BROOKLYN LAW NOTES
Spring 2017



Billboard and Vanity Fair rank the Law School highly as alumni continue to shine

Brooklyn Law School is known for graduating entertainment lawyers who make a big impact in the music industry. The accolades speak for themselves. The Law School was named one of 2016’s “Top Law Schools of Top Music Lawyers” by Billboard magazine. Billboard also named Peter Brodsky ’90 and Allen Grubman ’67 to its roster of the “Top Music Lawyers 2016.”

Brodsky is the executive vice president of business and legal affairs at Sony/ATV Music Publishing. He has recently been working with the regulatory agencies that will decide whether to approve Sony’s acquisition of the Michael Jackson estate’s share of Sony/ATV. He is also focusing on getting higher rates for Sony/ATV writers from streaming music services.

Grubman is a senior partner of Grubman Shire & Meiselas, the largest entertainment law firm in the U.S., with megastar clients that include Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Robert DeNiro, and LeBron James.

Grubman is currently advising Spotify amid the debate over digital music. He helped the company close its largest round of financing ever, securing $1 billion in capital. “The streaming companies will do well, record companies will do well, artists will do well,” he said.

Grubman also has been recognized as the “music industry’s most powerful lawyer” by Vanity Fair and one of the top 100 most powerful entertainment attorneys by The Hollywood Reporter.

Martin Bandier ’65, chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, has also made his mark on the music business. He was honored with the Recording Academy’s President’s Merit Award last year.

Charles Ortner ’71 was reappointed to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in September. He has represented many iconic recording artists, songwriters, and record producers, including Lady Gaga, Madonna, and U2, and is the National Legal Counsel to the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

The Law School was recently featured on an episode of BET’s “Music Moguls” series, which highlighted a guest lecture by Cash Money Records cofounders Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams to the Entertainment Law course co-taught by Professor Vernon J. Brown, chairman and CEO of V. Brown & Company. Brown, who has been the attorney for the Williams brothers for 20 years.