New York’s Most Powerful Entertainment Attorneys 2026

Agnifilo Intrater (Litigation)

After securing a partial acquittal for Combs — acquiring not responsible verdicts on probably the most critical expenses of racketeering and intercourse trafficking — Agnifilo and Geragos are defending Weinstein for allegedly raping an aspiring actress in a Manhattan lodge in 2013. It’s a case heading to courtroom for a 3rd time after expenses within the first trial had been reversed after which there was a mistrial. In the meantime, Friedman Agnifilo is representing Mangione in state and federal instances stemming from the 2024 capturing dying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. She’s already scored important early victories for the 27-year-old Ivy League graduate, getting the dying penalty taken off the desk within the federal case and the terrorism expenses dismissed in state courtroom.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

GERAGOS ”Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. Rising up, I watched my dad symbolize people who society had already condemned. Scout’s expertise felt much like mine, and dwelling it gave me the power and the fervour to do what I do each single day.”

Gibson Dunn (Litigation)

As endless as a zombie’s starvation, disputes over revenue participation tied to The Strolling Useless proceed on, with Ascher securing important victories for AMC Networks within the multihundred-million-dollar litigation, together with the courtroom rejecting breach of contract claims introduced by the present’s government producers. Away from the undead, Ascher not too long ago received an necessary federal enchantment for Bob Dylan, acquiring sanctions towards two attorneys who dealt with a lawsuit towards the singer-songwriter that they and their shopper in the end deserted.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? “Vinny Gambini from My Cousin Vinny. Like his fiancé, my spouse is way smarter and extra likable than me, and if I might get her on the stand as an skilled witness as he did, I’d have a greater likelihood in each case!”

Latham & Watkins (Company)

Mediawan — behind such hits as F1 and Gradual Horses — has Azran to thank for helping within the French studio’s acquisition of North Street. And when Preliminary Group acknowledged that YouTube creator content material had turn out to be huge enterprise, Azran stepped in to barter the acquisition of Silver Tribe Media by the TPG-backed firm, additional increasing their attain.

AFTER THE BIG MEDIAWAN WIN, I CELEBRATED … “with Champagne at Entre Nous, the wine bar in Brooklyn I’m a accomplice of, whereas taking calls exterior.”

Shapiro Arato Bach (Litigation)

With Vigorous and Justin Baldoni set to face off in a Manhattan courtroom, Bach and Shapiro (amongst others) have already made victorious inroads defending Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios towards Vigorous’s allegations concerning the manufacturing of the movie It Ends With Us. Upfront of trial, the courtroom dismissed Vigorous’s sexual harassment claims, ruling that the actress was an unbiased contractor, not an worker, which precluded her federal claims. That isn’t their solely main battle this yr: Shapiro, with Bach an integral a part of the protection, led in securing acquittals for Combs on intercourse trafficking and racketeering expenses, and she or he’s nonetheless making an attempt to throw out the remaining conviction, arguing on enchantment that Combs’ 50-month imprisonment was unconstitutional, amongst different violations.

AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED …

BACH “by going to my residence within the Canadian Rockies for rest, cooking, climbing and biking. I cross-examined Don Henley about his declare that his handwritten notes to the lyrics of “Resort California” had been stolen, [and won] for uncommon guide supplier Glenn Horowitz.”

Klaris (Expertise)

Podcast junkie? There’s likelihood you’re hooked on one in every of Bedat’s shoppers’ pods. She reps a number of the greatest names, from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Greater Floor Audio and Brad Pitt’s Plan B to Malcolm Gladwell’s Pushkin Industries, in addition to high-profile executives together with Parcast founder Max Cutler. Amongst her notable offers, she negotiated IMO With Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, Fela Kuti: Concern No Man and Greater Floor and Headgum’s The Outfit. Nevin dominated the Broadway season, serving as counsel on 9 productions — from breakout hits Function and John Proctor Is the Villain to the revival of Gypsy starring Audra McDonald — his slate collectively incomes 20 Tony nominations.

Fox Rothschild (Expertise)

The authorized physician for docs, Benge represented director Alexandria Stapleton, brokering the offers with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Netflix that paved the best way for viral restricted docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning. Not solely did he lock in extremely aggressive entry to key topics, Benge secured the rights to make use of that video — the footage of Combs ranting as he strategizes along with his attorneys whereas below federal investigation, which Combs is threatening to sue over. He additionally negotiated licensing offers for Oscar-winning director Ben Proudfoot’s documentary The Eyes of Ghana (government produced by the Obamas) and repped the Netflix quick The Baddest Speechwriter of All, about Clarence B. Jones writing for Martin Luther King Jr. and directed by Steph Curry and Proudfoot.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? “Miranda Hobbes, earlier than she abdicated to Brooklyn.”

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (Litigation)

The ultimate chapter of the It Ends With Us showdown is heading to a Manhattan courtroom the place Vigorous will face off towards Baldoni along with her declare that his Wayfarer manufacturing firm promoted a retaliatory smear marketing campaign towards her. Bruno, joined by fellow accomplice Esra Hudson, was deeply concerned in pretrial discovery, making ready for and taking key depositions and arguing for sanctions towards Wayfarer.

AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED … “the start of my son, who was born the identical day that the courtroom issued its dismissal of Wayfarer’s $400 million lawsuit towards Ms. Vigorous and Mr. [Ryan] Reynolds.”

Davis Wright Tremaine (Expertise & Litigation)

Versatility defines this lawyer trio. Casselman is the agency’s go-to Broadway professional, representing many nonprofit theaters which are cultural establishments — together with Atlantic Theater Firm, Manhattan Theatre Membership, Signature Theatre and Second Stage — in addition to producers and financiers that in complete garnered 33 nominations throughout the 2025 Tony season. An skilled in high-profile First Modification instances, McNamara is repping Penguin Random Home and authors Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner in President Trump’s defamation go well with arising from their guide Fortunate Loser; CBS’ 60 Minutes in Trump’s motion over the interview of Kamala Harris; and Bob Woodward and Simon & Schuster in a roughly $50 million copyright lawsuit filed by Trump over recorded interviews carried out throughout his first time period for Woodward’s guide, Rage. Strom served as lead counsel for Netflix in its protection of the acclaimed docuseries Inventing Anna, the story of faux German heiress Anna “Delvey” Sorokin, and led a staff that overturned, in lower than 24 hours, an injunction that may have blocked Lifetime from distributing The place Is Wendy Williams? Strom’s work drew international consideration to the marketing campaign to free Williams from her restrictive guardianship.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH? McNamara: “Diane Lockhart on The Good Spouse.”

Frankfurt Kurnit (Expertise)

The Story of Silyan, about rescuing an injured stork in Macedonia, moved audiences and received prizes throughout festivals; Murray negotiated distribution with Nat Geo and Dogwood to make sure the movie discovered the broader viewers it deserved. She additionally drove Netflix’s and director Angus Wall’s deal for the Eddie Murphy doc and dealt with the settlement with Netflix together with all expertise and above-the-line agreements — together with filmmaker Martina Radwan — for One Final Journey: The Making of Stranger Issues 5. Drama isn’t far-off with Actual Housewives, and Cleary stored the antics excessive by negotiating the deal for Sai de Silva to return to the New York cohort and seem on The Actual Housewives Final Women Journey.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

CLEARY “Adrian Boseman (performed by Delroy Lindo) on CBS/Paramount+’s The Good Battle. He was a masterful strategist.”

HOW HAS AI CHANGED THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS?

MURRAY ”In plenty of methods, AI has made the job tougher as a result of we have to shield chain-of-title and be certain that info are true. We’re having every day conversations with shoppers about greatest practices and copyright issues to assist them perceive the potential pitfalls and authorized dangers.”

Kirkland & Ellis (Company)

Freedman was a part of the staff advising Warner Bros. Discovery on methods that in the end led to its plans to separate into two separate, publicly traded corporations in a tax-free transaction. Its Streaming & Studios firm will include Warner Bros. Tv, Warner Bros. Movement Footage Group, DC Studios, HBO and Max, together with their legendary movie and tv libraries, whereas World Networks will cowl leisure, sports activities and international information tv (together with CNN), TNT Sports activities within the U.S., Discovery and Bleacher Report. Freedman additionally performed a key position in WBD securing a short lived, staggering $17.5 billion mortgage to shore up its stability sheet and purchase again prior debt earlier than splitting.

AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED … “with meal with my household after an enormous win for Virgin Music Group in closing its acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings. Step two is often to get exterior or to the climbing gymnasium. There’s one thing about being on the wall or on a motorbike that makes a win sink in.”

Grubman Shire (Expertise)

These powerhouses deal with quite a few mononymous celebs: Madonna, Sting and Nas are repped by Gottlieb (who additionally oversaw legalities with the Billy Joel documentary And So It Goes), and she or he works with Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson of their growth and manufacturing initiatives. Grant advises iconic New York names in iconic initiatives: De Niro in Focker-in-Legislation, Girl Gaga in The Satan Wears Prada 2 and NBC correspondent Martha Stewart within the Winter Olympics. Strent not solely brokered Lizzo’s deal to star as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in an Amazon MGM film, which she is hooked up to provide, but in addition Shamrock Capital’s partnership with Netflix to reboot Star Search and the deal for Evan Gershkovich, the journalist held in Russia on espionage expenses, whose upcoming memoir will probably be tailored right into a function for Amazon MGM/United Artists.

Covington & Burling (Litigation)

Profitable a copyright infringement case on the federal stage might not be as inconceivable as surviving the life and dying stakes of Squid Recreation, but it surely’s shut! Hill did the previous on behalf of Netflix and creator-director Hwang Dong-hyuk, securing dismissal of a lawsuit introduced by a Bollywood director who claimed the present infringed on his function by exhibiting the courtroom that the works weren’t considerably related. Hill additionally represents PBS earlier than the Copyright Royalty Board regarding the distribution of $900 million in copyright royalties.

DLA Piper (Company)

Marcus and Isselin’s work for the Joint Coverage Committee, representing advertisers and promoting businesses, was a key motive the 2025 negotiations delivered the primary main SAG-AFTRA contract with no strike, all whereas additionally offering important market-setting updates, together with groundbreaking AI provisions that permit the creation and use of digital replicas and artificial performers and the consent and compensation frameworks that allow innovation. The deal additionally included the extension of the influencer waiver, which provides union protection for creators who generate branded content material on social media.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

MARCUS “Olivia Pope, the preeminent fixer.”

ISSELIN “Harvey Specter — by no means met a deal he couldn’t shut.”

Loeb & Loeb (Expertise)

McGuire, who works alongside THR Authorized Legend Marc Chamlin, handles offers throughout docudramas, competitors sequence, relationship codecs, chat podcasts and community specials, together with the docuseries Homicide 101, which premiered at Sundance. She additionally advises Oprah Winfrey and her firm, Harpo, on The Oprah Podcast. Her accomplice Manella is considered one in every of Broadway’s preeminent authorized minds, offering counsel to such marquee productions as Good Night time, and Good Luck (starring George Clooney), the West Finish’s Clarkston (starring Heartstoppers‘ Joe Locke) and Julio Torres’ off-Broadway sensation Colour Theories, amongst many others.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

MCGUIRE “Elle Woods. She was good, decided and knew easy methods to get issues carried out whereas caring and advocating fiercely for these she represented.”

HOW HAS AI CHANGED THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS?

MANELLA “AI has made it considerably simpler to drag and incorporate precedent into my work, streamlining contract drafting by permitting fast entry to related templates and language.”

Levine Plotkin (Expertise)

Theater audiences have Rippy to thank for structuring Sean Hayes’ offers to reprise his Tony-winning efficiency in Good Night time, Oscar in London and his solo present The Unknown at Studio Seaview in New York. On Broadway, Rippy helps hold seats stuffed by advising Common Theatrical Group on its long-running hit Demise Turns into Her, and off-Broadway, repping the upcoming John Legend and Lynn Nottage musical Imitation of Life at The Shed. In the meantime, his accomplice Mindell is making her personal mark — representing lead producer Eva Value and Titanique, the hilarious musical lighting up Broadway this spring, and lead producer Invoice Diggins and the Broadway-bound CrazySexyCool: The TLC Musical, set to premiere this yr at Area Stage.

WHAT MOVIE OR TV LAWYER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

MINDELL “Jack McCoy (Legislation & Order) and Nicola Walker (The Cut up).”

Reavis Web page Soar (Expertise)

When Alex Honnold launched into his reside televised, free solo climb of an enormous skyscraper with no rope, no web and no room for error, greater than 6 million folks tuned in to look at as Skyscraper Dwell was livestreamed on Netflix. For Web page, who has represented Honnold for greater than a decade, getting his offers proper was crucial along with his life on the road. If that’s not sufficient adrenaline-fueled leisure, Web page and her staff additionally symbolize Phrases + Footage on quite a few high-octane productions together with NASCAR: The Daytona 500 (Amazon), Miracle: The Boys of ’80, concerning the U.S. hockey staff’s trouncing of the Soviets on the 1980 Olympics, and Hulk Hogan: Actual American (each on Netflix).

AFTER A RECENT BIG WIN, I CELEBRATED … “with evening’s sleep as soon as I knew Alex Honnold was protected following his epic reside, free solo climb.”

Yorn Levine (Expertise)

“When Matthew McConaughey presciently requested me how he may very well be protected towards AI misuse over two years in the past, we fastidiously crafted a enterprise and authorized technique collectively,” Pollack says. “The objective was to offer a mechanism the place of us would possibly legally license his voice and likeness for AI makes use of whereas on the similar time creating guard rails to guard unlawful makes use of of the identical.” Pollack, alongside accomplice Kevin Yorn, was integral in securing McConaughey’s first-of-its-kind federal trademark for his likeness. With different A-list shoppers, he not too long ago ironed out soundtrack offers for Scarlett Johansson for her efficiency with Jeff Goldblum of “The Greatest Is But to Come” and for Zoe Saldaña for singing on Emilia Pérez.

Granderson Des Rochers (Expertise)

Pete Davidson has been losing no time reinventing himself, and Sandler has been by his facet serving to to make it occur, negotiating the deal to host The Pete Davidson Present, one in every of Netflix’s first unique podcasts, and securing his starring position in Doug Liman’s function Killing Satoshi, concerning the creation of Bitcoin. After a aggressive bidding struggle, Sandler additionally closed the deal for Dean Fleischer Camp to direct the follow-up to his field workplace hit, the Lilo & Sew reboot. Sandler additionally represents Abbott Elementary star Janelle James, Tony winner Lena Corridor (co-starring on Apple’s Your Buddies and Neighbors) and Taylor Ortega, who acts alongside Dan Levy in his Large Errors crime comedy on Netflix.

HOW HAS AI CHANGED HOW YOU DO BUSINESS? “It’s made components of the day-to-day extra environment friendly, however the core of the job remains to be human judgment, relationships and defending shoppers’ pursuits. And people issues are as necessary as ever given the brand new points the know-how raises.”

Weinstein Senior (Expertise)

With 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million grand prize, the most important single prize ever awarded on tv, Senior has a lot to supervise in managing manufacturing legalities for Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson’s Beast Video games. Senior additionally constructions high-profile offers for shoppers, together with Lisa Vanderpump, notably dealing with preparations for Vanderpump Guidelines season 12 with Bravo in addition to Fox’s Extracted, starring Sylvester Stallone, and NBC’s On Model With Jimmy Fallon.

O’Melveny & Myers (Company)

From Paramount Skydance, SkyShowtime and Liberty Media to Samsung, Meta and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s LA28, Syrkin has been the counsel of alternative for companies navigating the intersecting worlds of media, know-how, sports activities and leisure. He helped SkyShowtime — the streaming three way partnership of Comcast and Paramount Skydance — deliver Yellowstone, Tulsa King, The Day of the Jackal, Depraved and Mission: Unattainable — The Last Reckoning to greater than 20 markets throughout Europe and suggested SkyShowtime on its distribution offers throughout all platforms, together with Apple, Google and Samsung. He additionally recommended Meta on the enterprise technique behind the rollout of its next-generation Horizon TV platform for VR leisure.

Wigdor LLP (Litigation)

All eyes had been on shopper Cassie Ventura as she bravely took the stand final summer season and testified within the federal sexual assault and intercourse trafficking lawsuit towards Combs. It was Wigdor’s submitting of her lawsuit that served as a catalyst for widespread public scrutiny and a grand jury investigation that resulted within the full-blown federal trial. Wigdor continued to help Ventura as she testified throughout the prison trial, delivering statements on her behalf to the media and standing in seen solidarity along with her and different victims. Wigdor additionally represents Julia Ormond in her lawsuit towards Weinstein and company defendants, in the end reaching a settlement with Miramax and Disney and defeating CAA’s movement to dismiss.