We did not always agree, however I always respected the path you laid out, the spirit of your convictions, the example you set, the courage you displayed, the intention of your leadership. Thank you for your service to our nation.
Eternal rest grant unto him oh Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. 🕊️🌹
Today marks two years since I joined Manatt! And what a great way to celebrate my anniversary and start the New Year. Deeply honored by this coveted recognition, and genuinely excited to be building a fantastic entertainment and sports practice alongside my amazing partners, who are not only brilliant practitioners, but wonderful friends. Each day I am stretched and challenged to dig deeper, to be more and do better, each day is an amazing opportunity to learn. But of course recognitions like this aren’t possible without our phenomenal clients and a tremendous team of other partners and superstar associates who are essential to our practice and supporting our clients. I’m looking forward to a fantastic and productive 2026, to continuing to serve in all of the ways that I can… just as soon as I recover from dental surgery and after a few days of vacation! Thank you Variety, and congratulations to all of this year’s formidable honorees. Let’s go make some deals!
Of the many different lists and recognitions I’ve achieved through my career, including by Billboard, this one is different. Twenty years ago, still an associate at Cravath who’d just finished working on a series of deals for Dreamworks (recognized by American Lawyer as the marquis deal of the year), I wrote in my journal that as much as I loved my work at Cravath, becoming a Cravath partner was not my aspiration—what I really wanted was to become the best entertainment lawyer I could be and to build a preeminent practice in the space.
After a decade of talent management, I returned to legal practice last yr. I advised on & closed deals that in the aggregate are valued in the mid-nine figures range, creating value for our clients, often pursuing groundbreaking structures & bringing corporate rigor to the entertainment discipline, while laying the groundwork to expand my representation to sports and media.
I am far from achieving the extent of my imagination/ambition. However this is a great start, & this recognition, a manifestation of the beginnings of a dream realized.
I’m so very pleased to be honored alongside my incredible colleagues by Billboard as a top music and entertainment lawyer for 2025. I have loved every minute of being your partner and colleague these past 15 months.
With massive gratitude to each of my clients—I love working for each of you, to my assistant Patricia San Juan, to my formidable associates Camille, Suna, Aicha, Alex, Mack, Lucy, Alison, sr. attorney Natasha (yes, all women), to my partner John Meller, who is a backbone of our practice and a great lawyer, to Bernard Mantel, who is also a mighty fine lawyer, and of course to Jordan, who has been my coconspirator and champion for the past two years.
Thanks also to my executive, agent and manager friends who have been excellent sources of referrals. Keep them coming please! And of course to my parents who never stopped believing in me and were relieved when I left talent management.
No recognition I ever earn is mine alone. Thank you everybody!
It’s so nice to be a practicing attorney again; I love my work & hope to continue getting better every single day.
In 2015, Esteban Bullrich, then Argentina’s Minister of Education, invited me to the Vatican to advise on Scholas Occurrentes, a program Pope Francis started to repair the social contract, improve education, connect youth through arts, sports, and technology, and build true global citizens as a path towards a peaceful, loving society. Below is an excerpt from my reflection on the visit.
After the general audience, we were invited to meet with Pope Francis individually. With tears in
my eyes, I told him how much his leadership meant to me not only as a devout Catholic, but as
a human being who has sometimes struggled with reconciling a life faithful to the Gospel,
faithful to service and neighborly love, with the institutional problems in the Church. I asked him
to pray for my family, our congregation at St. Ignatius, and all of our friends. I told him how very
much we love and are inspired by him in the USA. Gazing into his compassionate eyes was like
gazing into the eyes of so many popes, all the way to Saint Peter, who gazed in the eyes of
Jesus Christ. Pope Francis was so patient, so tender, so loving, holding my hand, never
breaking eye contact. Asking only, that we pray for him.
May you rest in eternal peace. 🕊️
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Fidelium animae, per misericordiam Dei,
requiescant in pace.
In spe perseverare
Back in 2002/3, when I was still a relatively young lawyer desiring to work in entertainment, pay my bills and figure myself out, my mentor, the late Robert Joffe called me into his office and gave me a new assignment. Along with a Cravath corporate partner, I would be assigned to help unwind the Time Warner AOL deal, and later restructure the Time Warner board, work that I relished for teaching me how entertainment companies are run and organized from the corporate level, and experience I relied on when I transitioned to entertainment full time.
It was much more than an assignment however, it put me in direct sight of Mr. Parsons who became a mentor, a guide, a friend… someone whose career in many respects I sought to emulate (and in some ways have). I admired him because of his warmth, intelligence, empathy and that he was unabashedly who he was—not moved by the times or how a Black corporate leader is *supposed* to be but steadied always by his compass, his values, his sense of what’s right. A phenomenal leader and corporate statesmen, he was not someone who favored you because you looked like him, but rather, because you worked like he did, with a North Star and commitment to using and developing natural talents.
Yet another person in my constellation of heroes who helped me feel like it was more than ok to be me.
A true legend, may you rest in eternal peace. With gratitude, all of us who stand on your shoulders today. 🕊️🕊️🕊️
Another icon passed from the temporality of earthly presence to be another permanent bright light in the sky, inspiring and watching over us. May your exquisite memory be blessing and continued inspiration. The extraordinary Judith Jamison, may you rest in the eternal peace of Heaven.
In my family home, above the mantel hangs a signed 1976 Peter Max lithograph of Lady Liberty with the words: My Love Is America VOTE written above her face.
Voting is a sacred right. An affirmation of the yearnings of the spirit, an expression of our hopes and dreams for ourselves and our community, an act of freedom.
Imperfect, perhaps, it is also profoundly, an act of service. Notwithstanding the deeply personal nature of voting, it is the opportunity to consider not only ourselves, but the broader context within which we live, work and pray, a further opportunity to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
It is an expression of liberty previously denied to members of my family in this country, for which they fought, and which they have exercised in ways that have transformed our society such that my generation has never known the shackles that sought to restrain my ancestors spirits. I hope if you haven’t, you will vote, with love in your heart and a sense of the possible.
And I hope you will do so free from fear. Last night, weary of the palpable anxiety felt by so many, the eerie quiet blanketing our capital, the divisiveness & hatred that have permeated our politics, it occurred to me that regardless of the outcome, we will be ok. We are prepared for the worst, which we will get through, and ready for the best. We will still have to work for a just future that enables the prosperity, and nourishes the humanity of all. We have persisted and persevered through so much through grit and faith, with determination and confidence. The work continues. So be not afraid fellow citizens. Be not weary. Never give up. Never quit! For joy cometh in the morning! (and the mourning). Let’s recommit to ending the plague of despair, distrust, fear and hate, and building a culture rooted in an ethic of the greatest love. Vote, vote, vote!
It is harder to have a broken heart when you’ve met, spent time with, and even had the magnificent opportunity to visit the home of a personal hero—a home that tells the history of contemporary culture through the many pieces of art you created. The memory is etched permanently on my mind and heart. And yet, my heart is just a bit shattered, despite my gratitude.
It was Quincy, more than anyone else, who made me want to work in music, film, television and entertainment. His work with Michael Jackson, on The Wiz, made me dig deep into his repertoire when I was a girl. His books have inspired and encouraged me, his project Back on The Block changed my world permanently and the Fresh Prince offered a view of Black life and culture that many did not realize existed, without ignoring or sugarcoating bias and racial issues.
Thank you to my all time hero. I am so very glad I got to tell you the night of this picture how much your art meant to me, transformed me, taught me and caused me to reach for the highest star.
Apart from the art, you also showed us the healing power of music.. the many ways we come to understand ourselves and one another, how we connect and are connected through the medium. That music is the great glue, the common language that enables all of us to cast aside suspicion and pursue love.
May your memory be an eternal blessing and my deepest condolences to all who loved you, knew you, and were inspired by your magnificent light and the phenomenal sound you created. 🕊️
Our family began 55 years ago today, when my parents expressed their vows to one another, before God, family and community. They were in their 50th year of marriage when our father, our rock, passed away. Listening to the DNC Convention this week, at home with my mother, sister and niece while recovering from a recent injury, I felt the wholeness and hopefulness of my family legacy… the way our parents poured into us. My parent’s wisdom echoed by the wisdom that raised Kamala, Michelle, Hillary.
Like Shyamla, our parents admonished us to do nothing half assed, to work with love and joy, to refuse to quit and avoid complaint. That we would need work for everything. To remember always who we are. Like Michelle’s mother, they taught us to do something, that there’s nothing we cannot do without heart, without grit, without trying. Like Hillary, my father in particular constantly reminded me to keep going, keep pushing, keep loving.
These stories and so many more resonated with me this week, further healing parts of me that remain wounded by my Dads passing… reminding me, powerfully, that the family, however it is structured, is the root of community, of society. The love we pour into each other becomes the love we pour into the world and is the source of all that’s good.
And so today, on the 55th anniversary of the beginning of my family, my hope is that everyone, wherever you are, might know the JOY of family, however it might be defined, that you might proceed in this world confidently, knowing who you are and that we are worthy of love & loving.
A note about Gus. The beauty of Gus was not his expression of his love and pride for his father (as touching as that was). The beauty was seeing that he is able to express his love confidently and without any embarassment, because he is so loved by his father, his mother and sister. This is the world we should look forward to. One where we are so loved that we are unabashed in our self expression and connection with others. And if we can all learn to love and be loved that way, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish together.
Happy Anniversary Mommy and Poppy. Poppy always & forever in my heart. ❤️
Our dear Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: A magnificent public servant, mentor and friend. Elegant and poised, a brilliant role model and example of resilient strength. How I loved working alongside you in the fight to help America realize its potential, for truth and justice. How you touched my heart and motivated my mind. I learned from you in every encounter. May you rest in the eternal peace of heaven, may your memory be a blessing and inspiration. With the deepest gratitude, and the greatest respect, we will carry your legacy forward. 🕊️
My amazing, incredible, lifesaving, mush of a companion, best friend, dance partner, hiking buddy & keeper of secrets. How I have loved you my dear pet. U came into my life as an 8 week old puppy, flown in from Kentucky, scared, defenseless. I was recovering from multi-organ failure & having suffered a collapsed immune system, wasnt able 2 have visitors. U & The Facebook kept me company in those days, giving me purpose, something to focus on other than the strain of reading or thinking betwn the drugs they had me on & the effects of brain stem microinfarctions, how my life had just changed.
U took to your training, insisted on peanut butter, plastic bottles, apples, carrots, red peppers, but never my furniture! U got me outside & back in shape, sometimes running as many as 12 miles w me w/out slowing.
So quickly u embedded urself not only in my life, but in our immediate family’s life, the sixth member. We moved to the country side. You played in the snow. When my father was sick, you became the friend to him you’d been to me—always at his footsteps, yet still demanding he get up and take you out. That man spoiled you, I know. His journals about you & your antics are some of my favorites. He said I spoiled you too. He’s not wrong. In later years, once fully recovered and on the road for work, you began staying with my parents full time. How my mother & father loved you. How grateful I am to them for taking care of you. To my sister, who cleaned after you and watched you. How my little niece adored you despite your confusion over her ability to walk.
Ms. Parks, in these last few days you have impacted me again, teaching me courage, helping me to understand that true love is compassionate mercy, 2 see where it was my selfishness, not love that was keeping you here, finally easing u 2 the gr8 beyond, where I can only hope youre again sitting at my fathers feet. I didnt know it wld be so hard; I guess that’s why I held on… when I realized I was considering my feelings more than ur dignity, I knew beyond a doubt it was time to show u the unconditional love you have always shown me. RIP my beloved doggy💔I miss u.
Ms. Rosa Parks, April 2008-April 2024
I went to law school with hopes of becoming an entertainment lawyer and executive. I zigged, I zagged, accumulating valuable experiences and trying different things. When I left corporate law, my goal was to start my own law firm, but somehow that morphed into artist management, a stint which I loved and for which I’m so grateful. At heart, I am an advisor, a problem solver, an advocate, a believer in truth and consummate fighter for justice. I am so thrilled to join the partnership of Manatt, a firm I have long admired for its phenomenal culture, its excellence, its commitment to the idea of the lawyer in the traditional sense: the trusted advisor, consigliere, counselor, citizen— a model and tradition I have always believed in. This is a phenomenal platform for me to continue doing what I do, to grow my practice, service my clients and achieve the outcomes they desire and need. Thank you to everyone who has been so patient with me this past year, to my parents, my sister, to my friend, new partner and national group leader Jordan Bromley, TO MY CHICAGO FAMILY—I love you, to all of my mentors who helped me navigate and advised me through this process, to my new partners and the incredible team I am helping to lead in New York (just wait til you meet our superstar associates), and to the amazing artists and talent whom I’ve been so blessed to work with the past ten years. Thank you for believing in, and trusting me. I love you all.
This is the fulfillment of a dream.
