Beverly Hills Bar Association Names Entertainment Lawyer of the Year April 20, 2010

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

TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010, 6 P.M., AT BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL

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

Eric Weissmann, founding partner of Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Grodin & Evall LLP, will be named the 2010 Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by the Entertainment Law Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA) at its highly regarded Award Dinner on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, at 6 p.m., at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Honorary Dinner Chairs are Keith Carradine, Paul Mazursky and Gene Wilder. Proceeds from the event support the bar association’s education and community outreach programs.

BHBA Entertainment Law Section Co-Chairs Susan Rabin and Neville Johnson, who are co-chairing the event, note that, throughout his illustrious career, Weissmann has represented individuals and companies involved in virtually every aspect of the entertainment industry, including actors, directors, producers, writers and financiers. He has also represented state governments and foreign countries in connection with entertainment-related matters. Perhaps most significantly, they state, “Eric has consistently been highly regarded throughout the community, admired for his integrity and his devotion to his clients and partners, as well as for being a genuinely ‘good guy.’"

Weissmann began his law career working in the legal department of MCA Artists Ltd., then moved to the firm of Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz & Selvin, where he was head of the Entertainment Department. He also previous served as the head of worldwide Business Affairs for Warner Bros.

He has lectured at numerous law schools, including Harvard, Yale, Boalt, UCLA and USC, and has been an adjunct professor of law at USC and a professor in the Peter Stark program at the USC Film School. He is a member of the Board of Arbitrators of the International Film & Television Alliance and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Weissmann travels extensively, participating at entertainment symposiums in foreign countries, including Russia and Australia, at the Cannes Film Festival, and has lectured for the U.S. State Department in Brazil, Bolivia and El Salvador. A former president of the Los Angeles Copyright Society, he was the first recipient of the Indy (Friends of Independents) Award given by the Independent Feature Project West. Weissmann received both his undergraduate and law degrees from UCLA.
The Beverly Hills Bar Association, founded in 1931, is the sixth largest bar association in California with more than 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.

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.

Previous Entertainment Lawyer of the Year recipients include Maren Christensen, 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 Hills Hotel is located at 9641 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA. For tickets and information, please call (310) 601-2422 or visit www.bhba.org.

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