Firm Watch
Jun. 18, 2002
Greenberg Traurig: TWO BRING STAR-STUDDED CLIENTS TO SANTA MONICA
Greenberg Traurig is beefing up its entertainment department in Santa Monica. The firm, which snatched music attorney Jay Cooper from Manatt Phelps & Phillips in January, has brought in entertainment transactional attorneys Henry Holmes and Steven Katleman .
The pair came from Beverly Hills entertainment boutique Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Silverman & Holmes. The firm, where both attorneys practiced for nine years, is now Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman & Silverman.
Katleman, 47, says that the leap to Greenberg Traurig will enable him to practice boutique law - but in a larger firm.
"This firm is structured in such a way that it has the flexibility to allow me to operate in the same way I operated in the boutique, but there's tremendous resources here that I can't have in a boutique. Many larger firms would be very restrictive ... but that's not so here," Katleman says.
For instance, Katleman will continue to charge some of his clients on a percentage basis, instead of moving to a typical large law firm hourly rate. Katleman's clients include New Line Television. Katleman and Holmes also work together to represent action star Chuck Norris.
Holmes, 59, also represents George Foreman, of boxing and low-fat grill fame, and Alfonso Cuaron, the director of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and 1998's "Great Expectations."
His clients also include "Godfather" producer and former head of Paramount Pictures Robert Evans, who recently received a star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame.
Holmes says the national reach of Greenberg Traurig and the firm's "connections and experience" could help him expand his practice into more non-U.S.-based production.
In a statement, he also describes the firm's "entrepreneurial spirit" and "informal environment" as a benefit to the move.
Based in Miami, Greenberg Traurig has 830 attorneys in 17 offices. The firm's 44-attorney Santa Monica office has 11 attorneys practicing entertainment law.
Staff Writer
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