March 24 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is pleased to announce the addition of a five-lawyer media and entertainment litigation team. Orin Snyder has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner from Manatt Phelps & Phillips. Formerly the head of the Manatt’s Litigation Unit in New York and the East Coast, Snyder will continue his intellectual property and commercial litigation practice with an emphasis on media and entertainment industries, as well as his white-collar practice.
Also joining the firm are Cynthia Arato, Ashlie Beringer, Marc Isserles and Elise Zealand. Arato joins Gibson Dunn’s New York office as of counsel and focuses her practice on intellectual property, commercial and civil litigation, also with an emphasis on media and entertainment. Beringer joins the firm’s Denver office as of counsel and will continue her entertainment and media law, intellectual property and general commercial litigation practice. Isserles and Zealand join the firm in New York as associates.
“We are delighted to have Orin join the firm,” said Ken Doran, Managing Partner of Gibson Dunn. “He has a thriving, high-profile practice that will be very complementary with our practice in New York, as well as our entertainment and media practice on the West Coast. We are also pleased to welcome Cynthia, Ashlie, Marc and Elise, who have played an integral role in that practice.”
“I’ve known Orin for many years; he is engaging, energetic and articulate,” said New York litigation partner Randy Mastro. “His practice covers a broad array of complex commercial litigation, including media and entertainment, IP and white collar matters. He is a terrific addition to the firm and to our already deep New York litigation bench. We are also pleased to welcome Cynthia, Ashlie, Marc and Elise, who have worked with Orin very closely and will give us additional litigation capacity in New York.”
“The group will be a great fit for us,” said Theodore Boutrous, Co-Chair of the Media Practice Group. “Their client base complements the firm’s, and their addition enhances our profile in New York and strengthens even more our ability to handle major media and entertainment litigation from coast to coast.”
About Orin Snyder
Snyder represents major corporations and prominent individuals in media and entertainment, intellectual property and other commercial litigation. He also represents clients in white-collar criminal matters and internal corporate investigations. Representative clients include Time Warner, Home Box Office, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records, Time Inc., American Media, Inc., Cablevision, William Morris Agency, Bob Dylan, Marc Anthony, Julie Andrews and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, Snyder was a litigation partner in the New York office of Manatt, where he led that firm’s New York and East Coast Litigation Unit. Before that, he practiced with Parcher, Hayes & Snyder from 1994 to 2003 (which merged with Manatt in December 2003). Snyder also served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 1989 to 1994, serving in the Securities Fraud and Organized Crime Units, and as Chief of the Narcotics Unit.
Snyder was named one of the top young lawyers in the country by The American Lawyer in its 2003 article, “45 Under 45: The Rising Stars of the Private Bar.” He has taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor and lecturer at various law schools and also teaches courses on copyright law, entertainment law, criminal law and litigation for continuing legal education programs and clients. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School cum laude in 1986.
Snyder said, “Gibson Dunn is a powerhouse firm that uniquely can service my clients on a full-service basis around the world. New York and Los Angeles are the media and entertainment capitals of the world, and I’m delighted to be joining the leading law firm in these areas. I also look forward to expanding my white-collar practice, working with the outstanding lawyers in Gibson Dunn’s Business Crimes and Investigations Practice Group.”
About Cynthia Arato, Ashlie Beringer, Marc Isserles and Elise Zealand
Arato has represented major companies and individuals in litigation involving copyright, trademark, defamation, right of publicity, employment, contract, fraud, fiduciary duty and royalty issues. In 2004, she successfully represented the Select Committee of Inquiry of the Connecticut House of Representatives before the Connecticut Supreme Court in a landmark case which held that a sitting Governor could be compelled to testify before a legislative impeachment committee. Her clients include Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Elektra Entertainment, America Media Inc., Home Box Office, Warner Bros. Records, Scholastic and Frank McCourt. She has taught legal ethics at Columbia University School of Law and copyright law seminars for continuing legal education programs and clients. She received her law degree in 1991 from Columbia University, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Managing Editor of Columbia Journal of Transnational Law.
Beringer practices in the areas of entertainment and media, general commercial litigation and intellectual property law. She has represented several entertainment and media clients in disputes concerning contracts, copyright, trademark, defamation and privacy issues. She has significant experience in the prosecution and defense of commercial contracts, securities fraud and business tort actions. She is a 1996 graduate of Yale University School of Law, where she was Editor of Yale Law Journal and the recipient of the John Gallagher Prize for Best Trial Performance in Yale’s Mock Trial Competition.
Isserles focuses his practice on civil litigation, with an emphasis on appellate and constitutional litigation. He served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer and for Judge Laurence H. Silberman, of the U.S Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. He received his law degree in 1998, magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was Notes Editor of Harvard Law Review and recipient of the Joshua Montgomery Sears Prize.
Zealand’s practice focuses on all aspects of entertainment litigation, and she has represented clients in the entertainment industry in various contract matters and other disputes, including copyright and licensing issues. Zealand served as a law clerk to the U.S. District Court Judge William C. Conner, Senior District Judge, Southern District of New York. She received her law degree in 1998 from Columbia University where she was a James Kent Scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, as well as the Writing and Research Editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems.
About Gibson Dunn’s New York Litigation Practice
New York is host to a team of highly regarded and experienced litigators who handle complex litigation matters in securities, antitrust, commercial disputes, unfair trade practices, government contracting, First Amendment, media litigation and compliance-related investigations.
Recent selected matters include representing:
Madison Square Garden in a lawsuit against New York City concerning a proposed football stadium project in Manhattan.
Bear Stearns in consolidated securities class actions involving the allocation of shares in “hot” IPOs, as well as shareholder derivative litigation alleging research analyst conflicts of interest.
Two Deloitte & Touche entities in various securities class actions and related Securities Exchange Commission and Department of Justice investigations regarding alleged improprieties at Royal Ahold, the world’s third-largest supermarket group.
Merrill Lynch in litigation arising out of the collapse of Enron Corporation, including its defense in a consolidated federal securities class action and in bankruptcy proceedings.
Peerless Importers, New York State’s largest wholesale liquor and wine distributor, in a major constitutional litigation over state restrictions on wine imports.
About Gibson Dunn’s Media and Entertainment Practice Groups
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is unique among law firms in the depth and breadth of its media and communications practice. The Media Law Practice Group has extensive experience handling First Amendment issues in virtually all areas of free speech and press. The Group represents major newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, book publishers and other media entities engaged in domestic and international publication and broadcast. Gibson Dunn attorneys have served for many years as principal outside counsel on First Amendment issues to Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Gibson Dunn provides full range of services for entertainment industry disputes and transactions. The Entertainment Practice Group represents institutional clients in virtually all aspects of business, including mergers and acquisitions, financing, acquisition, licensing, development and the distribution of film, television and home video. The firm’s entertainment lawyers also litigate in state and federal courts and arbitrate before guilds and other institutional forums. The Group’s clients include Sony (Sony Corporation of America, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Tri-Star Home Entertainment, Fox Entertainment Group), Universal Pictures and NBC.
Selected recent matters include representing:
Major media organizations (including NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, Fox, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Gannett, the Associated Press, and The Washington Post) in seeking public access to secret judicial proceedings and records in the pending California criminal case against Michael Jackson.
Intertainment AG, a German film and TV show distributor in a fraud and breach of contract suit against Franchise pictures and Elie Samaha, Franchise’s chief executive, resulting in an award of $106 million in compensatory and punitive damages for Intertainment.
25 news organizations and reporters and editors groups as amicus curiae in support of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time Inc. and its reporter Matthew Cooper in the special counsel investigation of whether White House officials illegally leaked the name of CIA official Valerie Plame to the press.
Volkswagen in the creation of a global promotional and marketing alliance with NBC Universal valued at over $200 million.
