Bonnie Eskenazi is consistently recognized as one of the most prominent entertainment attorneys in Hollywood. She regularly handles some of Hollywood’s most high profile and landmark entertainment disputes for some of the industry’s leading performers, directors, writers, producers, rights holders, studios and talent agents. 

Bonnie’s practice is international in scope and she has extensive experience in all aspects of the entertainment industry, media and intellectual property matters, including royalties and profit participations, idea theft, contracts, defamation and reputation protection, invasion of privacy, trademarks, copyright, merchandise and licensing, music distribution, music publishing, motion picture production and distribution and new technology.

Bonnie’s clients have included Marvel Entertainment, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Estate of JRR Tolkien, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, MGM, STX Entertainment, EndemolShine North America, Bron Studios, Marlon Brando,  Hans Zimmer, HarperCollins Publishing, Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Playboy Enterprises, Harvey Entertainment, DIC Entertainment, Lagardere Entertainment, Elle Macpherson, Geffen Records, Horror Inc. (owners of the rights to Friday the 13th), Bagdasarian Productions (owners of the Chipmunks), Stephen Slesinger Inc. (owners of rights in Winnie the Pooh). Bonnie is also outside general counsel for the Bob Marley Estate.

Her passion for advancing the careers of women led her to join the board of Women In Film and to create and launch its sexual harassment Help Line which includes a pro bono legal aid panel in addition to therapeutic assistance for survivors of sexual harassment in the entertainment industry.

Bonnie has been profiled in numerous magazines and newspapers over her 30 years in practice such as the Los Angeles Times, Southern California Super Lawyers, Los Angeles Business Journal, National Law Journal and has been honored by nearly every legal and entertainment publication covering litigation or entertainment/media practices.

Bonnie has served on Greenberg Glusker's management committee for the past 15 years. She teaches a course in Entertainment Law at Stanford Law School and is an annual guest lecturer at Harvard Law School.

Professional Affiliations

  • Member, Intellectual Property and Litigation sections, American Bar Association
  • Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills Bar Associations
  • Participant, Trial Attorney Project
  • Member, Stanford Law School Board of Visitors (2002-2005)
  • Law Clerk, the Honorable Donald B. King, First District Court of Appeal (1985-1986)

Charitable & Civic Involvement

  • Member, Board of Directors, Women in Film (2018 - present)
  • Member, Board of Directors, The Festival of New American Musicals (2006-2014)

Bar Admissions

  • California

Court Admissions

  • United States Supreme Court
  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • United States District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of California

Education

  • Stanford University School of Law  (J.D., 1985)
  • University of Virginia  (B.A., with highest distinction, 1982)
    • Phi Beta Kappa

Entertainment Experience

  • Outside general counsel for the entities that own all rights to Bob Marley’s music, name and likeness. Successfully obtained summary judgment against international coffee licensee and against a film production company seeking to make an unauthorized biopic of Bob Marley’s life. Licensing agreements in all areas including cannabis, apparel, coffee, restaurants, film and television, music publishing, books
  • Represented the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien against New Line Cinema in obtaining a settlement of its profit participation rights in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
  • Represented Marvel Entertainment in protecting its rights to Spider-Man and its distribution rights to films starring its other Marvel characters
  • Represented Jeffrey Katzenberg in landmark action to recover his profit participation against the Walt Disney Company
  • Represented a victim of sexual harassment in CBS’s investigation of Les Moonves
  • Recovered the rights to the Alvin & The Chipmunks characters for the original owners from a major motion picture studio
  • Represented Paramount Pictures in its appeal of the now famous Art Buchwald profit participation decision and successfully defended Paramount against a profit participation antitrust class action lawsuit brought by the Estate of Jim Garrison
  • Represented various studios and film producers defending against authors and heirs of authors who seek to terminate and recapture their copyrights in film and television productions
  • Represented composer Hans Zimmer in partnership litigation and general business, copyright and other music and film matters
  • Represented Daily Variety in asserting its First Amendment right to attend and report on the legal dispute over the Spider-Man character
  • Obtained jury verdict in favor of animation company that owned Casper The Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich against its former agent
  • Represented DreamWorks in successfully obtaining summary judgment against a producer who brought an action for breach of contract and fraud
  • Represented the owners of rights in Winnie The Pooh in their action against The Walt Disney Company for recovery of royalties
  • Represented a world famous Olympic athlete before the California Labor Commissioner to terminate her obligations and recover commissions paid to her former personal manager
  • Obtained dismissal in favor of a publicly held international entertainment conglomerate against a $30 million claim for misappropriation of trade secrets and won a trial court award of $300,000 in attorneys' fees
  • Represented Elle Macpherson in a successful defamation action against an attorney who made false statements to the media regarding the circumstances of his client's burglary and attempted extortion against the famous supermodel
  • Represented Geffen Records against a world renowned, Grammy-winning artist who refused to deliver any further record albums based on his claim that he was released from his contract after seven years

Accolades