Contact: Mark Fefer, Marketing Communications, 206.757.8583 or markfefer@dwt.com
NOVEMBER 3, 2014 – Davis Wright Tremaine LLP has been named national Law Firm of the Year in two practice areas—Communications Law and Entertainment Law - Motion Pictures & Television—by the respected survey organization Best Lawyers in partnership with the magazine "U.S. News."
Only one firm in the country is honored as "Law Firm of the Year" for each practice area. According to Best Lawyers, firms are chosen for the honor based on factors that include strong performance on surveys of the firm’s clients, as well as the high regard that lawyers in the same practice area have for the firm.
This is the second time in three years that DWT’s communications practice has received this recognition.
With more than 120 attorneys in seven cities working every day in virtually every area of communications law, our interdisciplinary team offers experience that is as far-reaching as the communications world itself. We approach legal and strategic business questions from 360 degrees to help clients reach their business objectives in dynamic and heavily regulated industries. The team helps clients creatively navigate regulatory compliance, enforcement, and rulemakings that are key to their operations and opportunities, while litigating and lobbying to help shape the laws that affect our clients’ businesses now and in the future.
DWT is widely known for its leadership position in entertainment law. The firm provides marquee clients in the film and television industries a unified, end-to-end legal solution, including full support on financing, production, IP protection, and licensing, from a project’s start to finish, as well as effective defense of theft of idea, misappropriation, defamation, and privacy suits. The group’s many recent high-profile representations have included our successful defense of MTV Networks against idea-submission claims arising from the hit reality series "Jersey Shore," A&E Television Networks in claims arising from the show "Storage Wars," VH1 in a case arising from "Mob Wives," and IFC in a case arising from the film "Savage Grace."
We also handle a wide variety of transactions in the entertainment field for clients such as Columbia Pictures, The Jim Henson Company, and Amazon Studios. This work includes rights acquisitions and development agreements; film and television financing agreements; license agreements (including multi-title output and slate deals); and licensing of fictional characters and trademarks in connection with a wide variety of goods and services.
Our team counsels filmmakers and distributors alike in connection with fair use and underlying rights issues, on both traditional and emerging digital platforms. This work has included advising Netflix in its recent online release of the celebrated documentaries "Virunga" and "The Square" and production company Indian Paintbrush in connection with the film "The Grand Budapest Hotel."
In addition, DWT has a long history of serving as TV production counsel, providing pre-broadcast review and other services for numerous scripted and unscripted shows. This work currently includes series such as AMC’s Emmy Award-winning drama "Mad Men," Showtime’s "Ray Donovan" and "House of Lies," Comedy Central’s "South Park" and "Tosh.0," TNT’s "Cold Justice," and HBO’s "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver."
In the 2015 rankings, DWT was recognized by "U.S. News" and Best Lawyers as a national leader in other, related areas. The firm was placed in Tier 1 nationally for practices that include:
- Copyright Law
- Entertainment Law – Music
- Litigation - First Amendment
- Litigation - Intellectual Property
- Media Law, and
- Trademark Law.
This is the fifth year that Best Lawyers has partnered with "U.S. News" to produce the rankings, which are based on extensive surveys of the nation’s leading attorneys.
About Davis Wright Tremaine
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is a national law firm with approximately 500 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. For more information, visit www.dwt.com.