May 7, 2015

BLOOMBERG BNA

By Casey Sullivan

LOS ANGELES – Irell & Manella has hired the former chair of O’Melveny & Myers’ entertainment and media litigation practice in Los Angeles, the firm announced on Thursday.

Robert Schwartz, who has represented Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and Studio Canal in copyright infringement disputes, will join Irell along with his colleague Victor Jih, Irell said in a statement.

Schwartz said he is grateful to begin the next chapter in his career, adding that O’Melveny “is and always will be a fantastic firm.”

“But we only get one chance at life and after being in one place since I started practicing, I wanted a new challenge,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz is a veteran in entertainment litigation. He spent more than 29 years at O’Melveny and represented some of the entertainment industry’s most influential companies in a wide array of matters.

For instance, Schwartz represented MGM in a 2014 lawsuit against Universal over its film, “Section 6,” which MGM claimed was a ripoff of James Bond and amounted to copyright infringement. The case settled in January.

“Bobby and Victor will reinforce our long-established and nationally recognized media and entertainment practice group, in addition to enhancing our complex business litigation and class action defense practices,” said Andrei Iancu, Irell’s managing partner, in an email.

The hires appear to be the latest of a rebuilding for Irell. In January, it sustained an exodus of around 30 lawyers who decamped with litigator John Hueston to form the boutique, Hueston Hennigan.

The recent addition of Schwartz and Jih comes the same week that Irell hired the former chief administrative judge for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Michael R. Fleming, as of counsel.

For O’Melveny, the moves mark the latest in a string of departures the firm has experienced  in recent months, dating back to November 2014, when its marquee entertainment transactions team opted to launch a Century City office for Latham & Watkins.

Of the lawyers joining Irell, an O’Melveny spokeswoman wished them the best. She said the departures won’t affect the firm’s ability to be competitive in the entertainment litigation space.

“Our Century City-based trial lawyers will continue to handle the most cutting-edge, high-profile litigation matters, including in the entertainment industry, as part of one of the largest litigation teams in all of Southern California,” the O’Melveny spokeswoman said via email.

The pair was placed at Irell by recruiter Larry Watanabe.