Summer 2018

New Film, Music Clinics Place Students in Key Roles

UCLA Law launched two new entertainment law clinics in 2017-18, giving students first-hand opportunities to work on contracts, licensing deals and more. The Documentary Film Legal Clinic quickly connected with the International Documentary Association, Film Independent and UCLA’s film school on projects, many of which are in production. Dale Cohen, special counsel to PBS’ “Frontline,” directs the clinic. Veteran media lawyer Daniel Mayeda '82, is associate director. The Music Industry Clinic, created by Azoff MSG Entertainment President Susan Genco and led by veteran music industry attorneys Susan Hilderley and Jeffrey Light, supports emerging labels, artists and producers. Both clinics are getting a strong response from clients and students.

A Record-Setting Entertainment Symposium

The 42nd UCLA Entertainment Symposium, “Progress is Paramount – Why Hollywood Will Always Matter,” welcomed more than 550 entertainment industry attorneys, executives and business leaders to UCLA for two days of talks on hot-button issues in Hollywood. Paramount Pictures COO Andrew Gumpert (above left, with Ken Ziffren '65) headlined the event. Professor Doug Lichtman led a Q-&-A with FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, addressing  government regulation, net neutrality and more. The symposium broke previous records for fundraising and ticket sales and caught the attention of the trades.
Save the Date: The 43rd UCLA Entertainment Symposium will be March 15-16, 2019.
 

Speaker Series Goes IN-Side Biz of Sports, Media

The Ziffren IN-Series — offering talks and panels featuring business leaders in the worlds of sports and entertainment — launched in Fall 2017 with a Ziffren IN-Sports presentation featuring a keynote from Dan Beckerman (above), president and CEO of sports and venue management giant AEG. A lively panel discussion on collegiate sports followed, featuring WME|IMG EVP Karen Brodkin, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, and Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber. A Spring 2018 IN-Sports event brought LA2028 Chairman Casey Wasserman and Chief Legal Officer Brian Nelson to the law school to break down Los Angeles’ winning bid to host the 2028 Olympics. Coming in early November: The inaugural IN-DC presentation with Charles Rivkin, chair and CEO of the MPAA.
 

Lionsgate Leader Stern Returns to Teach TV Law

Accomplished alumna Sandra Stern ’79, president of Lionsgate Television Group, returned to UCLA Law in Spring 2018 to  teach Television Law. Long a leading TV executive, Stern oversees business and legal affairs, production, finance and distribution for the TV studio and is active in the UCLA Law Women LEAD network. She will teach the course again in Spring 2019.
 

An Insight Job: SPLE Connects Alumni, Students

Connecting students with practitioners is a marquee initiative of the Ziffren Center. Several alums and their colleagues from leading firms came to campus to offer Supplemental Practical Legal Education presentations: Cailey Hagenson ‘15 and Michael Moskowitz of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, “Entertaining Diligence: Due Diligence for Film/TV Transactions"; Robert Ellison ‘10 and Alison Ziffren ‘16 of Latham & Watkins, “Litigation v. Corporate: The Courtroom v. The Boardroom”; Pauline Jaturongpanich ‘12 and Louis V. Marshall ‘16 of Venable, “IP and Tech in Commercial Transactions"; and Sarah Wirtz ‘02 and Stephen Rossi of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, “Appropriate Workplace Correspondence."
 

Conversations with the Corner Office

C-suite executives sit down with small groups of students for one-of-a-kind conversations about their career paths and views of the industry as part of the Ziffren Center's Lunch with the Corner Office. This year’s guests included Stephen Espinoza ‘96 (above), president of Sports and Event Programming at Showtime Sports, and Nancy Tellem, former president of CBS Entertainment and now chief media officer and executive chairwoman of Eko.
 

One-Year Out/Five-Years Out: Young Alums Return

Bringing young alums back to talk about life in the real world, in 2017-18 the Ziffren Center launched the One Year Out and Five Years Out presentations. In the fall, alumni from the Class of 2016 shared their experiences and networked with students. Panelists included John Bloom, Marvel Television Studios; Shannon Goddard, Twentieth Century Fox Television; Connor Kampff, Reder & Feig; and Alison Ziffren, Latham & Watkins. In spring, members of the Class of 2012 were up. Panelists included Naomi Beckman-Straus, general counsel at Lulus.com; Daniel Matusov, corporate counsel at Amazon Studios; Kimberlina McKinney, founder and managing partner at KL&C Partners; Joseph Rodriguez, VP of business affairs at Paramount Pictures; and Jamie Zagoria, director of business & legal affairs at Paramount.
 

Ice Men of UCLA Law Skate into the NHL Finals

Front office alumni Don Fishman ’94 of the Washington Capitals and Andrew Lugerner ’13 of the Las Vegas Golden Knights helped their teams get to the NHL Stanley Cup finals in 2018, building off their Sports Law Clinic experiences.
 

We're Number One (Again!) Thanks to Top Alumni

In 2018 UCLA School of Law was ranked No.1 entertainment law school in America by The Hollywood Reporter for the fifth consecutive year, based largely on the professional records of 18 outstanding alumni.
 

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