Beverly Hills Bar Assoc. Names Entertainment Lawyer of the Year April 28, 2009

MAREN CHRISTENSEN TO BE NAMED ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER OF THE YEAR
BY BEVERLY HILLS BAR ASSOCIATION AT ANNUAL DINNER

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2009, 6 P.M., AT BEVERLY WILSHIRE HOTEL

B.J. Novak of NBC's “The Office” to Serve as Master of Ceremonies

Proceeds to Support Beverly Hills Bar Association's
Education and Community Outreach Programs

Maren Christensen, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Universal Studios, will be named the 2009 Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by the Entertainment Law Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA) at its annual Award Dinner on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, at 6 p.m., at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Friends and colleagues will roast and toast Christensen at the dinner, for which B.J. Novak, who appears as Ryan Howard and is a writer and co-executive producer of NBC's Emmy Award-winning show “The Office,” will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Proceeds support the bar association's education and community outreach programs.

BHBA Entertainment Law Section Co-Chairs Miles Feldman and Susan Rabin, who are co-chairing the event, describe it as a “fabulously fun and lively tribute to Maren.” They also note that Christensen is a recognized expert on intellectual property protection as well as legal issues raised by digital production and distribution of motion picture and television content.

The Entertainment Lawyer of the Year Award honors leaders of the entertainment law field for their contributions to the profession and has been presented annually since 1989 by the BHBA, which has the largest entertainment law section of any bar association in the world.

As Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Universal Studios, Christensen supervises worldwide legal operations of Universal Studio's theatrical motion picture, home entertainment, consumer products and theme park businesses. She is committed to protecting the content produced and distributed by her company, advising on anti-piracy legislation and enforcement policies worldwide, frequently meeting with foreign political, judicial and business leaders on issues of content protection and trade regulation. Christensen, recently named one of the 100 most powerful women in the entertainment industry by The Hollywood Reporter, was a member of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's first Los Angeles trade mission to Asia in 2006. She joined Universal Studios in 1997 as its Senior Intellectual Property Counsel and was named General Counsel in January 2005.

Prior to that Christensen was a partner at Rosenfeld Meyer and Susman, where she specialized in intellectual property litigation. She obtained her undergraduate degree from UCLA and her law degree from the University of Southern California Law Center. Christensen has served as president of the Los Angeles Copyright Society and has served on the board of the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar of California. She speaks frequently on intellectual property protection and various other copyright policy issues.

Christensen serves on the board of Bet Tzedek, a legal services organization that provides free assistance to the neediest members of our community in areas such as employment rights, consumer fraud, government benefits and nursing home advocacy. She also serves on the board of Century/LIFT, an organization that provides, among other things, after school tutoring for at risk children and wellness programs for seniors.

The Beverly Hills Bar Association, founded in 1931, is the sixth largest bar association in California with 4,000 members. Its mission is to serve its members, to lead the legal profession and to advocate for justice in the community. Its wide range of community outreach programs includes Wills for Heroes, Citizens Law School, an annual, free, one-day seminar to help laypeople understand their legal rights; Committee for the Arts, which provides legal and business programs for artists, musicians, and the arts community; “And Justice For All,” a series of programs covering a variety of topical legal issues; Tax Court Pro Se Assistance, in which BHBA members volunteer to assist tax payers - at no cost - who are representing themselves before the Tax Court; the Lawyer Referral and Information Service, which matches individuals with specific legal matters with qualified attorneys with appropriate specialties; and the Mandatory Fee Arbitration Program, which resolves fee disputes between clients and attorneys.

Previous Entertainment Lawyer of the Year recipients include Patti Felker, Barry Hirsch, Ken Ziffren, Tom Hansen, Stanton “Larry” Stein, Jay Cooper, Don Passman, Russell Frackman, Don Biederman, Louis Meisinger, John Schulman, Melanie Cook, Bruce Ramer, Peter Dekom, Frank Rothman, Bertram Fields, Martin Gang, Norman Tyre, Marvin Meyer, Allen Susman, Leon Kaplan and Edward Rubin. Past BHBA honorees for Outstanding Entertainment Law Scholarship are Jay Dougherty and Lionel Sobel.

Tickets for the BHBA Entertainment Lawyer of the Year Dinner are $195 per person. Sponsorship packages are also available. The Beverly Wilshire Hotel is located at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. For tickets and information, please call (310) 601-2422 or visit www.bhba.org.

Official Website: http://www.bhba.org