Glaser Weil Veterans Together Again at New Firm

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Barak Lurie and Daniel Park made friends when they worked together at Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs & Shapiro LLP. They’ve joined forces at Lurie & Park, a five-attorney shop specializing in business litigation and real estate.

The firm was scheduled to open its doors this week in Brentwood.

“I admired Dan’s legal savvy and litigation skills,” Lurie said. “And I think he thought I was a nice guy.”

Lurie, who has served as the general counsel to Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, opened his own law firm, the Law Offices of Barak Lurie, in 2006 after leaving Glaser Weil. He was among several attorneys who departed as Terry Christensen, who headed Glaser Weil at the time, was indicted for illegal activities related to private investigator Anthony Pellicano. Christensen and Pellicano have both been convicted.

Park also left Glaser Weil in 2006, and was a co-founder of Miller Barondess LLP, a Century City firm. Another co-founder was Louis “Skip” Miller, also a Glaser Weil refugee.

Park left Miller Barondess because he wanted to run his own shop.

“I helped Skip grow the firm from three to about 20 attorneys. In seeing that, I thought, ‘Wow, this is amazing,'” he said.

Park, who focuses on business and intellectual property litigation, brought clients NYX Los Angeles Inc., a cosmetics manufacturer, and Korean grocery store Assi Super to the new firm.

Lurie’s practice includes litigating business disputes, and crafting real estate deals for developers.


Networking Scene

The Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel has scheduled its fourth annual awards ceremony this Friday at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard.

The event, which honors L.A.’s top entertainment attorneys, is part of the association’s efforts to offer better networking opportunities for lawyers who work in-house at local entertainment companies.

Entertainment attorney Arnold Peter launched the trade association in 2005 with PricewaterhouseCoopers marketing executive Peter Winkler and Korn/Ferry International Inc. consultant William Simon. Peter, a veteran of Universal Studios, is now at L.A. firm Raskin Peter Rubin Simon LLP.

Peter said in-house entertainment attorneys and the outside lawyers who represent entertainment companies didn’t have a forum to discuss legal issues unique to the industry until the association was launched.

“There is a benefit of having these relationships once you get to a senior level, and are doing deals and working on high-profile legal and business-related issues,” Peter said.

L.A. entertainment attorneys who are members agree that there are benefits to an organization that focuses on both the legal and business aspects of the industry.

Jeff Friedman, vice president of business and legal affairs at production company Reveille LLC, said the organization’s education sessions on emerging issues like digital media aren’t typically addressed at industry events.

“One of the biggest things business affairs executives deal with in the industry is how to structure digital deals, or deals that involve foreign investors,” said Friedman. “Those are things that, as a good business affairs executive, you have to create yourself, and it is helpful to bounce ideas off of others.”


Talk Radio

Prominent plaintiff’s lawyer Thomas Girardi has been hosting legal radio show “Champions of Justice” on talk radio station KRLA-AM (870) on Saturdays since 2006.

The L.A. attorney broadened his audience Jan. 3 after KABC-AM (790) began airing the program, which the station recently added to its Sunday morning lineup.

The “Champions of Justice” shows that will be on KABC will sometimes be the same as on KRLA. But Girardi said he will be recording original content that will only air on KABC.

Girardi, co-founder of L.A. firm Girardi & Keese LLP, said the idea to broadcast a legal talk show developed when he was looking for a way to better acquaint the public with lawyers and judges.

“The purpose of the show is to try to showcase members of the judiciary, from the Supreme Court down to trial judges, and members of the bar who have done something extraordinary,” Girardi said.

Guests on “Champions of Justice” have included Dennis Wasser and Laura Wasser, a father-daughter legal team representing celebrities in divorce cases, and Los Angeles Superior Court presiding Judge Charles McCoy.

Girardi is best known as one of the attorneys who represented residents of Hinkley in a toxic tort case that was made famous by the film “Erin Brokovich.”

Although he has spent his entire career representing individuals in wrongful death, products liability, bad-faith insurance and toxic tort cases, Girardi wasn’t a novice in the radio medium.

“I did radio in college,” Girardi said.


Staff reporter Alexa Hyland can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235.

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