Mr David Halberstadter > Katten > Los Angeles, United States > Lawyer Profile
Katten Offices
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515 SOUTH FLOWER STREET
SUITE 1000
LOS ANGELES, CA 90071
CALIFORNIA
United States
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Mr David Halberstadter
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Work Department
Litigation
Position
Over more than 35 years of practice, David Halberstadter, the firm’s deputy general counsel, has established a reputation among leading entertainment companies as a no-nonsense advisor and talented litigator. When other options fail, he aggressively pursues and defends lawsuits, with a focus on intellectual property-related disputes. Across all his work, clients value David’s clear thinking, strategic wisdom and practical business sense.
David represents motion picture studios, production companies, television networks and new media companies. He gives them advice they can actually use — plain-spoken, grounded in common sense and uncluttered by legalese. His useful recommendations are backed by the decades he has spent in the entertainment industry. He also understands the cost burden of litigation and factors that into his advice.
The cases that David litigates cover all aspects of developing, financing, producing and distributing entertainment content. He also plays a significant “behind-the-scenes” role in the development of movies, television shows and new media properties. He helps clients assess and mitigate risk, often answering the question: “Can we do this without getting sued?” He regularly reviews books, magazine articles and other source material to determine the risk of third-party claims likely to arise from adaptations. In other instances, he reviews often-byzantine rights agreements to make sure his clients actually acquire the rights they need for a project. Clients also turn to him for advice on accounting claims asserted by motion picture and television profit participants.
Education
JD, Georgetown University Law Center; BA, Cornell University
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
Conducting its work in Los Angeles, Katten‘s bench of skilled attorneys receives praise for its trial experience and resolution of legal and business disputes. Zia Modabber heads the practice and is a talented litigator and assists with complex, nuanced points of law. David Halberstadter assists a network of TV clients with corporate disputes, including matters relating to financing, production, and distribution of entertainment content. Joel Weiner has amassed considerable experience in copyright, contract, and business torts which he uses to bring the the firm numerous anti-SLAPP successes, high-profile dismissals, and impressive victories in arbitrations.
United States > Intellectual property > Copyright
The intellectual property group at Katten utilizes the deep bench strength of offices in the US and in Shanghai and London to advise on high-profile copyright claims involving household names in media, entertainment, tech and fashion. The team is headed in New York by global chair Deepro Mukerjee and Karen Artz Ash, a fashion sector specialist, who represents luxury brand designers, retailers, and apparel manufacturers; Floyd Mandell in Chicago, who draws on over 20 years of IP litigation experience; and music industry expert Zia Modabber, the managing partner entertainment and media litigation chair at the Los Angeles office, whose clients have included Stevie Wonder and Trent Reznor (also known his work as Nine Inch Nails). Also in LA, David Halberstadter and Joel Weiner (whose clients include Will Smith and Sony Pictures) bring expertise to copyright disputes in film and television. Tami Kameda Sims departed the practice for a role at Warner Bros. Discovery in June 2023.
Lawyer Rankings
- Copyright United States > Intellectual property
- Media and entertainment: litigation United States > Media, technology and telecoms
Top Tier Firm Rankings
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Structured finance: derivatives and structured products
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation
- Investment fund formation and management > Alternative/hedge funds
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market (sub-$500m)
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Healthcare > Service providers
- Industry focus > Sport
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense