Laura W. Brill

Brill, a founding partner of the litigation boutique, helped fight Los Angeles' ongoing outdoor advertising battles for client Outfront Media Inc. As lead counsel for the company she defeated competitor Summit Media's effort to force the demolition of Outfront's once digital, now static signs, and pay millions in attorneys fees. Brill prevailed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and successfully defended that win on appeal.

"The thing I really love is the combination of trial and appellate work," she said. "Having an appellate background is a great help in developing a record during a trial."

Brill's appellate background includes her clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with whom she's authored articles. In January she penned a review of a new Ginsburg biography, "Notorious RBG," for the Los Angeles Review of Books. "We see the Justice as part Thurgood Marshall, part Jackie O., and part your quiet but firm mother, grandmother, or sister, who will not be underestimated and who won't let you get away with anything, either," she wrote fondly.

When the former talent agent for Leonard Freeman, Hawaii Five-0's original creator, sued in a rights dispute with Freeman's heirs over revenues from new episodes of the blockbuster series, Brill represented the heirs. The agent, George Litto, claimed his interest in a limited liability company he'd created in connection with the show granted him the right to revenues in the show's new version, which he asserted were worth $100 million. The suit created a risk of cancellation.

Brill won a bench trial judgment that Litto did not have rights to the revenues, a decision that was affirmed on appeal. As the case proceeded to a jury trial court, Brill cross-examined Litto, who settled a few hours later for an undisclosed sum. The case involved one of the first efforts in California to dissociate an LLC member under California's Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act.

"The case settled before we got an official court ruling on that angle," Brill said, "but we put on notice a lot of LLCs in the entertainment and production industry that if one member is causing problems, there is a process for bringing the matter to court."

John Roemer