LOS ANGELES – March 31, 2022 – Daniel H. Black, vice chair of the global Entertainment & Media Practice of Greenberg Traurig, LLP and chair of its West Coast Entertainment & Media Practice, has been named a “Legal Legend” by The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
To supplement its annual Power Lawyers list, THR created the honor to highlight the extraordinary achievements and contributions of attorneys who have shaped and continue to shape the entertainment industry, according to their website. The few lawyers who receive this honor annually retain the recognition for life. Black has been named to THR’s Power Lawyers list multiple times since its inception in 2007.
Black’s practice has evolved over the decades in parallel with the public’s consumption and viewing habits: from home video and pay-per-view deals, to film, distribution, and streaming content deals. “I’ve been fortunate in my career to be at the forefront of whatever the next new thing was,” Black told the publication. The latest industry trend of content and intellectual property migrating between platforms requires the transactional fluency of an attorney like Black, who possesses decades of experience with traditional entertainment law and has been at the forefront of the legal precedents shaping new media.
Black has committed himself to being adaptive to changes both within the industry and the cultural world at large, giving him a better understanding of each party’s needs in a transaction and directly benefiting the clients of Greenberg Traurig. Black told THR about recent negotiations that commenced at the beginning of the pandemic that, when concluded a few months later, had a completely different set of specifications. “The business had changed as we negotiated the deal,” he said. “And we needed to address a couple areas because the previous reality no longer existed.”
A shareholder in Greenberg Traurig’s Los Angeles office, Black’s status was forged over a wide-ranging career, both as a private practitioner and as lead in-house counsel on major transactions at film studios, television networks, streaming services, and web content producing entities. He routinely advises senior entertainment and media executives on their overall legal and business strategies and has leveraged his knowledge and experience to further social justice and the equitable evolution of the entertainment and media industry.