Michelle A. Cooke

Michelle A. Cooke moved to ArentFox Schiff LLP last year to be co-leader of the firm's media and entertainment industry practice. There, she's boosting the group's trademark and copyright strengths as clients expand their established and emerging brands in developing mediums such as the metaverse and Web 3.0.

She advises movie studios, television producers and broadcasters, music services and a range of multimedia developers and publishers. Clients include Public Media Group of Southern California; Clique Brands' vegan skin care line Offspring Beauty Co.; LivOn Laboratories Inc.; a film franchise for a major studio; and the NFT launch for a fashion conglomerate.

"The move has been great," said Cooke, who was formerly a co-chair of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP's intellectual property protection and enforcement practice and the firm's chief diversity and inclusion officer. "The IP practice here is significantly bigger, with a lot more depth in transactions and litigation."

Another plus, she added, is that ArentFox's chair and a comanaging partner both work in the IP sector. "They do what I do, and my hardcore IP practice blended right into this firm's well-oiled machine."

Cooke said her specialty is currently hot. "IP and technology are dominating the media right now -- especially AI and digital content. I was looking for a firm that is leaning into the future of media and entertainment."

She proudly pointed out that ArentFox was named top legal firm for metaverse businesses at an awards event in April. The term refers to immersive augmented-reality functions online, some involving interactions between people and automated entities in gaming or fantasy realms.

"I head the tech-heavy piece of our entertainment practice. ArentFox is right on top of that," Cooke said.

For LivOn Laboratories, a leader in nutritional supplements, Cooke leads the team handling all of the client's legal needs including IP, litigation, strategic and transactional. "They have a very sophisticated IP practice," she said, that includes patented and proprietary technology regarding liposome encapsulation in dietary supplements. "We have expanded out litigation work for them in IP areas."

The Public Media Group of Southern California was born of a 2018 merger engineered by Cooke between KCETLink, the largest independent public television station in the U.S., and PBS SoCal. The deal expanded the outlets' reach; it now covers an audience of more than 18 million people over three television channels and multiple online content platforms. "It used to be that broadcast was the primary focus. Now it's extended dramatically," Cooke said.

-John Roemer