Players On the Move

Paul Hastings has hired veteran entertainment litigator Tamerlin (Tammy) Godley, formerly of Munger, Tolles & Olson, as a partner to its Los Angeles office. "The entertainment and media landscape is undergoing significant transformation and our clients in this industry are looking to us to help them navigate through these unprecedented times and protect their value," Seth Zachary, chairman of Paul Hastings, said in a statement. Godley handles investigations and commercial disputes for media, technology and entertainment clients, but specializes in entertainment and sensitive investigations within that arena. "Paul Hastings' impressive growth story and strong performance — both in serving the entertainment industry and more broadly across the firm's global platform — were very attractive to me," Godley said in a statement. Godley spent the last 23 years at Munger before making the move to Paul Hastings. "Part of why I came to Paul Hastings was to build out a bold entertainment litigation practice and use my experience to facilitate that," she said in an interview. "I do a lot of sensitive executive investigations, and Paul Hastings is a good fit as I can build off their outstanding employment practice." While the entertainment space was hit harder by the pandemic than most industries and litigation as a whole fell off for a time in 2020, Godley is optimistic that things are turning around. Regarding her existing clients, Godley said that she looks forward to continuing to serve them to the best of her ability at her new firm. Paul Hastings' entertainment and media practice is relatively new, starting in 2018, while the entertainment litigation end of things is even more fresh, coming online in 2020. The firm added litigators Steven Marenberg and James Bo Pearl early last year. A long-time Big Law attorney has left private practice to become the senior vice president of business and legal affairs, entertainment and talent management at Stamford, CN-based World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Previously based in New York, Darren Traub said that in his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing production for television, film studios, record label, live events and all of the talent management group. "My specialty has been putting together unique opportunities for different clients, finding unique deals in the gaming, music or live events. The opportunity to do all of that for one brand, especially for one as iconic as the WWE, was too good to pass up," Traub said in an interview. Traub had most recently served as a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine and has also held roles at Akerman LLP and Herrick Feinstein.