Annual Music Law Update (2022)

After spending four years working as a musician, with musicians, and for music companies in various facets including song pitching, A&R, film and TV licensing, recording, producing, songwriting, and performing in musical groups around the greater Los Angeles area, Michael Peters went to law school to pursue his passion for advocating for artists and the arts. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southwestern Law School’s SCALE Accelerated 2-year program in 2018. While at Southwestern, Michael furthered his knowledge of and passion for the entertainment industry by concentrating in entertainment and media law. He was a Dean’s Fellow, a member of the Southwestern Negotiations Honors Program, and awarded the Biederman Scholarship.

Michael has experience in a wide variety of entertainment law matters including the litigation and negotiation of copyright, contract, and privacy disputes, as well as transactional work such as music production agreements, film and TV production counsel, distribution counsel, film finance, copyright clearance, corporate creation and maintenance, and copyright and trademark management.

Tom Dean is a partner at LaPolt Law. Tom focuses his practice on talent representation and represents, advises and counsels numerous recording artists, content creators, producers, and songwriters in all aspects of their entertainment careers. With over 15 years of experience in the music and entertainment industry, Tom has an insiders perspective and unique understanding of both the creative and business-related issues faced by talent today. With a clear understanding of the diverse legal needs of clients today, Tom helps his clients structure and negotiate various types of agreements, such as agreements for music recording, music publishing, brand sponsorships and endorsements, content creation, live performances, merchandising, and NFT drops.

Ross specializes in helping his clients recapture their US copyrights and buy and sell valuable music assets.  He and his team perform due diligence, negotiate and draft purchase or sales agreements and ensure that, upon closing, the respective parties receive that to which they are entitled.  To date, Ross and his team have closed music asset transactions worth over $800 million dollars.

Jordan Bromley leads Manatt Entertainment and the firm’s entertainment transactions and finance practice. Jordan is highly sought after as an entertainment advisor who is consistently on the pulse of the latest market trends, and he is driving impactful advocacy efforts for industry creators. Jordan has been recognized by Billboard as one of “Music’s Most Powerful Attorneys” and by Chambers USA as one of the country’s foremost transactional lawyers in the entertainment industry. In feedback to Chambers, clients have lauded him as “the best there is. Period.”

Professor Robinson’s humor, energy and ability to articulate lessons from his mediation experiences have made him a popular lecturer and trainer; he has presented advanced negotiation and mediation skills courses in more than thirty states and in Argentina, Canada, England, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, France, and Rwanda.

Prior to joining the Pepperdine community, he served as the director of the Christian Conciliation Service of Los Angeles (CCS), a non-profit dispute resolution center, and a staff attorney for a U.S. Government agency that insures pension benefits pursuant to ERISA. He has served on the board of CCS, Ventura Center for Dispute Settlement, Dispute Resolution Services of the LACBA, the Southern California Mediation Association (SMCA), and the California Dispute Resolution Council. The SCMA recognized him as Peacemaker of the Year in 1999. He is an honorary fellow of the International Academy of Mediators. The Los Angeles Magazine has recognized Professor Robinson as a Southern California Super Lawyer in the area of mediation, intermittently since 2006.

John R. Baldivia is a senior associate of the firm, where he negotiates a wide variety of contracts for major label recording artists, songwriters, and prominent influencers. John joined Rossi, PC. with a strong background in music transactions, as well as entertainment and intellectual property litigation.