Lawyers 2.0
Our graduates are working in a broad spectrum of careers in intellectual property, media and information law. Many recent graduates will start as associates in the IP department of law firms, where they will be exposed to IP litigation, patenting strategies, and licensing agreements for large multi-national corporations, as well as planning for an IPO for emerging technology start-ups. While others will go directly in-house for media companies, fashion houses, pharmaceuticals, and technology companies.
Some of the companies where are graduates are making their mark in the field include: IBM, Conde Nast, Ralph Lauren, Marvel Entertainment, HBO, CBS, Hearst Corporation, Universal Music, Sony, Computer Sciences Corporation, Lucent Technologies, Blackheart Records, IFC TV, Pfizer Inc., Bristol Meyers Squibb, LexisNexis, Qualcomm Inc., U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Artists Rights Society, and the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
Select Notable Alumni
Martin Bandier ’65 is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony/ATV Music Publishing. With a career in the music publishing business that spans more than 30 years, Mr. Bandier most recently served as the head of EMI Music Publishing. He currently serves as a director of the National Music Publishers' Association, the Songwriters' Hall of Fame, and the American Society of Composers Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) as well as on the Advisory Panel to the Board of Directors of the BMI Foundation. Mr. Bandier is also a Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Michael Buchanan ’92 is a partner in the Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation and White Collar Defense and Investigations practice groups at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP. Mr. Buchanan focuses on high-stakes intellectual property litigation, particularly pharmaceutical industry patent matters. He previously served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where he was Chief of the Securities and Health Care Fraud Unit, focusing on the investigation and prosecution of criminal violations of the federal securities and health care fraud statutes. Mr. Buchanan also served as the Deputy Chief of the District’s Criminal Division and as the Chief of its Terrorism Unit.
Michael Elkin ’84 is the managing partner of the New York office of Winston & Strawn LLP and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Mr. Elkin is a widely-recognized litigator who focuses on sophisticated legal issues involving emerging technologies. He has represented traditional content owners and distributors, as well as high-technology companies on complex intellectual property liability issues.
Jenevra Georgini ’95 currently heads the E-commerce and Sourcing Legal Practice Group at American International Group, Inc., where she is overseeing several initiatives related to cost containment and targeted online marketing. Ms. Georgini started at AIG in 2000 as the company’s first full-time Internet lawyer.
Jeffrey Gewirtz ’94 is the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer for the NBA's New Jersey NETS. He oversees all legal affairs for the NETS franchise, as well as the team’s planned relocation to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Mr. Gewirtz is also responsible for interfacing with the NBA on a wide range of compliance and transactional matters. Prior to the NETS, Mr. Gerwitz served as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) General Counsel and Chief Legal & Government Affairs Officer where he oversaw all USOC legal matters, as well as the USOC’s government relations activities with Congress and federal government agencies.
Lamar Graham ’07 is the Senior Vice President and General Manager for Health Products at Everyday Health. Mr. Graham oversees the Editorial and Product Development teams for EverydayHealth.com, Revolution Health.com, PDRhealth.com, and CarePages.com. He previously worked as the Executive Editor of Parade, the national Sunday newspaper magazine that reaches more than 70 million readers each week.
Errol T. Louis ’05 has been a columnist and member of the editorial board of the New York Daily News since June 2004, writing on a wide range of political and social affairs. Mr. Louis is host of the Morning Show on radio station AM1600 WWRL, one of NYC’s liveliest political talk shows, as well as a frequent contributor to CNN.
Vivian A. Maese ’82 is a partner at Dechert LLP, where she focuses her practice on Outsourcing and Offshoring, a practice area designed help clients adapt to new economic realities, new regulations post Dodd-Frank, new technology capabilities and globalization. Ms. Maese’s extensive experience includes intellectual property and technology matters, bank and securities regulatory issues, sourcing, market data, vendor management, privacy, foreign corrupt practices, information security, disaster recovery and country risk concerns. Formerly, Ms. Maese served as the Managing Director and Global Head of the Workforce Strategy and Solutions Team at Morgan Stanley. She was among the first technology and intellectual property lawyers on Wall Street when she joined Salomon Brothers in 1984.
George Frederick McCray ’91 is the Supervisory Attorney-Advisor: Cargo Security/Restricted Merchandise at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Mr. McCray formerly served as Senior Legal Advisor to the Executive Director, Regulations & Rulings Directorate and the Chief of Intellectual Property Rights and Restricted Merchandise Branch at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He recently served as President of the Customs Lawyers Association.
Charles B. Ortner ’71 is a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department at Proskauer Rose LLP. Mr. Ortner represents media, technology and entertainment companies, as well as individuals, in litigation and as a strategic advisor, on matters including copyright, trademark, false advertising and unfair competition, contract disputes, libel and slander, privacy, internal corporate investigations, defense of class actions, senior executive contract negotiations and terminations, securities law litigation, and significant business transactions, including mergers and catalogue acquisitions. He also is the National Legal Counsel to the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (the GRAMMY® Award organization).
Geraldo Rivera '69 is a veteran journalist who hosts “Geraldo at Large,” a live investigative news show on the Fox News Channel. Mr. Rivera has received more than 170 awards for his work, including the George Foster Peabody Award, three national and seven local Emmys, two Columbia-DuPont Awards and two additional Scripps Howard Journalism Awards. He is also the winner of the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award (his third) for his NBC News documentary, “Women in Prison,” and the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for “Back to Bedlam.”
Brian Sullivan ’03 is an anchor at CNBC. Mr. Sullivan has more than 15 years of financial broadcasting experience, most recently serving as an anchor at Fox Business Network (FBN) and prior to that as producer, reporter and anchor at Bloomberg Television. Mr. Sullivan is recognized as one of the first financial journalists to highlight the risks of the housing bubble and his 2007 special “Subprime Shockwaves” won the NY CPA Society Excellence in Financial Journalism award and was nominated for the prestigious Loeb Award.