Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp Adds Distinguished Partners on Both Coasts
Key hires bolster firm’s entertainment labor practice and businesses transactions group
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES (October 27, 2020) – Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP has expanded both its entertainment industry labor and employment practice and its corporate group with the addition of Ann Calfas as a partner in Los Angeles and Andrea Cataneo as a partner in New York.
“The addition of Ann and Andrea to MSK brings a depth of experience in two of our core practice areas, helping us not only grow our strengths but continue to meet our clients’ complex and evolving legal and business needs,” MSK Co-Chairman Kevin Gaut said. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome them to the firm.”
Ann Calfas focuses her practice on representing media and entertainment clients in labor and employment matters. Most recently the executive vice president of labor relations and employment litigation for Fox Entertainment Group and the company’s chief labor negotiator, she played a senior role at the bargaining table during industrywide negotiations with the Directors Guild, Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and the IATSE among others. Calfas advises film, television and sports clients on collective bargaining agreement compliance and handles disputes arising with media and entertainment unions. She also offers a wide breadth of employment law expertise, including conducting workplace investigations, creating compliance programs, drafting employment policies, and providing harassment and discrimination prevention training.
Beyond her considerable experience at Fox, Calfas also served as chief employment counsel at Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. She has served on the boards of directors of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans, and Directors Guild of America-Producers Pension and Health Plans and presently is a trustee of the AFTRA Retirement Fund. She received her undergraduate degree from Middlebury College and her law degree from Stanford University Law School.
“I am very excited to be at MSK, a firm whose sterling reputation in the media and entertainment industry, and successful track record in complex labor negotiations and disputes, is unparalleled,” Calfas said. “I look forward to bringing my studio experience to bear on behalf of MSK’s array of high-profile entertainment clients.”
An entrepreneurial corporate and securities attorney, Andrea Cataneo joins MSK’s highly respected Corporate & Business Transactions Practice Group. Her practice focuses on preparing companies for capital raises, structuring secured and unsecured equity and debt-financing transactions for early- and late-stage companies, and taking companies public via shelf-registration statements and initial public offerings.
A member of MSK’s Capital Markets & Securities, Alcohol Beverage Industry, and Crypto Assets & Blockchain Technology teams, Cataneo advises clients on a variety of corporate transactions, including Securities and Exchange Commission compliance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, proxy contests, restructurings and corporate governance. She will also leverage her extensive relationships in the investment banking community to connect clients with targeted capital sources.
Cataneo joins MSK from Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. Prior to that, she was the first woman lawyer and first woman partner at nationally recognized securities and corporate law firm Sichenzia Ross Ference LLP. She serves on the boards of Together1Heart Foundation and the National Investment Banking Association. Cataneo earned her undergraduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and law degree from Rutgers University School of Law.
“A bi-coastal firm with deep roots in Washington, MSK is the perfect place for me to continue to expand my practice helping innovative business leaders grow their companies and financially prosper through acquisitions, financing and public offerings,” Cataneo said. “MSK is very active in a broad range of emerging markets, including cannabis and financial technology, and I look forward to helping these businesses thrive.”
About Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP
Since 1908, Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP has proven its ability to understand the complex, demystify the mysterious, and define the unknown. With more than 130 lawyers and offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C., MSK is often distinguished as a “go-to” firm by industry and legal insiders, and has extensive experience in a variety of practice areas, including Entertainment & IP Litigation, Labor & Employment, Motion Picture, Television & Music Transactions, Immigration, Corporate Securities, Regulatory, Tax, Trusts & Estates, Real Estate and International Trade. Relentlessly innovative, our lawyers have developed groundbreaking legislation, established influential precedents and shaped the legal landscape. For more information, visit www.msk.com.
Media Contact:
Clay Steward
818.602.2984
csteward@baretzbrunelle.com