Players On the Move

Barnes & Thornburg has added former longtime National Basketball Association (NBA) in-house counsel Tim Browne to the law firm’s entertainment, media and sports practice group as a partner after his eight years with Polsinelli and Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville and previously more than a decade as an in-house attorney with the NBA in its New York headquarters. Jay Knight, partner in charge of Barnes & Thornburg’s two-year-old Nashville office, said in a statement that Browne’s experience and connections in sports and entertainment are “pivotal” to the firm’s growth in Nashville because the city has become a hub in both areas. Jason Karlov, who chairs Barnes’ entertainment, media and sports practice group, said in a statement: “Along with our growing music practice in Nashville, Tim’s transactional legal experience in the live events and media legal space also will play a paramount role in the expansion of our entertainment work both in Nashville, as well as throughout the country. Browne’s practice focuses on such matters as securing sponsorship agreements, digital and linear content licenses and distribution agreements for sports and entertainment properties, athlete and talent endorsement agreements, including NIL transactions. Browne said his clients are moving with him to the new firm. He recalled he “never thought I’d be back in private practice” after a decade in an in-house role but was able to use the contacts he made along the way to build a practice “essentially from scratch.” Browne began his career as a finance associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. With the NBA, Browne served as vice president of legal and business affairs and co-head of the Media Legal Group, where he focused on broadcast and digital media, events and content distribution transaction. In 2017, he said, family considerations prompted him to move to Nashville and return to private practice as a member with Bass, Berry & Sims. Clients over the years have included the Nashville Soccer Club in its initial expansion bid to join Major League Soccer (MLS) and for the naming rights deal for the team’s Geodis Park soccer stadium. He also counseled on sports and entertainment events in Nashville that included the Music City Grand Prix and the recent inaugural Music City Rodeo at Bridgestone Arena. Outside Nashville, Browne also advised the Haslam family on its acquisition of the Columbus Crew MLS team, as well as expansion bids in MLS and National Women’s Soccer League. … Catherine Hogewood is back as general counsel of Books-A-Million, the nation’s second-largest bookstore chain, seven years after giving up that very role. She comes from Marsh McLennan Agency, where she’s been a business insurance consultant for three years. Before that, she served three years as GC of Thompson Tractor, with 38 locations in Alabama and Northwest Florida. Her earlier stint with Birmingham, AL-based Books-A-Million ran from 2007 to 2018. She came aboard in 2007 as associate counsel and was promoted to GC in 2014. A year later, she helped orchestrate the then-publicly traded company’s $21 million sale to the family of controlling shareholder and Executive Chairman Clyde B. Anderson. Books-A-Million last June announced the hiring of Courtney Adair, a former assistant general counsel of the giant utility Exelon, as GC. The company’s press release about Hogewood’s return did not explain Adair’s employment situation, and the company did not immediately respond to Law.com’s inquiries. Books-A-Million is a survivor in the rough and tumble world of book selling. Initially operating under the name Bookland, the company started operating as Books-A-Million in 1992, when it went public on Nasdaq. The company, which since 1998 has also sold books online, operates more than 200 stores in 32 states. Its brick-and-mortar store count is second only to Barnes & Noble’s 600, which are spread across all 50 states. … Louise Pentland, a former legal executive at Disney, PayPal and Nokia, resigned as general counsel of Roku after just 10 months on the job to join San Jose, CA-based Adobe, a leading maker of design and editing software, as executive vice president and chief legal officer. San Jose, CA-based Roku, which operates the nation’s most popular TV streaming platform, had said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Pentland stepped down May 16 to pursue another opportunity. “Pentland’s decision to resign was not due to any disagreement with the Company or the Board of Directors on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices,” the filing said. Roku had dangled a princely sum to woo Pentland aboard, according to her offer letter filed with the SEC. That included a $300,000 signing bonus, a $9.75 million new hire stock grant and an annual salary of $2.63 million — one of the highest legal chief salaries in the country. The SEC filing did not state whether Pentland and the company had negotiated a separation agreement altering the terms of her compensation. Unless they did, Pentland by leaving so quickly would forfeit the entire $9.75 million stock grant. It was set to vest on her first and second anniversaries, contingent on her continued employment. In addition, when the company awarded Pentland the $300,000 signing bonus, she agreed to return a prorated portion if she stayed less than a year. Under those terms, she had to pay back $50,000. This was the second in-house role in a row for Pentland that lasted less than a year. She came to Roku from Burbank, CA-based Disney — where she served for 11 months as chief counsel for its theme parks, cruises and consumer products division. Pentland spent the largest portion of her career — 16 years — at Nokia, where she rose to chief legal officer. Pentland exits Roku at a time it’s performing well. The company, which derives the bulk of its revenue from digital advertising on its streaming platforms, operates the No. 1 platform in the United States and Mexico and also has significant penetration in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Latin America. in the first quarter of 2025, the 3,300-employee company reported revenue of $1.0 billion, up 16% from a year earlier. At Adobe, Pentland will head up the legal and government relations team overseeing global legal and policy matters. … Reed Smith has added its 17th partner this year in its new Atlanta office after entertainment and labor litigator David Long-Daniels moved from Squire Patton Boggs. Long-Daniels — who has represented some high-profile names in the music industry in court actions in recent years — joins Reed Smith’s labor and employment group. His clients have included Steven Tyler, whom Long-Daniels represented when a Manhattan federal judge dismissed sexual assault charges against the Aerosmith lead singer in 2024, according to news reports. Other clients have included the late Cissy Houston in legal actions involving her daughter, singer Whitney Houston, who died in 2012, and the late Allman Brothers Band leader Gregg Allman, among others.