Venable LLP announced today the addition of four high-profile entertainment and media litigation partners to its growing national Commercial Litigation Practice in the Los Angeles office—Lee S. Brenner, David E. Fink, Michael J. O’Connor, and Sarah L. Cronin—who are coming from Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. In addition, five associates are joining the Commercial Litigation Practice—Sarah E. Diamond, Cary L. Finkelstein, Ken D. Kronstadt, Michael C. Godino, and Christina Nordsten. Besides the entertainment and media industry, several of the attorneys represent policyholders in claims to recover against insurance companies.

Mitch Evall, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Los Angeles office, welcomed the group by saying, “We are bringing over a stellar team of top-notch litigators who know the ins and outs of the entertainment and media industry, which perfectly complements our existing capabilities in this sector and makes us even stronger. In addition to the lawyers, we are also looking forward to having one paralegal and three staff members join the team.”

The chair of the firm’s Litigation Division, Geoff Garinther, said, “Besides their impressive legal and business acumen, Lee, David, Michael, Sarah, and the rest of the team are truly great lawyers who fit nicely into our firm’s culture. We look forward to tapping into their talent and integrating them into the mix.”

Mr. Brenner said, “We were looking to join a firm that would enable us to accomplish our goal of having a second-to-none entertainment and media litigation group with both a Los Angeles and a nationwide platform. Venable has a team of entertainment and media attorneys who are at the top of their game, as well as first-class litigators, and we want to surround ourselves with this caliber of talent.”

Lee Brenner is a trial attorney and business litigator. With numerous published decisions in his career, he is a proven litigator with deep experience in the media and entertainment industry, particularly in the areas of defamation, copyright law, idea theft, credit disputes, privacy, intellectual property, and right of publicity. He also has developed significant experience with defamation by anonymous posters on the Internet. He has an extensive background in handling high-stakes business disputes.

David Fink is an experienced and proven litigator at both the trial and appellate court levels. With more than two decades of experience in multifaceted state and federal litigation and dispute resolution, Mr. Fink has prosecuted and defended against complex claims involving hundreds of millions of dollars. His experience includes business, media and entertainment, and employment litigation, with particularly notable results in First Amendment, entertainment, and intellectual property law claims.

In his fourth decade of practice as a commercial litigator and trial lawyer, Michael O’Connor has successfully prosecuted and defended against hundreds of claims in a wide variety of commercial cases, including the full spectrum of insurance policyholder matters, as well as entertainment industry and First Amendment law claims. Michael has secured significant verdicts and settlements for clients ranging from well-known Fortune 500 companies to entrepreneurs and individuals.

Sarah Cronin’s practice includes entertainment, intellectual property, insurance recovery, and complex business litigation. She represents and advises media and entertainment companies on a variety of matters, including copyright, trademark, defamation, invasion of privacy, right of publicity, insurance recovery, breach of contract, employment, cyber-piracy, and Internet domain name retrieval through the World Intellectual Property Organization. She has served as counsel in connection with disputes before the Motion Picture Association of America Title Registration Bureau, and appeared before a variety of state and federal courts.

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