Players On the Move

The chief legal officer of Redbox is taking the legal reins at Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the provider of self-help books, streaming services and uplifting TV programming that recently bought the DVD-kiosk operator for $375 million. Cos Cob, CT-based Chicken Soup for the Soul, which in August closed on the Redbox acquisition, has announced what it calls its “enhanced senior management team,” including the appointment of Fred Stein as chief legal officer. Stein rejoined Oakbrook Terrace, IL-based Redbox last year after one year as legal chief of Foreportal Holdings, a provider of technology to the travel industry. Before that, he’d spent 13 years at Redbox, including serving as general counsel from 2016 to 2020. The combined Chicken Soup/Redbox company operates more than 38,000 kiosks in the United States, as well as a variety of ad-supported and subscription streaming services, including Crackle, which Chicken Soup acquired from Sony Pictures Television in 2019. … World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced it has hired Juilliard School general counsel Maurice Edelson as chief legal officer and former Las Vegas Raiders general counsel and president Dan Ventrelle as executive vice president. Ventrelle had been longtime general counsel of the Raiders before being promoted to president in July 2021. The team ousted him in May 2022, a move Ventrelle alleges was retribution for reporting his hostile-workplace concerns to the league office. The arrival of Edelson — a former Time Inc. general counsel — continues a recent pattern of revolving-door legal leadership at the Stamford, CN-based WWE. Just five months ago, WWE announced the appointment of Caterpillar deputy general counsel Elisebeth Collins as general counsel, reporting to then-CEO Vince McMahon. WWE’s announcement of the hiring of Edelson and Ventrelle made no reference to Collins. A WWE spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email asking whether Collins would remain with the company. When Collins took the legal reins in April, she succeeded Samira Shah, who had been GC for 10 months. … Holland & Knight has hired the remaining two co-chairs of the sports & entertainment practice at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. Since the hiring of co-chair Tyrone Thomas in July, Holland & Knight said partners Keith Carroll and Anthony Mulrain have joined its firm as co-chairs of Holland & Knight’s sports & entertainment practice, which had previously existed solely as an entertainment practice. The firm also has brought a third lateral partner from Mintz, O’Kelly E. McWilliams III, who works alongside the sports & entertainment group on employment law matters within corporate transactions. Carroll is a trial lawyer who advises professional sports franchises, athletes, leagues and league executives in business disputes and internal investigations, including those in the MLB, NHL and NBA. Mulrain’s practice involves intellectual property, business disputes, civil litigation and corporate governance for a clientele of entertainers and athletes that has included NBA stars Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, as well as the actor Gabrielle Union. And Thomas, an executive compensation and employment lawyer, brings more than 20 years of experience handling NCAA and professional sports investigations. O’Kelly arrives with clients in and out of the sports and entertainment world, he said in an interview. Carroll will be based in Holland & Knight’s Boston office, Mulrain in New York and Atlanta, and McWilliams and Thomas in Washington, D.C. … O’Melveny & Myers has hired corporate partner Matthew Syrkin, naming him co-chair of the firm’s MediaTech group alongside Century City, CA, partner T. Hale Boggs. Syrkin arrives after a 15-year career at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, where he was founder and global chair of that firm’s media, technology and commercial transactions group, as well as co-chair of its data privacy and cybersecurity group. Syrkin brings together clients in media, entertainment, fintech and advertising tech for deals across the globe, including high-profile transactions involving HBO, Comcast, Paramount and others that have earned him recognition as a top entertainment and technology dealmaker from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. He started at O’Melveny while finishing work on a deal between Comcast’s Sky Group and Paramount’s Showtime, which launched the new streaming service SkyShowtime in Europe on September 20. In an interview, Syrkin described the past few years as a “tech gold rush” that made him busier than any point in his career as technologies such as blockchain, Web3, WiFi and the Metaverse turn tech firms into media companies and media companies into tech innovators. “Appliance manufacturers are now embedding screens into everyday devices. They’re now selling ads and programming TVs with whole movies — that’s the gold rush,” Syrkin said. O’Melveny’s growing corporate bench was a draw for Syrkin, who said he doesn’t see demand slowing anytime soon. The firm’s blue-chip media and entertainment clientele, and its focus on the convergence of media and technology, also lured Syrkin. Through a spokesperson, Hughes Hubbard chair Ted Mayer said his firm’s media and entertainment group continues to thrive under the leadership of deputy chair Ken Lefkowitz, having represented clients such as Sony Music, AMC Networks and MSG Entertainment. … Eisner LLP announced that Zachary Elsea has joined the firm as a partner in the litigation group. Elsea has experience representing companies and individuals in the entertainment, technology, financial services and real estate industries. He will be based in Eisner’s Los Angeles office. Elsea, who joins Eisner from Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump Holley, has experience advising on intellectual property matters, including litigation, touching on copyright, trademark, right of publicity and other issues. … At least five pro sports franchises — the Las Vegas Raiders, Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Penguins and Miami Marlins — have either named new legal chiefs or dealt with the exit of a general counsel since Aug. 1. “There’s news of this movement within the industry because there are so many more attorneys than there were years ago. And that number is increasing,” said Michael Wall, former legal chief for the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins and TD Garden. He now practices sports and entertainment law at Foley & Lardner. “It reflects the growing complexity of the sports industry in general and the increasing volume of legal-related work,” Wall added. Another potential reason for the turnover: Serving as the legal boss for a pro sports team is a coveted position with attractive perks going to games and being close to the action, for instance, but the pay isn’t always on par with what GCs in other industries take home. “These general counsel for sports teams and arenas are not necessarily the most highly compensated. They may not be getting market compensation for their skills,” Wall said. “The businesses that are ancillary to sports — the sponsors, tech companies, sports betting companies — may attract [sport-franchise] general counsel to a higher-paying position that’s still in sports,” he added. “That’s also contributing to the movement.”