King & Spalding is home to an entertainment practice capable of handling cases from a variety of industries, including television, streaming platforms, social media, and film. Kenneth Steinthal and Arwen Johnson jointly lead the team, based in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively. Steinthal represents clients in copyright cases, class actions, distribution disputes, and licensing disputes. He has a particular focus on digital audio and audio-visual content distribution. Johnson handles a variety of commercial litigation, including copyright infringement, contract disputes, and defamation. David Mattern, also San Francisco-based, focuses on representing music companies in copyright litigation.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
'The California team at King & Spalding have a strong bench of lawyers with deep experience in media and entertainment litigation.'
'Particular strengths of the firm are strategic thinking, collaborative teamwork, efficiency, and excellent writing.'
‘The team achieve great results short of trial, and Arwen Johnson is also an excellent trial lawyer.'
'My go-to lawyers in this area of practice are Arwen Johnson and Kelly Perigoe. They are excellent strategic thinkers, and their written work product is the best in the business. Both are respected by their peers and the courts.'
Key clients
- A&E Television Networks
- AMC Networks
- Audacy
- BBC
- Bloomberg TV and Radio
- ByteDance/TikTok
- Comcast/NBCUniversal
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- Cumulus Media
- DISH
- Disney/ESPN
- EarthLink
Work highlights
Represented Comedy Central and Paramount Global in two class actions related to royalties allegedly due to comedians.
Represented the Radio Music License Committee in proceedings commenced in June 2022 against ASCAP and BMI.
Assisted TikTok with several hundred lawsuits that allege harm to underage users of social media.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
Kenneth Steinthal; Arwen Johnson
Other key lawyers
David Mattern; Kelly Perigoe