MICHAEL S. SHERMAN, 64
Firm: Reed Smith LLP
Law School: UC Berkeley
Selected Clients: Can be found throughout the motion picture, TV, Internet, music, theater and sports industries; institutional financiers in more than $1 billion worth of motion picture and television productions, including Comerica Bank, Banque Paribas, City National Bank, Union Bank of California, Bank of California and First Interstate Bank.
Years in Practice: 40
Best Career Moment: Some years ago, I engaged in a two-year-long intellectual property battle in an attempt to restore from the public domain “The Gold Rush,” one of Charlie Chaplin’s most famous and best-loved motion pictures. The lawyers at the Copyright Office agreed that the work involved could be restored from the public domain, which means that Chaplin’s film is today still protected by U.S. Copyright Law and will remain protected for many years to come.
Worst: One day, my client – the heir to a literary estate – and I met with a studio executive. When the executive pointed out to us that the estate would receive a share of the “net profits” from the pictures based on the works of the estate, I responded with something close to what Eddie Murphy famously said: “Net profits are monkey points!” The executive peremptorily announced that the meeting was over and tossed us out of his office. We did ultimately make the deal, and a few years later, using another little-known part of copyright law, terminated the studio’s rights.
Highlight From Past Year: I joined Reed Smith LLP as a partner in the Century City office.
If I Weren’t an Attorney: I would probably be teaching somewhere. My goal in college was to get a Ph.D. in political science. But when I learned that it would take something like nine years of postgraduate work, and faced with the real-world need to make a living, I opted for a close second, the law.
My Colleagues Don’t Know: My wife, Cathy, is a wonderful psychoanalyst, who may have helped me retain my sanity all these years. I give her full credit for my two incredible daughters. One is now a second-year resident in internal medicine at UCSF, and the other just graduated law school and is going to work at an excellent firm down the street in Century City. Beside that, put me on a horse, and I’m a happy camper.
