Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that Ronald K. Sittler has joined the Firm as a partner in the Corporate Litigation group. Mr. Sittler has nearly 20 years of experience prosecuting and defending various types of complex commercial disputes, predominantly in the entertainment and media sector. He has successfully served as lead trial counsel in a number of jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations. Mr. Sittler is based in the Firm’s Los Angeles office.

“Ronald brings impressive media and entertainment litigation experience to Blank Rome and we are pleased that he has joined us,” said Alan J. Hoffman, Co-Chairman and Managing Partner. “Our Los Angeles office has steadily grown over the past two years and we are thrilled with the caliber of talent that we continue to attract.”

Mr. Sittler joins Blank Rome from the Los Angeles office of Stroock, where he was a partner in the Litigation and Entertainment practices. Throughout his career, he has focused on representing financial institutions in workouts, pre-judgment remedies, receiverships, collection matters and insolvency. He also routinely defends banks and financial institutions with respect to claims of fraud, lender liability, breach of contract and related claims.

Mr. Sittler has experience in all aspects of litigation relating to film finance, including delivery disputes, profit participation disputes, intellectual property and copyright litigation, and multiple creditor disputes.  He has also advised lenders and investors on dealing with distressed assets in the film business, including private and public foreclosure sales, note sales, and related litigation. Mr. Sittler advises banks and other financiers in all aspects of motion picture finance, including development, prints and advertising financing, tax credits, slate financing, and single picture financing.

Mr. Sittler is admitted to practice in California; the U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California; the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; and in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California. He earned his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Whittier Law School, his M.P.A. from the University of Southern California, and his Bachelor of Science from the United States Air Force Academy. He is a member of the International Film and Television Alliance legal committee where he works with others to identify and resolve current issues affecting the financing and distribution of independent films. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for America SCORES LA, a non-profit agency that works to provide after school programs for middle school kids in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles.

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