2020-03-26 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 64 MARCH 26, 2020

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LITIGATION

Daniel Petrocelli

O’Melveny & Myers

SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

Netflix can’t recruit employees anymore at Disney’s

Fox studios thanks to Petrocelli’s work in a lawsuit

filed after the streamer poached two execs.

Petrocelli will go to an appeals court to preserve

that injunction while handling an Irving Azoff outfit’s

antitrust case against terrestrial radio operators and

defending Kesha from Dr. Luke’s defamation claims.

If I could eat only one food forever, it’s “Dark

chocolate ice cream.”

LITIGATION

Marvin Putnam

Latham & Watkins

GEORGETOWN LAW

As Hollywood #MeToo disputes proliferate, studios

and networks increasingly are conducting internal

investigations. Putnam has become a go-to attorney

in such situations (ICM being one well-reported

example). He represents Miramax and former

Weinstein Co. board member Tim Sarnoff in a slew of

Harvey Weinstein-related lawsuits. Also high-profile

is his work on behalf of the Association of Talent

Agents in its packaging fees battle with the WGA.

LITIGATION

Jeremiah Reynolds

Eisner

USC GOULD SCHOOL OF LAW

A go-to litigator for A-list clients including Justin

Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne and in conflicts over

independent films, Reynolds currently represents a

U.K. company that claims the distributors of Tr a ff i c,

Gangs of New York and Ali downplayed the films’

revenue to circumvent millions in fees. He’s also

fighting STX for allegedly backing out of a deal to

co-finance an adaptation of Killers’ Game on behalf

of client Endurance Media.

Please reboot The Rockford Files

TA LE N T

Ken Richman

Hansen Jacobson

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL

Several of Richman’s showrunner clients landed

lucrative overall deals across town. The Good Place’s

Mike Schur and 30 Rock’s Robert Carlock inked

major deals at Universal, while Barry’s Alec Berg and

Veep’s David Mandel signed pacts with HBO. He also

reps Elisabeth Moss, who stars in The Invisible Man

on top of her Emmy-winning role in The Handmaid’s

Ta l e, as well as Full Frontal host Samantha Bee.

My biggest challenge now is “Helping my clients

and firm navigate the impact of the coronavirus.”

CORPORATE

Marissa Roman Griffith

Akin Gump

STANFORD LAW SCHOOL

As MRC’s lead dealmaker, Roman Griffith spear-

headed the co-production and co-financing pacts

for such films as Knives Out, Dora and the Lost City

of Gold and The Lovebirds. On the TV front, she put

together the financing agreements for shows like

The Great, The Outsider and Ozark. (MRC and THR

share a parent company, Valence Media.) And she

repped Portfolio Funding Company in its acquisition

of 191 titles from The Weinstein Co. library.

If I could eat only one food forever, it’s “Lobster.”

TA LE N T

Nancy Rose

Schreck Rose

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

The New York-based attorney negotiated the biggest

When Jodi Peikoff joined hundreds

of other women working in law who

shared their abortion stories with the

U.S. Supreme Court in December, it

wasn’t the first time she fought for the

cause. But the amicus brief she signed,

which argues against the constitu-

tionality of Louisiana’s 2014 Unsafe

Abortion Protection Act, was far more

vast in scope than when she chal-

lenged a similarly restrictive Texas law

in 2016. Coordinated by the firm Paul

Weiss, the brief signed by 368 female

legal professionals excerpts (and

anonymizes) stories from women who

wouldn’t have been able to realize their

goals were it not for their “ability to

control their reproductive lives.”

In an interview with The Hollywood

Reporter, Peikoff, a New York-based

talent lawyer who represents Cynthia

Erivo, Felicity Jones, Lili Reinhart,

Carrie Coon, Tilda Swinton, Ezra

Miller and America Ferrera, among

others, went further, sharing her own

story without the cloak of anonym-

ity. Says Peikoff, “It’s really important

to speak openly about these issues

because it destigmatizes the decision

that so many women have to make.”

Why did you add your name?

I had the opportunity to control my

reproductive destiny, and without it,

I wouldn’t be the owner of a law firm.

So I felt I had to pay forward my privi-

lege to make sure the next generation

has the same right that I had.

Hollywood is a pretty liberal industry,

but did you pause before publicly shar-

ing your beliefs?

I didn’t give it a second thought.

As soon as it was published, I got

a call from a number of women

lawyers in the industry. One called

to thank me: Her father had been

a gynecologist who performed

abortions and her family had been

terrorized by the anti-abortion

right, and she was so happy that Paul

Weiss and the amicus brief people

had spoken up, and that she knew

someone who had. So, no. And the

response — to my face, anyway —

was uniformly good.

Have you talked to your clients about

signing the briefs?

I have mentioned it to a handful of

clients, in the context of saying that

Why I Revealed My

Abortion in Court

TALENT LAWYER JODI PEIKOFF SHARES HER PERSONAL STORY, WHY SHE

FIGHTS TO SAVE ROE V. WADE AND HOW HOLLYWOOD CAN HELP By Katie Kilkenny

Petrocelli

Putnam

Reynolds

Richman

Roman

Griffith

Rose

Rosenbloum

Rush

10fea_lawyers1-17_L [P]{Print}_53606986.indd 64 3/25/20 10:40 AM