Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP

Complex Litigation

Los Angeles

Long known for its focus on entertainment and appellate matters, Kendall Brill & Kelly has muscled up its white collar practice with the addition of a cadre of top-tier litigators.

Thanks to the recent addition of partners Janet I. Levine, Jeffrey H. Rutherford, and Robert E. Dugdale — a former chief of the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s office’s criminal division — the firm’s white collar work isn’t just the occasional government investigation or client matter they’ve taken up over the years. It’s now a fully-realized practice, flourishing so much that managing partner Richard B. Kendall says the firm is opening a new downtown Los Angeles office to support it.

“They’ve significantly enhanced our trial, white collar defense, and government investigations practices,” Kendall said.

Levine said collaborating with members of her new firm has allowed her to capitalize off their shared talent pool, further bolstering her own white collar and trial practice. The white collar expansion brings the traditionally tight-rostered firm up to 18 attorneys.

Meanwhile, partner Philip M. Kelly said the firm’s entertainment and media practice has continued racking up victories on behalf of clients in contract, tort, copyright, profit participation, film finance and distribution disputes, among others.

Clients over the past few years have included Paramount Pictures and Viacom International Inc. One of the firm’s recent high-profile victories brought a contentious profits dispute over the television show “Law and Order” to an end after 12 years of hard-fought litigation. While the ex-wife of series creator Dick Wolf claimed she was deceived and denied her fair share of royalties from the show, Kendall Brill & Kelly convinced a superior court judge to grant summary judgment. Wolf v. Loring Ward Int’l, BC445310 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 11, 2005).

“We are fortunate to have both long-established and brand new industry-leader clients and to continue expanding our practice based on our deep knowledge of and experience with the industry’s business challenges and our ability to efficiently and effectively resolving its legal disputes,” said Kelly, who regularly counsels TV, film and sports agencies in arbitration disputes.

The firm says it’s committed to promoting civic engagement, illustrated by partner Laura W. Brill’s gathering of signatures from more than 7,000 attorneys and law professors concerned with maintaining the independence of the judiciary. The effort came after members of the Trump administration singled out judges for rulings they’d disagreed with, setting a potentially dangerous precedent.

Brill said the firm’s efforts continue with the filing of an amicus brief supporting the League of Women Voters in a Pennsylvania case brought over alleged gerrymandering.

“We remain deeply committed to pro bono representation and public interest work,” Brill said. “Our efforts have led to lasting changes in civil rights, the environment, the protection of democracy, criminal justice reform and more.”

— Steven Crighton