Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Page 3
Christensen Glaser Names Entertainment, Copyright Lawyer Handlin as Partner
By TINA BAY, Staff Writer
Seasoned entertainment and intellectual property litigator Jay Handlin has become a partner in Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Well & Shapiro, the Los Angeles-based law firm said yesterday.
Handlin, who joined Christensen Glaser in 2004 following seven years as in-house litigation counsel for the Walt Disney Company, was elevated from being of counsel in the firm’s litigation department and intellectual property practice group. He
was on vacation yesterday and unavailable for comment.
Managing Partner Terry Christensen said as a result of his work at Disney and more than a decade of previous law firm experience, Handlin brings to the firm’s copyright practice a “tremendous depth” it otherwise would not have.
“To have somebody who’s been both inside and outside in the copyright business is a huge asset,” Christensen noted, adding that Handlin has proven himself to be “particularly capable” in his initial years with the firm.
Among other work at Christensen Glaser, the 47-year-old attorney has successfully defended a music company against royalty claims brought by the heirs of a songwriter, and an entertainment company against a copyright infringement claim relating to a major motion picture. He has represented an entertainment conglomerate in the Federal Trade Commission’s probe into the marketing of violent motion pictures to children, and counseled a variety of clients spanning from individual actors to television networks and motion picture studios.
At Disney, where he started in 1996, Handlin undertook the litigation of intellectual property, entertainment and commercial matters including licensing, idea misappropriation, libel and slander. During his tenure, he also served as a credited technical advisor on the filming of a “A Civil Action.”
Handlin, a native of New York City, graduated from Brandeis University and earned his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1985. While at law school, he served as editor of the Harvard Law Review, was head writer of the Harvard Law School Drama Society, and won the 1985 H.L.S. Nathan Burkan Memorial Competition for Best Paper on Copyright.
After law school, Handlin clerked for Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jon O. Newman, now in senior status, then practiced with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he focused on complex commercial litigation as well as appellate work.
He has written considerably about copyright, idea protection and entertainment-law issues as a practicing attorney.
In addition to Handlin, attorneys Amman A. Khan and Jacqui Sudeck were also elevated to partnerships, bringing the total number of partners to 33 within Christensen Glaser’s 120-attorney office.
Khan, 38, specializes in litigation and arbitration. He was admitted to the State Bar in 1998 and received his law degree from the University of Ottawa after graduating from McGill University in Montreal.
The 32-year-old Sudeck, who focuses on corporate and securities matters, was admitted to the State Bar in 2001.
Christensen praised the accomplishments of Khan and Sudeck, describing them as “wonderful people” and saying he was “thrilled” with their promotion.
Copyright 2007, Metropolitan News Company