MUSIC’S HOTTEST FIRMS: MYMAN GREENSPAN FOX ROSENBERG MOBASSER YOUNGER & LIGHT
A team mentality and a laser focus on relationships with clients and across the entertainment industry have enabled Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light LLP not merely to get through the pandemic unscathed but to thrive, along with their clients, long-timers and new arrivals alike.
“We’ve added clients,” Partner Aaron Rosenberg confirmed in a phone conversation that took place in April, 13 months after the Myman Greenspan team had vacated the firm’s offices at Wilshire and San Vincente and begun working remotely—seamlessly, as it turned out. “But our focus has always been more on super-serving the clients we do have, and those clients have entered into some substantial transactions.
“With respect to our firm and how we coped,” he continued, “we’ve always been a pretty nimble, clever and relatively technologically sophisticated bunch. So when the pandemic hit and we all went remote, we didn’t really miss a beat. We stayed on top of client matters, and we were quick to evolve with clients.
“Also, because we operate our firm in a very efficient manner, we didn’t find ourselves with excess overhead in terms of people that we had to be concerned about furloughing or letting go. So we let go not a single assistant, support staff or attorney, and we’re really proud of that. And because our clients were ingenious and evolved with the pandemic, the work didn’t really slow down, for the most part. Obviously, to the extent our clients relied upon live touring, that took a hit on us as in any other firm, but our clients were diversified enough that we kept the trains moving.
“Let me go one step further,” Rosenberg added. “In addition to making sure that we didn’t let go of anybody, we actually ended up hiring some new people. At the end of the year, we brought in two new attorneys, Oren Agman and Andranise Baxter, we took on one clerk and made Audrey a partner.”
The interaction among the firm’s lawyers and support staff has necessarily been impacted since COVID hit, but, if anything, Rosenberg posited, they’re working more closely—and productively—than ever.
“At this point, we try to tackle client matters in teams,” he explained. “With the bigger artists, it will typically be a couple of partners and an associate, possibly two; with new and emerging talent, it’s usually one partner and one associate.”
When asked if there has been any discussion about getting back into the office at some point, Rosenberg replied, “Yes, it’s currently under discussion, and we’re hoping to be back at the very least on a part-time basis before the end of the year. Although that may sound vague, it’s probably the most accurate way of describing it. At that point, I see us returning to some semblance of normal interaction, but that’s possible via Zoom as well. So in the future, I think it would probably be a combination.
“We were never a firm that had an orthodox approach to face time in the office, although I do think that we will get back to it,” he noted. “Because part of what’s fun about being a member of a law firm as opposed to being a solo practitioner is the ability to engage with your colleagues—to share various points of view. And that rabbinical approach to the practice of law is one of the things that I think has kept us one of the top firms.”
