DUBLIN and BEVERLY HILLS, 1 July 2015—Two leading boutique media and entertainment law firms today announced a collaboration to assist Irish and U.S. clients in the worldwide film, television and media sectors. Dublin-based Gordon Judge Solicitors (GJS) and Rufus-Isaacs, Acland & Grantham, LLP (RIAG) of Beverly Hills have entered into a mutual consulting arrangement aimed at expanding the international services on offer to their media clients.
“Our clients are increasingly seeking international expertise to assist them with their worldwide activities,” said RIAG co-founder Bill Grantham. “Ireland is a key emerging market in this sector, thanks to new tax incentives and a strong production and post-production infrastructure. Linking with Gordon Judge Solicitors will allow us to provide this expertise.”
“Irish producers and financial service companies know they’re part of a global business,” said GJS founder Gordon Judge. “Working with RIAG now means they have a connection to the heart of Hollywood and we look forward to developing new opportunities for both firms with Bill Grantham and his colleagues.”
GJS – www.gordonjudge.ie is a modern and wholly commercial firm of Irish solicitors. Having previously worked in an in-house role with an international film distributor, one of Gordon Judge’s objectives in establishing Gordon Judge Solicitors was to make the firm’s commercially focused and practical legal services available to a range of clients in the film and entertainment industries and to develop this and a number of other niche practice areas. The firm has busy banking and pensions law practices that sit happily alongside its entertainment and media practice.
For many years, GJS have advised investors, producers and financiers on raising finance under Section 481 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 of Ireland (relief for investment in film). From January 2015, the Section 481 scheme changed from an investor based tax relief to a tax credit based system that provides producers with a tax credit of 32% of qualifying expenditure on films and television productions. We are currently working with a number of financiers interested in expanding their offerings to assist film and television producers.
The solicitors at GJS advise banks and other lenders on the structuring of lending and taking security on a wide variety of financing transactions. Gordon has more than 20 years’ experience of film financing transactions having acted for producers, distributors and financiers.
RIAG – www.rufuslaw.com is a 10-lawyer firm founded in 2010 and based in Beverly Hills. In addition to entertainment and media law, it has a focus on litigation, general business/commercial, real estate, criminal defense, estate planning, bankruptcy and insurance law.
Dun Laoghaire-born Grantham is a founder of and partner in Rufus-Isaacs, Acland & Grantham. With more than 30 years’ experience in the international media sectors, he has been involved in the financing of more than US$1 billion of motion pictures and television shows, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Terminator: Salvation, The Grey (starring Liam Neeson), A Walk Among The Tombstones (starring Liam Neeson), Killing Them Softly (Brad Pitt), Escape Plan (Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Broken City (Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe), Devil’s Knot (Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon), Dark Tide (Halle Berry) and Machine Gun Preacher (Gerard Butler). Forthcoming films on whose financing he has worked include Cell (Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack), Damascus Cover (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Jane Got A Gun (Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor) and The Blob (Samuel L. Jackson).
He is also engaged as a lawyer in all aspects of film and television, from development through production and post-production to worldwide distribution and exploitation. He returned to Ireland last year after 21 years in the USA. He writes widely on media topics and has been appointed Visiting Professor of Media Law and Policy for 2015-16 at Loughborough University’s new Institute for Media and Creative Industries, based at the former Olympic Games site in London. He was a journalist for 12 years before taking up the law. His father, Mark Grantham, was a pioneer of Irish and UK broadcasting, whose achievements include writing Ireland’s first soap, the celebrated The Kennedys of Castleross.
For more details, contact:
Gordon Judge
Bill Grantham