Akerman LLP

Akerman Senterfitt has attorneys with significant experience in providing legal services to all segments of the entertainment industry. We have production and distribution clients operating in the fields of music, television, and film. Our attorneys who practice in this sector negotiate and prepare contracts governing distribution, licensing, management, performance, publishing, and recording. We represent recording artists, groups, producers, and production companies. We also represent book authors, playwrights, and screenwriters in the licensing of television and film rights, and we render advice and counsel with respect to the selection and registration of trademarks and copyrights. In the specialized area of production and distribution, the firm offers clients a rare advantage: a complete understanding of the complex legalities affecting business and financial transactions, coupled with an in-depth knowledge of the day-to-day workings of the entertainment business. With regard to the sports industry, Akerman Senterfitt is one of a few firms in the country to have represented purchasers or sellers of franchises in a multiplicity of professional sports leagues: the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (minor league baseball), NASCAR, the Roller Hockey International League, the Canadian Football League, and the Continental Basketball Association. We also have represented several applicants for expansion franchises offered by the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball. In addition to our work in advising clients who are buying, selling, or financing professional sports franchises, we have extensive experience in serving as legal counsel to team owners and facility management on a day-to-day basis. Akerman presently serves as general counsel to the Miami Dolphins and the Florida Panthers. We also serve as general counsel to numerous professional sports facilities, including Pro Player Stadium (home of the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins), the National Car Rental Center (home of the Florida Panthers), and the Miami Arena.

Akerman Senterfitt is the proud winner of the 2006 Thomas L. Sager Award for the South/Southwest Region, presented to the law firm that has demonstrated and sustained the highest commitment to improving the hiring, retention and promotion of minority and women attorneys. The firm has also been recognized as the Top Law Firm in the nation for Hispanic Americans by MultiCultural Law magazine, in both 2005 and 2006.

As a leader in the legal and business community, Akerman Senterfitt is proud of its commitment to ensuring equal opportunity generally and within the firm. Throughout its long history, the firm has successfully promoted diversity through vigorous recruitment and retention of minorities and women. The firm is committed to retaining and promoting its women and minority lawyers and staff.

To advance the firm's efforts in relation to diversity issues, Akerman Senterfitt appointed shareholder Joseph W. Hatchett to chair the firm's Committee on Diversity. Judge Hatchett's distinguished jurist career includes serving as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Florida. Judge Hatchett was the first African-American to serve on the Florida Supreme Court and the first African-American to serve as a Chief Judge of a federal appellate court in the Southern United States.

Akerman Senterfitt actively recruits women and minority lawyers to the firm. Many of its shareholders are women and minorities, demonstrating to associates that achieving shareholder status is a real possibility. Women and minority lawyers occupy top management positions in the firm, including service on the board of directors and the associate and paralegal evaluation committee.

The firm's workforce, including every staffing level throughout each of its offices, reflects the diverse cultures. In the delivery of legal services, the firm's lawyers bring all of their experiences, cultures, education, and rich backgrounds to the task. The firm values this diversity because it encourages the innovative thinking that results from a broad range of perspectives.

As Akerman Senterfitt continues to grow, it remains committed to providing a work environment that respects diversity, fosters employment opportunity, and is free from discrimination and harassment. Akerman Senterfitt continuously reviews its hiring, training, evaluation, and compensation practices to ensure that its commitment to diversity and equal opportunity allows its lawyers and staff an equal and ample opportunity to achieve excellence in service of its clients. The firm's mission in this respect is to develop professional opportunities and to foster an environment in which minorities and women may perform proudly and give the firm's clients the benefits of a law firm balanced fully in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender.

Akerman Senterfitt is firmly committed to a policy of equal employment opportunity. We consider candidates without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other status protected by law.