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Industry Leader Fred Bernstein, Partner and Beverly Frank, Senior Counsel Join Firm
May 1, 2006 - (Los Angeles, CA) - Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm with more than 650 lawyers in the United States and Europe, announced a significant expansion of its entertainment industry practice with the addition of Fred Bernstein, a top industry player with years of experience, to the firm's Corporate Department as a partner. Also joining the firm is Beverly Frank, an attorney with extensive expertise in labor and employment and litigation matters in the entertainment industry. She joins Proskauer's Labor and Employment and Litigation departments as senior counsel. Both will be resident in the firm's Los Angeles office.
According to Bert H. Deixler, who heads Proskauer's Los Angeles office, Mr. Bernstein and Ms. Frank bring a range of experience that complement the firm's diverse corporate, labor and employment, and entertainment law practices.
"The entertainment industry is undergoing a radical transformation," Mr. Deixler said. "The only efficient and effective way to address the range of matters arising from the marriage of finance, content and emerging technologies is through an interdisciplinary approach encompassing multiple practices. Fred's vision and experience will help us continue the process of building a national platform that meets the industry's evolving needs."
Mr. Bernstein has deep roots in the film, television, and digital entertainment industries. He has held senior executive posts at a number of major studios, including serving as the president of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Companies, and has been a film producer and e-commerce executive. His legal work focuses on the creation, financing, distribution and exploitation of content, and the leveraging of brand equity - so-called "branded entertainment" - throughout the entertainment, media and related fields for producers, distributors and some of America's most well-known companies including AOL, AT&T, American Express, Merv Griffin Entertainment, The Coca-Cola Company, DHL, and Wal-Mart.
Ms. Frank has represented employers in all aspects of employment law, including litigation and counseling. She also has represented companies and individuals in the entertainment and media industries in a range of matters including contractual disputes, copyright infringement and the defense of unfair trade practice class actions. Ms. Frank also represented the Select Committee of Inquiry of the Connecticut House of Representatives in its investigation of former Governor John Rowland.
"Beverly's background in all manner of litigation in the entertainment industry and beyond will be a significant addition to our robust abilities in this area," Mr. Deixler said. "We are very excited to integrate the practices of both Fred and Beverly into our international platform and to get started on bringing their knowledge and expertise to bear on behalf of our many entertainment industry clients."
Mr. Bernstein and Ms. Frank come to Proskauer from the Entertainment, Advertising and Media Practice Group of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where Mr. Bernstein was a partner and co-chair of the group. Prior to joining Manatt, where he started his legal career in 1976, Mr. Bernstein was the head of E-Studio Network.com, an e-commerce website and communications platform for film, television, and commercial production professionals, and produced films independently through his company, Vertical Pictures. He also served as President of Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Companies, overseeing the business and operations of Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony Pictures Releasing, and Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International.
Prior to Columbia TriStar, Mr. Bernstein was Senior Vice President of MCA Motion Picture Group, where he managed the operations of Universal Pictures and its affiliates. Before joining MCA, he was President of Worldwide Production for Columbia Pictures and Senior Vice President of Business Affairs. He began his career in the film industry after leaving Manatt as an associate, serving as Vice President of Business Affairs at Casablanca FilmWorks and later Time-Life Films. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law (J.D. 1976, Order of the Coif) and the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1973, cum laude).
Mr. Bernstein is a member of the Executive Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, a member of the board of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Los Angeles, and a founding board member of the Performing Arts Theater of the Handicapped. He is also the Chair of the Planning and Allocations Sub-committee on Services to the Vulnerable for The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Mr. Bernstein is an adjunct professor at the School of Cinema-Television of the University of Southern California, where he teaches a graduate seminar on the workings of the motion picture business in the 21st Century.
Prior to joining Manatt, Ms. Frank was an associate in the Litigation Department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and an associate in the Litigation, Employment and Labor practice of Vedder, Price, Kaufman and Kammholz. In addition, she worked as a law clerk to Judge Jillyn K. Schulze of the United States District Court, District of Maryland, and a legal intern at the United States Department of Education. She is a graduate of George Mason University School of Law and Georgetown University.
The Los Angeles office of Proskauer Rose delivers a full range of sophisticated legal services on matters arising in California, throughout the country and abroad. Drawing on the breadth of the firm's expertise, the office accesses the resources of the attorneys throughout the firm's eight offices to provide the highest quality of legal services to clients in the most efficient manner. Attorneys in the office are divided into three groups: Corporate, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, and Labor and Employment.
The firm's Entertainment Group serves as counsel for participants in the global entertainment industry. The firm provides a full range of services involving: film production and distribution; film finance; entertainment labor and employment relations; entertainment contracts; copyright counseling; entertainment litigation; corporate and secured transactions; intellectual property policy development, legislative counseling, and government liaison; trade secret counseling; trademark selection, registration, and licensing; and copyright office and tribunal practice.
About Proskauer Rose
Proskauer Rose, founded in 1875, is an international law firm providing a wide variety of legal services to clients worldwide from offices in Boca Raton, Boston, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Paris, São Paulo, and Washington, D.C. The firm has wide experience in all areas of practice important to businesses and individuals including corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, general commercial litigation, corporate governance matters, conducting internal corporate investigations, white collar criminal defense, private equity and fund formation, patent and intellectual property litigation and prosecution, labor and employment law, real estate transactions, bankruptcy and reorganizations, trusts and estates, and taxation. Its clients span industries including chemicals, entertainment, financial services, health care, information technology, insurance, internet, lodging and gaming, manufacturing, media and communications, pharmaceuticals, real estate investment, sports, and transportation. The firm can be found online at http://www.proskauer.com.
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