Seven Barnes & Thornburg Attorneys Featured in Variety’s 2020 Legal Impact Report

LOS ANGELES – Variety magazine has named seven Barnes & Thornburg attorneys in its Entertainment, Media, and Sports Practice Group to its 2020 Legal Impact Report, a prestigious annual list that highlights leading attorneys in the media and entertainment industries. Variety is one of the leading entertainment trade magazines which lauds the best entertainment attorneys around the world with its annual Legal Impact Report. 

The report includes practice group chair and partner Jason Karlov; partners Carolyn Hunt, Rebekah Prince, Bryan Thompson, Steve Weizenecker and Scott Witlin; and associate Amanda Taber.  The recognition highlights Barnes & Thornburg’s coast to coast entertainment law practice in two of the world’s leading production hubs of Los Angeles and Georgia.

Karlov is recognized for his work across the music, television, film, live events, advertising, licensing, and technology industries. Karlov has represented clients including Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Imagine Dragons, Grateful Dead Music Publishing, Twitch, and Rufus Wainwright. With Taber, he also represents Michael Bolton, FiveCurrents (for live events), NFL/NFL Network (for strategic live music partnerships, such as with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation), MGM (for music administration), and T Bone Burnett.

Hunt is noted for her finance and distribution work in the film and television industries. She has advised Natixis Coficiné, East West Bank, First Republic Bank, Hyde Park Entertainment, MUFG Union Bank, and Mohamed Al Rafi’s 50 Degrees Entertainment/White Knight.  

Prince is featured for her work negotiating endorsement deals for basketball players such as Candace Parker and Russell Westbrook, as well as fitness company F45 (and its agreement with Mark Wahlberg). Her work spans numerous other sports, entertainment, media and corporate transactions, including licensing agreements for such clients as Wolfgang Puck Worldwide.

Thompson is lauded for his work in TV, digital media and financing, having represented financier Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis’ Hercules Films and handled boxing promoter Top Rank’s TV distribution.

Weizenecker continues to be recognized as one of the lead lawyers on issues involving production incentives for film, television, and videogame production. His clients include digital TV multicaster Bounce Media (recently acquired by Scripps), top worldwide entertainment financiers including Cast & Crew Financial Services, Canada’s eOne, U.K’s  financier Ingenious Media, MGM, cable network TV One, and Viacom International.  Weizenecker is one of the few Georgia entertainment lawyers recognized this year in the Legal Impact Report.

Witlin earns his nod for his labor and employment law work in the entertainment space including unique experience in the videogame, new media and animation spaces for clients such as Animal Head Animation and Watch This Productions LLC. 

Attorneys in the Barnes & Thornburg’s Entertainment, Media and Sports Practice Group provide a full spectrum of representation.  They have a thorough understanding of the business, financing, distribution and licensing needs of the film, television, music, technology, gaming and sports industries. The group represents motion picture producers, financiers and distributors, serves as outside general counsel for musicians and entertainers, and negotiates significant marketing and promotional agreements.

Variety’s Legal Impact report is released annually to highlight legal professionals that have made significant deals and have litigated complex disputes for entertainment industry clients, studios, and networks. 

With more than 700 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from offices in Atlanta, California, Chicago, Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Minneapolis, New York, Ohio, Texas and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit us online at www.btlaw.com or on Twitter @BTLawNews.