Marcia J. Harris
Experience
- Practice in state and federal courts and alternative dispute resolution forums focuses on entertainment litigation, with particular emphasis on accounting and profit participation disputes in the television and motion picture industries, and disputes involving talent agencies.
- Areas of concentration include accounting and profit participation disputes, "vertical integration" claims by profit participants in the entertainment industry, and disputes involving talent agencies.
- Clientele includes writers, directors, producers, and actors, as well as talent agencies and personal management companies, and more recently insurance companies insuring risks in the entertainment industry.
Outside Experience
Selected Results*
Represented Celador International, Ltd. in Celador International, Ltd. v. The Walt Disney Company, a dispute over profits from the highly successful television show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" A federal jury awarded Celador, the creator of the show, $270 million in damages after finding that Disney's subsidiaries, ABC Television, Buena Vista Television, and Valleycrest Productions had breached their profit sharing contract with Celador and their duty to deal fairly and in good faith with Celador.
Recognition
- Recognized in the Los Angeles Daily Journal among the "Top 75 Women Litigators" in 2005**
- Named in Chambers USA, 2007,2008, 2009, 2010**
- Named in America's Leading Lawyers for Business**
- Named in The Best Lawyers in America **
- Selected as a WIN Outstanding Woman by the Women's Image Network, 2006
- Named a "Super Lawyer" by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010**
Memberships
- Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) Trial Lawyer Honor Society
- Beverly Hills Bar Association
- Century City Bar Association
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- American Cinematheque
- Women in Film
Civic Associations
- Western Center on Law and Poverty, Board Member
Bar Admissions
Education
- Loyola Law School, J.D. (1977)
- University of Missouri School of Journalism, Bachelors of Journalism, with honors(1967), Outstanding Senior Journalism Student
Articles
-
Vertically Challenged
Los Angeles Lawyer (Co-author)
(May 2003)
Selected Speeches
- Has lectured at numerous seminars sponsored by the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles County Bar Associations, and by the Association of Talent Agents regarding entertainment litigation matters.
- Guest speaker, Stanford, Boalt Hall, UCLA, USC, Loyola, and Pepperdine law schools regarding accounting and profit participation disputes and other litigation issues in the entertainment industry.