Philip M. Kelly

Practice Areas

Partner, Media & Entertainment Litigation

Career

Philip Kelly is among Hollywood’s leading litigators, having achieved significant victories in cases involving some of its biggest names, including Paramount Global, NBCUniversal, TikTok, Inc., Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, CBS Broadcasting, legendary composer Hans Zimmer, and Regency Entertainment.

In 2022, Mr. Kelly was recognized by The Daily Journal as one of the Top 100 lawyers in California. Variety, one of Hollywood’s leading publications, has repeatedly recognized Mr. Kelly as one of Tinseltown’s leading lawyers. Benchmark Litigation also honored him as one of its 2021 and 2022 Litigation Stars, while honoring the firm for its media and entertainment practice. Mr. Kelly has also been recognized in 2022 by Chambers USA as one of California’s leading media and entertainment litigators.

Mr. Kelly has achieved numerous victories in multimillion-dollar litigations, including in disputes involving copyright infringement, film finance, profit participation, intellectual property licensing, and film and TV distribution agreements. He also has represented individuals and companies outside of the entertainment industry in legal disputes in state and federal courts and arbitrations throughout the country. In addition to handling litigation matters for his clients, Mr. Kelly also provides substantial pre-litigation counseling and advice to help clients avoid litigation altogether.

Over the past year, Mr. Kelly achieved a complete victory in an international arbitration for Paramount Licensing Inc. (a Paramount Pictures subsidiary), obtaining an award of nearly $16 million for Paramount and the complete dismissal of the opposing party’s $15 million claim. He successfully represented TikTok Inc. in a copyright infringement action filed in the Central District of California and is representing TikTok Inc. in other matters in California. Mr. Kelly represented CAA in a major film finance dispute, helping to force the opposing party to dismiss its $50+ million claim and enter into a “walk away” settlement. He is currently representing CBS Broadcasting in an ongoing arbitration with actor Chuck Norris’ production company, Top Kick, over a $30 million breach of contract dispute. Mr. Kelly is also currently representing Lionsgate Entertainment in a variety of matters, including an employment discrimination matter and a profit participation dispute, and Universal Studios in a case brought to enforce amounts due to Universal under licensing agreements for media content broadcast in Asia.

Mr. Kelly is on the Board of Directors of Inner City Law Center (ICLC) and has handled slum housing litigation in coordination with ICLC on a pro bono basis.