which drew more than 11 million viewers across platforms in its first week. Smelkinson also handled Anthony Hopkins’ deal for his 2025 memoir, We Did OK, Kid, Siân Heder’s deal to write and direct Being Heumann for Apple TV and Ana Nogueira’s deal to write Supergirl, due in theaters this summer.

Talent

Gang Tyre

UCLA School of Law

Snow spent the year as a matchmaker for high-concept escapism. She helped put together a Netflix thriller about stealing Jennifer Lopez’s glamorous life (The Last Mrs. Parrish, directed by client Robert Zemeckis), a giant fantasy franchise built around a fire-bending despot dad (Avatar: The Last Airbender, starring client Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai) and a commercial comedy with a catchy sex hook (One Night Only). She also reps Jim Parsons, Justified’s Natalie Zea and Blade Runner 2049 breakout Sylvia Hoeks.

Litigation

Gibson Dunn

Penn Carey Law

In Snyder’s world, the fight is usually over who owns what — profits from zombies, staff from rival firms or even the word “mayhem.” He is representing AMC in the Fear the Walking Dead profits suit brought by co-creator Dave Erickson, who claims he was cut out of money tied to the hit spinoff’s success. Snyder is also leading Range Media Partners’ defense against CAA’s trade-secret and Talent Agencies Act claims, a case with real stakes for how talent companies are allowed to operate and compete. And he represented Lady Gaga in the $100 million trademark dispute over her album Mayhem, after a surf brand claimed the title stepped on its own mark.

Litigation

KHIKS

University of Chicago Law School

Studio getting cute with the backend? Better call Soltman. Along with partner Aaron Liskin, he represents Fear the Walking Dead co-creator Dave Erickson in a suit accusing AMC of structuring his profit participation so he could never see a dime, even as the zombie spinoff became a major hit and other participants were paid millions. Backend fights are not new territory for Soltman: KHIKS previously helped secure a $200 million settlement from AMC for Frank Darabont (for the same franchise), and the firm has also tied him publicly to Anthony McCarten’s Bohemian Rhapsody profits case. He is also part of the team representing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in public and confidential matters.

Corporate

Akin

Georgetown University Law Center

No financing, no movie — and Spicer is the guy who makes sure the money shows up. This year, he advised Comerica on production financing for a slate that included Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping; Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ sequel, The Resurrection of the Christ; Paul Feig’s The Housemaid; Guy Ritchie’s Wife & Dog; and Spa Weekend, the comedy starring Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris. He also reps director Matt Johnson and writer-producer Matthew Miller in connection with A24’s Anthony Bourdain biopic, Tony.

Talent

Glaser Weil

University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

Stone is helping client Daniel Craig pivot out of Bond and into a less suave, more sinister screen presence — he’ll be playing creepy Uncle Andrew in Greta Gerwig’s Netflix adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, alongside Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep. He represented Craig in a still-untitled Damien Chazelle prison drama as well. And Stone also sealed the deal for Amazon MGM to pay Joe Eszterhas up to $4 million for a Basic Instinct reboot. That’s a cool million more than he famously got paid for the original 1990 script. Who says times are tough?

Litigation

Sheppard Mullin

American University, Washington College of Law

Talk about an awkward Thanksgiving dinner. Streisand represented Rupert Murdoch in the bitter family trust war over who would eventually control Fox and News Corp. as Murdoch sought to secure Lachlan’s leadership while siblings James, Elisabeth and Prudence fought for their own share of the kingdom. 

Talent

Weintraub Tobin

USC Gould School of Law

Fantasy publishing had a nice little feeding frenzy this year. Sugarman represented SenLinYu in Legendary’s seven-figure rights buy for Alchemised, one of the splashiest adaptation deals in recent fantasy memory, and Brandon Sanderson in Apple TV’s creator-friendly deal for the Cosmere, his sprawling shared fantasy universe, with Mistborn eyed for films and The Stormlight Archive for television. Sugarman also negotiated Amazon MGM’s bidding-war pickup of Rebecca Yarros’ best-selling military romance The Last Letter, with Yarros attached as an executive producer.

Talent

Granderson Des Rochers

University of Miami School of Law

Surendran may have indie-film roots, but lately her clients have been sneaking into much bigger rooms. Odessa A’zion turned up in A24’s Marty Supreme, David Jonsson landed a lead in India Donaldson’s A24 road movie The Chaperones, Milo Callaghan toplined the Rainmaker series and Michaela Coel signed on to write and direct a reboot of the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Bloodsport (no word yet on whether the Muscles From Brussels will be making a cameo).

Litigation

Toberoff & Associates

Columbia Law School

When a piece of IP has been stuck in the graveyard too long, Toberoff is the guy who turns up with a shovel. He helped revive Beetlejuice by recapturing the rights to the original spec screenplay and, with Tim Burton’s longtime agent Mike Simpson, brought Burton back to the director’s chair. He worked similar magic for the Thomas brothers, recapturing their rights to the original Predator spec screenplay and helping pave the way for Predator: Badlands and Predator: Killer of Killers. He also reclaimed rights to the original Thomas Crown Affair spec screenplay for late client Alan Trustman, helping get the new Michael B. Jordan version off the ground. Toberoff is also lead counsel for Elon Musk in his fight with OpenAI and Sam Altman.

Talent

Felker Toczek

USC Gould School of Law

Seth Rogen spent a season satirizing Hollywood awards shows, then went out and won one. Toczek’s longtime client took the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV comedy for Apple’s The Studio, while the show itself won best comedy series. Rogen also returned with Rose Byrne for another season of Platonic. Toczek also reps Jonathan Tropper, creator of Apple’s Your Friends & Neighbors and writer of Star Wars: Starfighter, as well as Anya Taylor-Joy, Annette Bening and Timothy Olyphant, all of whom appear in Tropper’s upcoming Apple crime series Lucky.

Talent

Jackoway Austen

UC Berkeley Law

Trattner spent the year helping clients move between universes — Sigourney Weaver from Alien territory to Star Wars, Karen Gillan back into Jumanji and Scott Cooper from Springsteen to Roswell. He negotiated Weaver’s role in The Mandalorian & Grogu along with her West End turn in The Tempest and her part in Bryan Fuller’s thriller Dust Bunny. He also brokered Cooper’s deal for Roswell, a thriller built around the famous New Mexico UFO conspiracy, secured Gillan’s return as Ruby Roundhouse in the next Jumanji and co-reps Myha’la, who remains one of the key players on HBO’s Industry.

Talent

Hansen Jacobson

Dartmouth College; Harvard Law School

Longtime client Leonardo DiCaprio earned an Oscar nomination for Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another while Charlize Theron pulled double duty, starring in Amazon’s culinary drama Tyrant and Netflix’s survival thriller Apex. Warren also brokered Kirsten Dunst’s deals for Minecraft and the Housemaid sequel; guided Elle Fanning into Discretion and Margo’s Got Money Troubles, both opposite Nicole Kidman; and helped set up Elle’s onscreen reunion with sister Dakota in The Nightingale. Fresh off Heated Rivalry, new client Hudson Williams also got moving fast, landing a Peloton deal, an indie film, a role in Tyrant and a Canadian limited series.

Talent

Sloane Offer

USC Gould School of Law

If pastel suits and sockless loafers make a comeback, you’ll know who to blame. Weber is repping Austin Butler in the still-percolating Miami Vice reboot, where Butler has been in talks to play Sonny Crockett opposite Michael B. Jordan’s Rico Tubbs. He also reps Ben Stiller, who is back for Focker In-Law, the fourth Meet the Parents movie, and Barry Keoghan, who landed the role of Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ four-film Beatles event. Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy are set to return for A Quiet Place Part III, while Blunt also stars in Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day.

Talent

Weinstein Senior

California Western School of Law

When your clients are Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, MomTok and Dhar Mann, the job description starts to expand just a little. Weinstein handled the legal work behind seasons two and three of MrBeast’s Beast Games, Amazon’s mega-scale reality competition with 1,000 contestants and a $5 million prize. He also negotiated content-library licensing deals for Donaldson, as well as Donaldson’s publishing pact with James Patterson. And he oversaw cast pay deals for Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives while managing development and production matters across multiple series for Dhar Mann Studios.

Talent

Sloane Offer

NYU School of Law

Tom Ford is directing again, Adele is acting now and Nicholas Hoult is reshaving his head. Weiser put together Hoult’s deal to star in the fashion giant turned auteur’s first film in more than a decade, Cry to Heaven, in which Adele will make her acting debut. Hoult is also returning as Lex Luthor in Man of Tomorrow and starring in How to Rob a Bank. Weiser also negotiated Simu Liu’s deal to suit up for Avengers 5 and appear onstage in Oh, Mary!, represented Erin Doherty in Adolescence and recently took on Nell Fisher after her breakout turn on the final season of Stranger Things.

Talent

Yorn Levine

Tulane University Law School

Yorn’s practice now stretches from old-fashioned star deals to the stranger business of locking down a celebrity’s identity before AI starts cloning it. He brokered Jason Sudeikis’ return for a fourth season of Ted Lasso and Scarlett Johansson’s roles in Jurassic World Rebirth, The Batman Part II and the next Exorcist film. But he also helped Matthew McConaughey secure eight federal trademarks covering his voice, likeness and signature catchphrases

This story appeared in the April 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.