California Partners Featured Among the State's 2016 "Top 100 Lawyers"

Three Latham & Watkins partners have been named among the 2016 “Top 100 Lawyers in California” in an annual feature published by the Daily Journal. Corporate partners Joe Calabrese and Christopher Brearton in Century City were honored for their advice to entertainment, sports and media clients in high profile and enterprise-defining transactions, and litigation partner Steven Bauer in San Francisco was recognized for his defense of Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in a widely-followed trial in federal court.

Brearton, the Deputy Office Managing Partner in Century City, was cited for advising on a series of notable transactions during the past year for clients that include Starz, the NCAA, the International Olympic Committee, and the Los Angeles Football Club. The latter is building a new soccer stadium In Los Angeles and the broad legal advice provided by Latham has involved “land use work… naming rights deals, sponsorship deals, kit deals for jerseys and TV and broadcast deals.”

Calabrese, the Global Chair of the Latham’s Entertainment, Sports & Media Practice, was honored for advising on “complex, high-pressure” transactions,” such as in his role as outside counsel to Legendary Entertainment in its recent acquisition by China’s Dalia Wanda Group for $3.5 billion, and in his ongoing work with the International Olympic Committee on the development of an over-the-top global broadcast channel focused on Olympic sports and the Olympic movement.  

Bauer, the Global Co-chair of the firm’s White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice, was chosen on the strength of his representation of PG&E in a highly-publicized trial related to a 2010 gas line explosion in San Bruno, CA.  The Daily Journal noted that “Bauer led the defense team that knocked out most of the damages in a federal lawsuit.”