In its 2018 “Legal Impact Report,” Variety included two teams of Manatt partners—music group co-chairs Gary Gilbert and Jeff Biederman and deal team Lindsay Conner and Sophia Yen—among its list of key lawyers who are playing a critical role in the legal matters that are moving the entertainment business.
In its profile of Gilbert and Biederman, Variety highlights Gilbert’s impressive roster of music clients, including Jackson Browne, the Dixie Chicks, Death Cab for Cutie, producer Mike Elizondo, Fifth Harmony member Ally Brooke, the Rick James estate and various music publishers. The publication also notes that Biederman advised Kobalt Music Publishing’s $150 million purchase of Songs Music Publishing in December 2017 and represents Dierks Bentley, Miles Davis Properties, producer-writer Jesse Frasure, plus actors.
In its profile of Conner and Yen, Variety recognizes the duo’s work advising China’s Perfect World Pictures in a $250 million loan facility. Other clients include AT&T, Sony Pictures Entertainment, distributor Film-Rise, Huace Group, Huayi Bros. Media, Infore Capital Management, Tang Media, and Michael Eisner’s Tornante Co.