(July 13, 2011, Los Angeles) - Reed Smith LLP today announced the addition of Robert J. "Rob" Sherman, a leading corporate and finance lawyer with a practice that focuses on the entertainment and media industries, as a partner in its Financial Industry Group in the firm's Century City office.
"Rob's extensive entertainment and cross-border finance expertise demonstrates to entertainment financiers and other market participants involved in debt, mezzanine and equity transactions, that Reed Smith has a broad and deep capability on the West Coast and throughout the United States, and is able to handle their complex financing and transactional matters," said Stuart Shanus, Managing Partner of Reed Smith's Century City office.
Mr. Sherman was formerly a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles and has a hybrid practice that involves providing corporate finance and transactional services to borrowers, banks, private equity funds and other participants in the music publishing, recorded music, film and television industries. His work includes complex domestic and cross-border financings, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, as well as providing secured finance advice to lenders, borrowers and investors in the non-entertainment fields, such as energy, health care, higher education and technology.
He also has a well-developed practice in the international and domestic restructuring arena with a focus on Latin America and, in particular, restructurings in the telecom industry. He has represented bank and non-bank lenders, special servicers and investors in workouts and restructurings of securitized loans, including representing special servicers in the workout and restructuring of securitized CMBS loans in and out of bankruptcy. He has also represented bondholder committees in the workout and restructuring of Mexican and Dominican telecoms. In addition, he has represented borrowers, loan originators and other market participants in CMBS and RMBS financing transactions.
"Reed Smith's Financial Industry Group gives me an unrivaled platform for expanding my services in the area of debt finance, as well as for growing my relationships with the money center banks, financial institutions and investment funds I require to meet my clients' needs," Mr. Sherman said. "Reed Smith's entertainment team and financial industries group have sophisticated clients involved in complex transactions, and I look forward to putting my skill-set at the disposal of the firm's clients. The synergy with the firm's London entertainment and finance practice, as well as the strong private equity team, provides me with the opportunity to be involved in more cross-border work, which is very attractive to me."
Mr. Sherman's practice is particularly well-aligned with the practices of partner Michael S. Sherman (no relation) and counsel Patrick Sweeney, both of whom joined Reed Smith's Century City office in mid-2010. Michael Sherman represents a diverse group of individual and institutional clients across the motion picture, television, Internet, music, theater, sports and other industries, and Mr. Sweeney has a depth of high-level experience in the worldwide video game industry.
"Rob's arrival definitely enhances our entertainment industry practice in Southern California," said Doug Wood, head of the firm's Media & Entertainment Industry Group. "He is a seasoned lawyer with a broad range of skills in entertainment and other complex financing transactions. His addition to our Southern California entertainment and media financing team, which already includes Michael Sherman, Fred Ansis, Steve Sessa, Kate O'Brien, Patrick Sweeney and others, further demonstrates the firm's commitment to continuing the expansion and development of its entertainment finance practice on the West Coast and in the United States."
Mr. Sherman received his J.D., magna cum laude, from the Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School in 1966 and his B.A. from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo in l984. After graduating, Mr. Sherman became an associate at Coudert Brothers in New York from 1996 to 1997, and Dewey Ballantine in New York and Los Angeles from 1997 to 2001. In 2001, he moved with a group to Manatt, where he became a partner in 2005.
Reed Smith's Media & Entertainment Industry Group is a multidisciplinary group of lawyers located throughout the firm's 23 global offices, serving media and entertainment clients. In traditional areas of media law, the firm provides counsel in all aspects of entertainment, including production, finance, new media, regulatory, litigation and corporate-commercial transactions, with a globally recognized practice in film and television finance and production, music, advertising and marketing, technology, broadcasting, and gaming. The firm's attorneys advise clients on corporate, commercial, labor and employment, antitrust, litigation, intellectual property, data privacy, insurance recovery, securities, communications, and regulatory matters, all areas that require experience unique to the media and entertainment industry.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,600 lawyers in 23 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, energy and natural resources, advertising, technology and media, shipping, real estate, manufacturing, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.
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