Hill & Barlow Expands Media and Entertainment Practice with Addition of Leading Publishing Lawyers and Agents

Renowned Literary Agency Augments Law Firm

Hill & Barlow, a premier Boston law firm, today announced that leading First Amendment lawyer and agent John Taylor (Ike) Williams is joining the firm. Williams and several of his colleagues will become part of Hill & Barlow's Media and Entertainment Group, to be chaired jointly by Williams and Hill & Barlow member Robert A. Bertsche.

Also joining the Media and Entertainment Group are lawyer Zick Rubin, a copyright and intellectual property specialist, and entertainment lawyer Elaine Rogers, who is the agency's subsidiary rights director and an expert on film, television, foreign, and electronic rights. They bolster a group that already includes prominent First Amendment litigator, Joseph D. Steinfield; Carol V. Rose, co-chair of the American Bar Association's Women in Communications Law committee; as well as Bertsche, whose practice includes counseling and litigation on behalf of print media, broadcasters, and Internet Web sites.

``We are excited to be adding Ike and his formidable team,'' said Charles R. Dougherty, managing partner of Hill & Barlow. ``Their publishing and entertainment experience, when coupled with Hill & Barlow's strengths in Internet, media, and First Amendment law, will create the strongest battery of media and entertainment lawyers anywhere in New England.''

Williams also brings to Hill & Barlow the highly regarded Palmer & Dodge literary and dramatic rights agency, which he and Jill Kneerim, the agency's co-director, co-founded in 1990. Now renamed The Hill & Barlow Agency, it will continue to represent a distinguished list of authors, publishers, directors, film production companies, and television producers.

``I have known and respected Hill & Barlow for many years as one of the leading First Amendment firms,'' said Williams, whose law practice includes litigation and counseling in addition to his agency work. ``Together, we now have a unique opportunity to provide clients nationwide with a truly integrated range of legal and agency services in media, publishing, and entertainment.''

The Hill & Barlow Agency, formerly a service of Palmer & Dodge LLP, handles book, film, and television properties for authors, screen and teleplay writers, cultural institutions, and independent film and television producers. Its wide range of clients includes best-selling novelist Brad Meltzer, former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, Dr. Susan Love, Edward Hallowell, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, Lawrence Schiller, Gary Zukav, Travis Roy, and Marla Maples, as well as leading scholars Stephen Greenblatt, Howard Gardner, the Rev. Peter Gomes, and E. O. Wilson and publishing houses Beacon Press and Harvard University Press.

About Hill & Barlow

Hill & Barlow, a professional corporation, is a full-service firm of more than 130 attorneys, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1895, the firm is rooted in New England, although in many fields its practice is national and international in scope. Hill & Barlow's areas of expertise include, among many others, telecommunications; media and entertainment; intellectual property; First Amendment and major business litigation; employment; taxation; private clients; and emerging companies/private equity.

Contact:

Martha Keeley, Mullen (978) 468-8961

Maria Nanis, Hill & Barlow (617) 428-3035