Ruth E. Fisher

Ruth E. Fisher is a partner in the Century City office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  She is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and Co-Chair of its Media, Entertainment and Technology Practice Group.  Ms. Fisher has been named by Chambers and Partners as a Leading Media and Entertainment: Transactional Lawyer in California and one of the top 100 “Power Lawyers” by the Hollywood Reporter for 2007 through 2011.  She was selected by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the city’s top entertainment lawyers for its 2010 list of Who’s Who in L.A. Law.  Ms. Fisher also was named by The Daily Journal as among “California’s Top 100 Lawyers” in 2008 and 2010 and one of the “Top Women Lawyers” in 2011 and was selected as a California Lawyer of the Year for 2008 by California Lawyer magazine.

In Ms. Fisher’s entertainment practice, she regularly represents studios, music companies, software companies and other content providers in connection with mergers and acquisitions, including the acquisition and disposition of online game companies, production entities and film libraries and music catalogs.  She also has represented a number of content licensors and licensees in distribution and licensing agreements, and regularly represents investors in and lenders to companies in the media, entertainment and technology industries.  Ms. Fisher has significant expertise with joint ventures in the entertainment and technology arenas, including joint ventures for the purpose of television and motion picture production and distribution, technology development and deployment, internet-based music distribution and VOD motion picture distribution. 

Representative transactions include representations of:  Vivendi S.A. in the sale of its interest in NBC Universal and in the combination of its Vivendi Games subsidiary with Activision, Inc. to form Activision Blizzard, Inc.; an investment bank in its provision of advisory services and financing in connection with a public company merger; an investment bank in connection with film financing transactions; Riot Games in its acquisition by Tencent Holdings Limited, a leading integrated Internet services provider; two private equity firms in their acquisition of cable channels; Technicolor S.A. in agreements with studios and exhibitors related to the implementation of digital cinema systems; Entravision Communications Corporation in connection with a sale of radio stations; the Special Committee of Hollywood Entertainment Corporation in connection with the acquisition of Hollywood by Movie Gallery Inc.; Universal Studios, Inc. in the sale of Spencer Gifts, in distribution and other agreements with DreamWorks LLC, and in the acquisition of USA Networks, Inc.; Universal Music Group in a number of joint ventures related to music, music distribution, television and artists; and representation of Warner Music Group in its acquisition of an interest in Frank Sinatra Enterprises and in its agreements with Grateful Dead Productions. 

From 1980 to 1982, Ms. Fisher was a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm M. Lucas.  She received her law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, where she served as a Comment Editor of the UCLA Law Review.