Christopher T. Casamassima

The end of 2014 was an eventful time for Casamassima. He was made partner at WilmerHale and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. named him part of the studio's defense team in massive data breach class litigation.

The unprecedented Sony matter, nine employee class actions have been filed as of mid-January relating to a cyber attack the FBI pinned on North Korea, will combine Casamassima's experience in complex commercial litigation with a growing entertainment law portfolio.

The trial attorney started at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, but jumped to the recently set up Los Angeles office of Boston-headquartered WilmerHale in 2012 after the firms clashed in litigation over an alleged ponzi scheme.

"Wilmer is an incredible firm with a particularly strong practice on the east coast," Casamassima said of the move. "I thought they were really trying to make an effort to increase their commercial litigation."

Casamassima has cut his teeth at the new firm representing a Connecticut funds manager accused of his own Ponzi scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a trial that resulted in a mixed verdict. He brokered resolution of a dispute among Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians tribal leaders regarding tens of millions of dollars.

Along the way, Casamassima started to branch out into entertainment law, winning victories for exhibitor Regal Entertainment in antitrust litigation and film production company Snowpiercer Limited in a dispute over international distribution payments.

Asked about his transition to motion picture work, the attorney said said "being a business litigator in Los Angeles implies the potential for entertainment and media-related work."

Casamassima said he could not comment yet the Sony suit, sure to be one of the closely watched cases of 2015. Besides the data breach litigation, his 2015 is also expected to be absorbed by defending pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb in a massive health insurance fraud case.

-Matthew Blake