Irell & Manella LLP

Irell & Manella LLP has established one of the nation’s premier entertainment litigation practices.  With over 60 years' experience representing entertainment clients, our expertise is diverse and deep, spanning issues involving trademark, copyright, format rights, idea submission, defamation, invasion of privacy, right of publicity, profit participation, royalty payments, vertical integration claims, and the interpretation of recording, film, distribution, and talent contracts.  Our entertainment litigators have earned distinguished and unmatched reputations among the judiciary, the firm’s clients, and their peers in the legal community, for their innovative and creative approach to litigation.  In addition, as a full service firm, we regularly draw on the expertise of attorneys in other departments to assist our clients, including our well-recognized patent litigation department.

Irell & Manella’s broad base of entertainment clients, including some of the major players from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, is a testament to our expertise and reputation.  Representative clients have included studios and production companies such as Paramount Pictures, NBC/Universal, The Walt Disney Company, Pixar, Wingnut Films, and LucasFilm; television networks and producers such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Nickelodeon, MTV Networks, and Mark Burnett Productions; videogame publishers such as Activision, THQ, and Electronic Arts; and music-related entities such as Universal Music Group and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In the Minority Law Journal's Diversity Scorecard for 2010 for racially diverse firms, Irell ranked as one the top 30 most diverse firms in the country out of approximately 250 surveyed.

The Minority Law Journal's Diversity Scorecard for 2009 ranked Irell as the firm with the highest percentage of openly gay and lesbian lawyers in the country.

In 2009, Irell ranked 5th in the "Top 50 Law Firms for Partners' Listing" by MultiCultural Law Magazine.  Irell is ranked 4th by Minority Corporate Counsel in its 2008 list of "Law Firms with Highest Minority Equity Partner Levels." 

These rankings reflect our commitment to attracting and promoting the highest quality attorneys by creating an environment where attorneys of all races, ethnicities, nationalities, genders, religions, and sexual orientations can thrive based on merit and creativity.