"Nick is always there to help even with the most sophisticated issues. His advice is business-oriented, concise and well thought out."
Chambers UK, Media & Entertainment: Games, Interactive Entertainment & Social Media client
"Nick Breen is a go-to for rights acquisition, licensing, and regulatory compliance for the video games sector."
Legal 500 UK, TMT: Media: video games
"Nick is very responsive and has great knowledge and experience of advertising matters."
Chambers UK, Media & Entertainment: Games, Interactive Entertainment & Social Media client
"Nick is an excellent solicitor - very approachable and understanding."
Chambers UK, Media & Entertainment: Games, Interactive Entertainment & Social Media client
"Nick is always there to help even with the most sophisticated issues. His advice is business-oriented, concise and well thought out."
Chambers UK, Media & Entertainment: Games, Interactive Entertainment & Social Media client
"Nick Breen is a go-to for rights acquisition, licensing, and regulatory compliance for the video games sector."
Legal 500 UK, TMT: Media: video games
"Nick is very responsive and has great knowledge and experience of advertising matters."
Chambers UK, Media & Entertainment: Games, Interactive Entertainment & Social Media client
"Nick is an excellent solicitor - very approachable and understanding."
Chambers UK, Media & Entertainment: Games, Interactive Entertainment & Social Media client
Nick is a partner in Reed Smith’s Entertainment & Media Industry Group. He is an entertainment lawyer whose practice focuses on music and video games. He is known for advising clients on complex deals involving content acquisition, licensing, distribution, and the strategic exploitation of intellectual property rights across digital platforms.
Nick’s practice spans the full music rights and royalty ecosystem. He has deep experience representing buyers and sellers of recorded music and music publishing assets, having closed over $2 billion in catalogue transactions for institutional investors and music companies. Drawing on a nuanced understanding of copyright law, Nick regularly handles recording and distribution deals, publishing agreements, synchronisation and master use licences, as well as international music licensing.
Nick is Co-Chair of the firm’s Video Games and Esports practice, representing a variety of developers, publishers, and platforms from across the video games industry and providing advice on a range of issues, including copyright, consumer protection, advertising, and artificial intelligence.
A significant portion of his work focuses on the digital content landscape. Nick advises video game companies, online retailers, aggregators, and media platforms regarding content distribution arrangements, user agreements, and consumer issues. He also guides advertisers and production houses on brand partnerships, sponsorship and endorsement deals, and the essential clearance of music and other content rights for use in campaigns.
Recognitions
Ranked in Chambers UK for Media & Entertainment: Games, Interactive Entertainment & Social Media, 2026
Listed as a Next Generation Partner in The Legal 500 UK for Media: Advertising & Marketing and for Media: Music, 2026
- Listed as a Next Generation Partner in The Legal 500 UK for TMT Media: Advertising & Marketing, 2025
Credentials
Education
- University of Nottingham, Law, Hons
- College of Law, LPC, Distinction
News
- Reed Smith to lead SXSW panels on AI in media and entertainment (17 February 2026)
- Reed Smith advises RadNet’s DeepHealth on acquisition of CIMAR, strengthening leadership in AI-powered healthcare innovation (13 November 2025)
- Reed Smith practices and lawyers earn top spots in <em>Chambers UK</em> 2026 (16 October 2025)
- <em>The Legal 500 UK</em> endorses scores of Reed Smith lawyers, practices (2 October 2025)
- Reed Smith represents iFIT on acquisition of UK based ReformRX (22 May 2025)
- Reed Smith London excels in <em>Chambers UK </em>2025 rankings (17 October 2024)
- Reed Smith gets 6 Tier 1 practice rankings in <em>Legal 500 UK</em> (3 October 2024)
- Reed Smith recognised as a leading law firm in <em>Chambers UK</em> (19 October 2023)
- Reed Smith advises Believe on its acquisition of Sentric (11 April 2023)
- Reed Smith advises in connection with the sale of MarineTraffic to Kpler (15 February 2023)
Media mentions
- AI Reshapes Entertainment: Legal Experts Tackle IP, Ethics and Opportunity at SXSW Panel (2026)
Insights
- PEGI launches “interactive risk categories”; overhauls age ratings for loot boxes, in-game spending, and communication features (23 March 2026)
- Termination beyond U.S. borders? What <em>Vetter v. Resnik</em> means for authors and rightsholders (26 January 2026)
- A New Look at Fair Use: Anthropic, Meta, and Copyright in AI Training (3 July 2025)
Blogs
- Ownership rights for AI-generated works and in machine learning - Reed Smith to speak on AI in entertainment & media at SXSW (2 March 2026)
- Copyright & AI: German court issues landmark decision in favor of rights holders (11 November 2025)
- UK Government Launches Consultation on AI and Copyright (20 December 2024)
- Navigating the No Fakes Act (7 August 2024)
- Web3 round-up: Spring 2024 - best of March, April, and May (12 June 2024)
- Web3 round-up: Winter 2023/2024 – best of December, January and February (14 March 2024)
- Web3 round-up: best of autumn 2023 (September / October / November) (12 December 2023)
- Web3 round-up: best of summer 2023 (June / July / August) (6 September 2023)
- Web3 round-up: best of May 2023 (7 June 2023)
- Web3 round-up: best of April 2023 (9 May 2023)
- Web3 round-up: best of March 2023 (11 April 2023)
- Web3 round-up: best of February 2023 (10 March 2023)
Events
- Anthropy26: AI and the creative industries – Where are we three years post the arrival of ChatGPT? (Thursday, March 26, 2026)
- Anthropy26: Governance Unleashed: Fund fearlessly, scale relentlessly, disperse with precision (Wednesday, March 25, 2026)
- Reed Smith at South by Southwest 2026 (Friday-Saturday, March 13-14, 2026)
- Entertainment and Media: December Legal Update (Wednesday-Thursday, December 4-5, 2024)
- Entertainment and Media: March Legal Update (Thursday, March 14, 2024)