Nathaniel Bach’s vast entertainment litigation experience and deep industry knowledge will prove invaluable for clients navigating the rapidly evolving entertainment landscape
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a multidisciplinary, integrated professional services firm, announced today that Nathaniel L. Bach has joined the Firm’s Entertainment Litigation practice as a partner in its Los Angeles office. Bach is the latest addition to Manatt Entertainment’s expanding team, and his broad litigation and counseling practice adds to the Firm’s nationally recognized capabilities for clients in the entertainment, digital media, intellectual property and general litigation arenas.
“Manatt is a litigation powerhouse across the various industries that make up our core national platform, including entertainment, technology, financial services, health care, consumer products, real estate and energy,” said Donna L. Wilson, Manatt’s CEO and Managing Partner. “With our Manatt Entertainment group regularly handling highly complex matters that drive change within the industry, Nat’s litigation successes and roots in this sector make him an ideal fit for our team of talented trial and appellate lawyers who have long partnered with and understand the issues confronting leaders in entertainment.”
Bach’s experience includes representing prominent media and entertainment clients such as television studios and networks, record companies, music publishers, and journalists across a range of litigation and counseling matters. He also represents clients nationally in contractual, intellectual property, First Amendment, technology, fashion, brand protection, telecommunications, class action, and crypto and blockchain matters. Additionally, Bach has a background in global regulatory and governmental investigations, and has played key roles in various other transactions and disputes.
“Manatt Entertainment is regularly at the heart of the biggest deals and most sophisticated litigation matters in the music, film and TV, and digital media spaces,” said Jordan Bromley, leader of Manatt Entertainment. “Nat’s stellar industry experience and ability to work alongside corporate and transactional counterparts make him a great fit for our team, especially as we help both emerging and global entertainment creators, executives and institutions advance their respective business objectives.”
“Nat has an impressive record of successful and impactful litigation work, which has also helped establish him as a go-to advisor for pre-litigation and counseling matters,” said Robert A. Jacobs, leader of Manatt’s Entertainment Litigation practice. “Our Entertainment group regularly supports the increasingly complex litigation needs of our clients as they undergo fundamental changes in the industry, and we’re thrilled to add Nat’s experience to our team’s offerings.”
In addition, Bach has a robust pro bono practice. He successfully represented Dreamers to obtain a first-in-the-nation injunction blocking the Trump administration’s unlawful revocation of the DACA program. He also represented one of the first Dreamers unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration, obtaining (after arguing) an unprecedented preliminary injunction that barred ICE and USCIS from falsely calling his client a gang member.
“I have admired Manatt’s hybridized legal and consulting business model, which dovetails nicely with my own practice of core litigation, general counseling and strategic pre-litigation advice,” said Bach. “Joining the Firm is a natural fit to keep growing my practice, especially at a time when the explosion of content related to streaming and other innovative developments continue to impact how my clients operate.”
Manatt has been strategically expanding its roster of legal and business consulting professionals across its practices nationwide. Partner Chris Chatham is the most recent addition on the West Coast, joining Technology and Intellectual Property Litigation Partner Timothy Lohse in Silicon Valley, Digital and Technology Transactions Partner Michel C. Narganes in San Francisco, Los Angeles-based Entertainment Litigation Counsel Sarah E. Moses, and nationally recognized trial attorney Naeun Rim in Los Angeles. Other recent additions include full-time Pro Bono Attorney Alexandra S. McCown in New York; Antitrust and Litigation Partner Stephen D. Libowsky in Chicago; former CFPB regulator Bryan Schneider also in Chicago; accomplished New York real estate Partner Ted Hunter; and Venture Capital/Emerging Companies Partners Rustin M. Brown and Thomas W. Michael in D.C. and Los Angeles, respectively.
Bach received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his bachelor’s degree in diplomatic history and French from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Los Angeles Copyright Society, the American Bar Association Communications Law Forum, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property Section.