Barnes & Thornburg LLP announced today that Howard D. Fabrick has joined the firm’s Los Angeles office as a partner in the Labor and Employment Law Department and Entertainment and Music Practice Group. Fabrick was previously a partner in the Los Angeles office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

Fabrick focuses on the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, the interpretation of complex rules governing film and television production, arbitration, and the adjustment of disputes. In addition, he advises clients on general employment law issues, including wage and hour compliance, occupational health and safety issues and proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Working primarily within the entertainment industry, Fabrick represents producers of motion pictures, television programs, live productions, television commercials and video games, and has experience working with the talent guilds and craft unions that represent employees involved in all aspects of production. He has negotiated pre-production collective bargaining agreements for some of the most recognizable on-location films, including “Glory,” “Return of the Jedi,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Philadelphia,” “Rocky,” “Terminator,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” and “JFK.” Most recently, he negotiated the agreements for “The Fighter,” which received critical acclaim and several Academy Awards.

In television, Fabrick negotiated agreements with the IATSE, making it possible for the production of both “Sex and The City” and “The Sopranos” to be produced in New York and New Jersey. He also negotiated the craft union agreement for “Project Runway.” In the past, he also represented major producers in connection with their game shows, most notably “The Price is Right.”

“Howard is a nationally recognized labor and employment attorney, who brings more than 40 years of experience to Barnes & Thornburg,” said Kenneth J. Yerkes, chairman of Barnes & Thornburg’s Labor and Employment Law Department. “His arrival will help deepen the firm’s already strong capabilities in representing employers in union matters, including collective bargaining and counseling, particularly in the entertainment industry.”

Fabrick, who is the 16th attorney to join Barnes & Thornburg’s Los Angeles office since its opening in February, joins Barnes & Thornburg’s existing group of labor lawyers who recently were recognized by U.S. News & World Report’s-Best Law Firms (2011) as one of only 18 firms in the country that warranted a Tier 1 National Labor Law practice. Fabrick was also named Best Lawyer’s 2012 Lawyer of the Year for Employment Law-Management in Los Angeles.

“Barnes & Thornburg continues to be an attractive destination for high-caliber attorneys who are looking to align themselves with sophisticated national practices delivered through more efficient platforms for their clients,” said Barnes & Thornburg Managing Partner Alan A. Levin. “This is helping fuel the strategic growth in Los Angeles as well as across all of our offices as we focus on deepening our ‘core’ practice groups nationally, including Litigation, Intellectual Property, Corporate, Labor & Employment, as well as Entertainment and Music.”

“Howard represents the latest high-profile addition to the firm’s Los Angeles office and our ongoing commitment to attracting top legal talent in order to continue to build a full-service office,” said David C. Allen, managing partner of Barnes & Thornburg’s Los Angeles office. “He will be a tremendous asset to our clients and we’re pleased to welcome an attorney of Howard’s caliber to the firm.”

A frequent author on the topic of labor relations in the motion picture industry, he is a former vice president of labor relations and personnel for Columbia Pictures, vice president and director of business affairs and labor relations at the Burbank Studios and vice president and counsel at the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

“I look forward to rejoining my former colleagues, Scott Witlin, Jonathan Wight, Stephen Mick and Jason Karlov, to be part of a multi-disciplinary team that can address any aspect of the motion picture, television, music and new media businesses,” said Fabrick.

In response, Jason Karlov, chair of Barnes & Thornburg’s Entertainment and Music Practice Group, remarked that “Howard’s addition cements our entertainment practice at Barnes & Thornburg as full service in virtually all disciplines of entertainment law among the highest levels of representation. In less than one year since the firm opened its doors in Los Angeles, we have grown an elite entertainment and media practice that serves clients around the globe in the film, television, music, live events and technology industries. We are very excited and proud to have Howard aboard.”

For 20 years, Fabrick has served on the board of directors of the Junior Blind of America, 10 years of which he served as the board chairman. He has taught at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television and at the Southwestern University School of Law. Currently, he serves on the board of Entertainment Partners and as West Coast counsel to the Association of Independent Commercial Producers.

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