News Type: Headlines

For the seventh consecutive year, Michael Poster has been named a Top Music Lawyer by Billboard. He’s featured in the magazine’s March 30 issue, a tribute to his tremendous record of catalog deals and extraordinary work across the music finance and acquisition landscape.

Over the past year, Michael has represented dozens of extraordinary clients. Just some of these include:

• Opus Music Group in its acquisition of (i) 90% of the music publishing catalogue and (ii) 90% of the recorded music income of the artist p/k/a Juice WRLD.

• Cutting Edge Group in its acquisition of a majority stake in the music publishing catalogue of prominent songwriter and composer Jamie Hartmen, who has written for Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Calvin Harris, Kygo and Lewis Capaldi.

• Barry Weiss and the other minority members of RECORDS LLC in the buyout of their minority interest by Sony Music and subsequent new record label joint venture.

• AMR Songs in its acquisition of the music catalogue of John Sebastian of “The Lovin’ Spoonful,” featuring several truly iconic songs like “Summer in the City” and “Do You Believe in Magic.”

•  AMR Songs in its acquisition of the publishing and recordings catalogue of Grammy-winning reggae band SOJA, among the most prominent artists in the reggae genre.

• Pythagoras Music Group in its acquisition of the Barton Music catalogue that included hundreds of standards of the American Songbook by Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn.

• ONErpm in its joint venture with music producers Dann Huff (named a Producer of the Year and Musician of the Year by several prominent industry groups in the country music genre) and David Huff.

Beyond these clients, Michael is also proud to represent Tempo Music Investments, Made in Memphis Entertainment, City National Bank, Catch Point Partners, GoldState Advisors, Downtown Music Holdings, and Spirit Music Group, handling many of their music-related transactions.

All of us at Michelman & Robinson, LLP congratulate Michael—one of the most effective dealmakers in the music space—on this wonderful repeat recognition.

Our Chicago duo of Seth Darmstadter and Bryan Johnson have been named yet again as Super Lawyers and Matthew Lasky as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, an annual Thomas Reuters publication that recognizes top attorneys nationwide using a patented process of independent research and peer input. The work coming out of our Chicago office is exceptional, thanks to the talents of Seth, Bryan and Matthew, and we congratulate all three on this well-deserved recognition. 

Congratulations, Mona Hanna, on being named among the best of the best. Mona is one of 98 lawyers recognized as a Leading Commercial Litigator by the Daily Journal in its annual supplement honoring the best attorneys working withing the broad scope of commercial and bet-the-company litigation across the country. Read Mona’s Daily Journal feature here:

2024 is a banner year for Southern California Rising Stars at M&R. We congratulate Mehdi Sinaki (LA), Allison Aguirre (OC), Samuel Licker (LA), Amanda V. Anderson (OC), Stacey Chiu (LA), Kevin Kim (OC), Jane Kutepova (OC), Derrick Fong-Stempel (LA), Samantha Drysdale (OC), Alexandra Miller (LA), Shaina L. Kinsberg, Esq., MBA (LA) and Alex Safyan (LA). They represent the best of the best at M&R and embody the extraordinary talent of our younger generation of lawyers.

Our crop of 2024 Southern California Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters—Howard Camhi, Lara Shortz, Jeff Farrow, Dana Kravetz, Mona Hanna, Sanford Michelman, Mark Robinson, Ronald Camhi, Marc Jacobs and Todd Stitt—represents a Dream Team of M&R attorneys with expertise across practice areas and industries. We congratulate them all on this well-earned peer-to-peer recognition.

M&R is excited to announce that Amanda K. Monroe has ascended to partner at the firm. She’s a sought-after employment litigator, best known for her extraordinary work defending single plaintiff and collective actions (class action and PAGA claims) involving wage and hour issues. Amanda is also relied upon by management for advice and counsel on a range of operational items of importance to employers across industries, the hospitality space included. We could’t be prouder of Amanda and congratulate her on her new position at M&R. 

Mona Hanna’s standing as one of the nation’s preeminent litigators has been confirmed yet again—this time by the Orange County Business Journal, which has included Mona in the OC500 published this week. The OC 500 is a yearly compilation of the 500 most influential people in Orange County, and Mona’s work in high-stakes class actions, her record of courtroom victories (oftentimes defending “bet the company” lawsuits), and her efforts within M&R, where she is the National Complex & Class Action Trial Chair and OC Managing Partner, have cemented Mona’s place among some of the most extraordinary individuals in OC. 

Michelman & Robinson has been recognized yet again by Best Lawyers®. For 2024, the firm has been ranked as a Best Law Firm, with practices in our Orange County, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco offices being tiered as follows:

Tier 1

Orange County

Insurance Law

Tier 2

Orange County

Commercial Litigation

Litigation – Insurance

Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants

Tier 3

Dallas

Commercial Litigation

Insurance Law

Litigation – Intellectual Property

Litigation – Patent

Los Angeles

Commercial Litigation

San Francisco

Litigation – Environmental

Best Lawyers^® is among the most respected purely peer review research and accolades companies in the legal profession, considered by some as a true North Star for the industry. The 2024 rankings are based on a methodology that relies on qualitative and quantitative data on legal skillset, achievements, and client successes collected through a submission process managed by Best Lawyers^®. To be sure, the Best Law Firm designation confirms the top-tier quality of M&R’s attorneys, support staff and the firm’s work product.

Congratulations to all for this well-deserved recognition.